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 | Traci Bliss is a third-generation member of Santa Cruz Rotary | |
Traci Bliss retired early from a career she loved–Professor of Education—to begin a decade long journey of discovery resulting in her 2021 book: Big Basin Redwood Forest—California’s Oldest State Park. Traci’s volunteer activities include serving as a docent and docent trainer at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park and on the Santa Cruz Historic Preservation Commission. She’s a third-generation member of Santa Cruz Rotary and a junior director. Her relative William T. Jeter, one of the Club’s founders in 1922, also helped lead the Big Basin movement along with his wife Jennie Bliss Jeter, Traci's great aunt.
Quoting from Traci's book's preface, " the decade-long study continued to reveal rich new layers about the men and women who never gave up, many of whom received little if any recognition for creating California's first permanent state park."
Some interesting stories surrounding Big Basin's establishment: Boulder Creek was "base camp" during much of the development; her grandfather helped found Santa Cruz Rotary and it was instrumental in the creation of the park; after Santa Cruz Rotary's founding, the club invited members of Rotary International to make a visit to the redwoods, in 1938, 400 members from the Los Angeles area did make that visit.
Traci is planning a reenactment of that visit in the near future.