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Justin Legge is a passionate local naturalist who wants to share his love of Humboldt’s natural beauty with, well, just about anyone. 

In the last decade, he’s led hundreds of tours throughout Northern California, ranging from kayak outings on Trinidad Harbor, botanical tours of the Lanphere Dunes Preserve, backpacking excursions in the Trinity Alps to guided forest therapy experiences among some of the tallest, oldest trees in the world.  He regularly leads guided tours through Redwood National and State Parks in the northern reaches of the county. But try as he might he isn’t able to take his business down to Humboldt Redwoods State Park along Avenue of the Giants because he cannot obtain the required permits.

“I’m just completely roadblocked from doing anything. It’s out of control,” Legge told the Outpost in a recent interview. “There is precedent for California State Parks allowing and permitting guides to do private guided experiences. … I’m just trying to do this for my community because I love this place, and I feel this policy is detrimental to the protection, education and conservation of the redwoods.”

It all started about three years ago, when Legge was hired on as the general manager of the Benbow KOA and tour director and lead naturalist at the Benbow Historic Inn, just south of Garberville. Working alongside his employer, John Porter, Legge planned to build a vibrant naturalist program and tourism experience for folks visiting the region. That’s when he made his first attempt to bring private guided tours to Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

He applied for a Special Event Permit, but it was denied. Undeterred, he applied for a Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) permit. Months later, that application was denied as well.

“I was told that [the CUA permit] application – which I found on their website – doesn’t actually exist anymore,” Legge said. “I was told on another occasion that they never had the permit, that it was not a thing they ever offered. … It soon became painfully obvious to me that this challenge would not be surmountable, or at least not at that time. But let me tell you, I don’t know if it will ever be surmountable.”

Legge seems to be more than qualified to lead tours in the park, having worked in several positions as an educational tour guide and as an interpretive ranger with U.S. Forest Service. He’s studied outdoor recreation at Cal Poly Humboldt and is a certified naturalist through the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. He’s also served as an emergency medical technician and a wilderness first responder. So, what gives?

Legge

According to California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee, Legge is seeking the wrong permit. Humboldt Redwoods State Park “does not fall under the National Park Service’s [Commercial Use Authorization] CUA agreement,” she said.

“The three state parks – Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Parks and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park – within Redwood National and State Parks are co-managed by the National Park Service, and therefore, permits are issued by the National Park Service for these three park units,” Yee wrote in an email to the Outpost. “The National Park Service has agreements in place that are different than State Parks, including the CUA. CUAs allow for guided experiences to occur within park boundaries, but all business activities, including the collection of fees, occur outside of park boundaries.”

Legge acknowledged that CUA agreements are “not standard” in California State Parks, however, “there are multitudes of State Parks that enable commercial use permits for activities – such as guided tours – [through] a Special Event Permit,” he said. “I have spoken to outfitters at Mt. Diablo State Park and Crystal Cove State Park that have explained the same process. This is possible.”

Aaron Ostrom, co-owner of Pacific Outfitters and Bigfoot Adventure Academy, has encountered the same issues. Like Legge, his business is authorized to operate within the northern parks but he hasn’t had any luck getting permitted to operate in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

“We’ve tried to get permits from [Humboldt Redwoods State Park] similar to the other parks but we’re met with roadblock after roadblock,” Ostrom said during a recent interview. “I’ve done some research with Justin [Legge], and it’s not clear why there isn’t a straightforward permit process for guided tours at this park. … Other parks have come up with a permit process that works within the boundary lines and the guidelines that they have. We’re just trying to get set up here.”

Ostrom recognized the park’s obligation to protect its natural and cultural resources but pointed out the irony in the park’s refusal to allow private guided tours while simultaneously allowing tourists to wander around the park unsupervised.

“There are tour buses that show up to that park and they drop off 50 or 60 people at a time with no guide and that’s okay, but doing guided tours with one to six people where there’s a guide to help supervise isn’t,” he said. “All of a sudden, there are issues with parking lots full of people and trail erosion. It’s just kind of a head-scratcher. All of our guides – all of the guides that I know – are out there being good stewards of the environment. These are the people who you want as allies. They’re assets to these parks and they’re being treated like liabilities.”

After months of back and forth with state parks staff, Legge was eventually told he could submit a concession proposal to provide guided tours for district evaluation. Concessionaires offer services and goods that the state cannot otherwise provide, ranging from full-service restaurants and retail sales to educational programs and tours.

To apply, the interested party is required to submit a concession proposal, launching a request for proposals (RFP) or bid process “which establishes fair market rent for the specific concession opportunity,” according to California State Parks. Concessions can be proposed by a member or the public, an entrepreneur or corporation, a district superintendent, a legislative mandate, or a local agency under an existing operating agreement with State Parks.

Legge submitted a proposal. It was not accepted.

According to Yee, the State Parks spokesperson, all concessions proposals and special event permit requests are evaluated by the district superintendent or their designee and “may be denied for a range of reasons, including if the service is already being provided by district staff, as is the case with tours at Humboldt Redwoods State Park.”

Reached for additional comment on the matter, North Coast Redwoods District Superintendent Victor Bjelajac said educational tours are already provided by park staff.

“What these folks are trying to do with guided walks is a service that we already provide,” he continued. “In our busy season, we provide interpretive programming all over the place, which includes guided tours. … When we ask somebody to provide services it’s because we can’t. When we do provide those services – which we do – and allow somebody to come in and compete, we get into bargaining unit problems and take away State Park jobs that are already occupied.”

Bjelajac said he would be willing to talk to Legge more about his proposal “if it’s a service that we don’t provide and it’s a benefit to the public.” He noted that there are no concessions businesses currently operating within the park, adding that he has not received any proposals – from Legge or anyone else – to do so.

“They were told many times that they [could] develop a proposal for a concession agreement,” he said. “They said, ‘That’s too much work. We’re not going to do that.’ … I think Mr. Legge is aware of the CUA mechanism that National Parks has and he wants to go through an easier process but … we don’t have that tool.”

Legge pushed back against Bjelajac’s claim, asserting that the park refused to accept his application.

“They have denied the starting of the process multiple times to multiple different people, including myself,” he said. “Officially, sure, I guess they can say they have not ‘officially denied a concessions application’ because they are refusing to accept any. I have requested, and been denied multiple times.”

For that very reason, Legge feels a concessionaire agreement “just doesn’t make sense” for private guided tours, adding that “it’s too similar” to the services already being provided by the state.

“I feel like they’re just making us run in circles,” he said. “I understand that, as the superintendent, this is his park. He has a right to have a prohibitive policy, but please just say, ‘This is not happening,’ and stop playing this game of ‘you can do this, you can try that.’ It’s actually pretty uncommon to have a parks superintendent be 100 percent prohibitive.”

A prohibitive policy has implications beyond the park’s borders. 

Increased tourism opportunities at Humboldt Redwoods State Park could provide a much-needed shot in the arm for Southern Humboldt communities struggling to stay afloat following the collapse of the local cannabis industry. 

“Humboldt Redwoods State Park is our number one tourist draw and we cannot use it,” Legge said. “I can’t even quantify really the economic value of what we lose.”

Legge reached out to Gregg Foster, executive director of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, to try to get a better idea of the economic benefits of growing tourism in the region. He couldn’t offer a specific dollar amount, but he emphasized that the park is “an important asset to the tourist economy in Southern Humboldt.”

“I believe that the state does have a responsibility to consider the economic health of the communities that are adjacent to and surrounded by the park,” Foster said. “Many of these communities are suffering from the crash of the cannabis economy, which was brought on, in large part, by poor regulatory and tax policy at the state level. While the State Parks may not have played a role in this policy, I do believe that all state agencies are part of a greater whole and, as such, have a responsibility in supporting the health of our communities.”

The more robust services are offered to tourists, the better it will be for the economy as a whole, he added.

“State Parks resources are spread thin and I do believe they are doing the best they can with what they have, but the state should seek ways to be a good neighbor by including local businesses and communities in their plans and services,” Foster said. “It’s not enough to just invest in park assets, I believe that active and authentic engagement with the communities that they affect is necessary as well. The state should not only care about the natural resources of the park, they should also care about the communities surrounded by and adjacent to park lands.”

Legge and Ostrom have also brought this matter to the attention of local and state elected officials. The two met with state Senator Mike McGuire last month to try to find a resolution to the permitting issue. When asked how the meeting went, Legge said, “It was interesting.”

“They had a [separate] meeting with the park people – the superintendents and the higher-ups – and they told them things that they’ve never told us that seemed very incongruent to the conversation,” Legge continued. “The one thing that I’m stuck on is [parks staff] saying that they never had [the CUA] permit, that it is not a thing that they ever offered. But it was uploaded to their site to be filled out. … They told Senator McGuire’s office that it was uploaded by a rogue employee that never got permission to do that and that never should have been published.”

The CUA permit application, which was downloaded by Legge sometime in 2020 or 2021 and shared with the Outpost, looks to be a standard document. “Commercial Use Humboldt Redwoods Park” is denoted in the upper right corner of the application, so it appears to be specific to the park.

However, Bjelajac maintains that the “mechanisms haven’t changed.” 

“I understand what he wants to do and there just aren’t mechanisms for what he wants,” Bjelajac continued. “It has been very clear and it’s been explained to him many times over the last few years.”

When asked for additional information on the recent meeting, McGuire said he would continue to work with park staff on the issue in the coming months.

“Knowing the special importance of Humboldt Redwoods’ world-famous beauty and world-renowned ecosystem, we are working to ensure its long-term protection while providing consistency and equal opportunity for visitors in our beloved State Parks,” McGuire wrote in a statement to the Outpost. “We have met with prospective tour guide operators as well as state park officials – and we all want the same thing – to provide the best experience possible for Park visitors.”

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Hat tip to SFGATE reporter Ashley Harrell who originally reported on this story.