Natural History Wanderings

As part of a rare land acquisition purchase, California State Parks is adding more than 200 acres to Castle Rock State Park in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The parks department will pay local nonprofit Sempervirens Fund $4.21 million for the land, which includes 222 acres across six different parcels, and a new park entrance on Skyline Boulevard.

This is the State Parks system’s first land acquisition in the Santa Cruz area since 2011 and the first anywhere in the state since 2021, the department said in a press release.