Voice from Santa Barbara
Editorial by Nathan Post

10/20/00

Working to create a National Seashore

What will the Southern California coast be like 50 years from now?

Will coastal farms and scenic open space exist? Will our precious coastal resources be there for us to enjoy? Will we be able to swim and play in unspoiled natural environments? Will sea life be healthy and abundant? Will rare native birds spread their wings over sand and sea? Will there be any place left for Californians to go and really get away from it all?

I don't think it is any secret that the California that you and I know and love is in danger of being lost forever. The hills, the valleys, the mountains and open spaces of Santa Barbara County are threatened as never before in our history. Gentle ocean bluffs, rustling grasslands, and silent wetlands call out to those with the ears to listen. Gentle breezes reawaken distant memories of places we know, places that exist in the recesses of our minds.

Are we willing to respond to that call? Is our precious heritage worthy of our patronage and support?

The Santa Barbara coastline is a scenic and natural treasure supporting hundreds of species of birds, unique plant and animal life. Miles of unspoiled coastline, spreading north and west of our city, support colonies of harbor seals, California sea lions, Northern elephant seals. It is home to snowy egrets, great blue heron, blue-gray gnatcatchers, snowy plovers and red-tailed hawks. Aggregation sites for monarch butterflies dot the landscape. Coastal sage scrub, considered an endangered plant community in Southern California, is relatively common here.

Here, too, are the California slender salamander, the red-legged frog, the western fence lizard, and ringtail. Observed residents include the mountain lion, bobcat, gray fox, coyote, brush rabbit, striped skunk, and deer.

It is also a spiritual land -- a place holding special meaning for the lone hiker, and independent surfer and indigenous Native American.

The Santa Barbara County coast is a very special place offering a unique legacy and a rich natural heritage. With it's increasingly rare habitats, singular beauty and unparalleled potential for environmentally sensitive, coastal-dependent recreation, I feel that it is a place worth saving.

In the face of mounting threats to our natural environment, several ideas for saving the relatively undeveloped portion of the Santa Barbara County coastline have been advanced. These include expanding the boundaries of the adjacent Los Padres National Forest to include the foothills and coastal plain, and adding the Gaviota coast to the Channel Islands National Park.

On Sept. 13, 1962, President Kennedy signed a bill creating a National Seashore at Point Reyes, Calif. The president told delegations from Congress and the Interior Department that the legislation would preserve the outstanding recreational character of the area, and that the measure indicated the increased importance of prompt action to preserve the nations' scenic areas.

President Kennedy and the citizens of Marin County knew that population and development pressures would soon cause Point Reyes to be engulfed by subdivisions if swift action weren't taken.

A growing number of Santa Barbara County residents see the need to act in order to save the Gaviota coast from growing development pressures.

Responding to that threat, the Gaviota Coast Conservancy was incorporated as a non-profit organization in April of 1996 for the purpose of protecting all of the resources on the Gaviota coast. The vision of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy is the permanent protection of the Gaviota coast for its unique natural, scenic, agricultural, recreational and cultural resources. The Conservancy is currently working to save undeveloped shoreline parcels between Coal Oil Point and Point Sal, at the northern boundary of Vandenberg Air Force Base.

ell questioned the advisability of creating a National Seashore on the Gaviota coast. He claimed that it would be growth inducing, and suggested that a better alternative would be to retain local control over the effort. History has shown that local control does not work. Local control produced the Bacara Resort and the ARCO golf course project. Local control will likely result in the creation of scores of enormous trophy homes spread out over 300 acres at Naples.

A patchwork of land deals and conservation easements cannot guarantee comprehensive management of the Gaviota coast's natural resources. A National Seashore is the only comprehensive, permanent means of protecting the coast. Not only will it protect the coast, but it would also provide the funds to buy land and development rights from willing sellers. The National Park Service has made one thing very clear. No land will be taken away from its owner.

I attended two scoping hearings for the proposed seashore and never once did I hear Park Service personnel state, as Kimbell has claimed, that creation of a National Seashore would attract millions of visitors a year or that "vastly increased visitor-serving facilities" would be required.

What I did hear at the scoping hearings was that the National Park Service would evaluate a broad range of strategies for the protection of the Gaviota coast's resources, including options that do not involve the National Park Service. A National Seashore on the Gaviota coast would be designed to accommodate the specific requirements of our community's coastal resources.

The National Park Service utilizes a wide range of management styles at existing National Seashores. There are units where NPS is completely responsible for management and other units where NPS only serves as an advisory role to a management team that includes local government and non-profits. Just about everyone who has visited Point Reyes or Cape Cod National Seashores will tell you that they do an exceptional job of protecting resources.

Despite it proximity to a huge population, Point Reyes has not been overrun by tourists. Indeed, small towns continue to exist outside the Park's boundaries.

Considering the prevalence of agricultural operations on the Gaviota coast, and the fact that a significant portion of the seashore will be located at Vandenberg, a military installation, I find it difficult to believe that the proposed seashore could accommodate anywhere near the number of visitors Kimbell is contemplating.

The Gaviota coast already receives a significant number of visitors. Gaviota, Refugio, El Capitan, and Jalama campgrounds are filled every day in the summer. To my knowledge, this has not resulted in either rampant speculation, or wholesale destruction of the environment. One of the benefits of a National Seashore is that it will allow private property ownership and private agricultural enterprises to flourish. Agricultural enterprises thrive at the Point Reyes National Seashore. Indeed, there are thirteen privately operating ranches in the Point Reyes Park. The ranchers and the National Park Service work together as stewards of the land.

This tells me that not only do National Seashores respect the rights of property owners, but that they have the flexibility to address many of the property owner's concerns. A National Seashore will prevent property values and taxes from escalating which in turn acts to discourage speculation and resultant urban sprawl. While a National Seashore is not the only means of saving the coast, it is one idea that seems to have withstood the test of time. It is also an idea that appears to hold the greatest promise.

There are currently 10 federally administered coastal parks (National Seashores) dotting the American coast. Seven of these are located on the Atlantic. Two border on the Gulf of Mexico, and one, Point Reyes, borders the Pacific north of San Francisco. No National Seashores exist in Central or Southern California.

Creation of a National Seashore would benefit Santa Barbara County in a number of ways. Not only would it protect the coastal environment and wildlife habitats of Santa Barbara County's threatened coast, but it would also increase recreational opportunities and beach access for county residents and visitors alike.

While a National Seashore will provide economic benefits, it is not necessarily growth inducing. One thing is certain, without some form of comprehensive protection; the Gaviota coast will very likely be lost to development.

Support for the creation of a National Seashore on the Gaviota coast is growing. Since efforts to preserve the coast were initiated, the Gaviota Coast Conservancy has received impressive endorsements for a study to determine the feasibility and suitability of a federal designation for the Gaviota coast.

As a result, a feasibility study is now being conducted and should be completed within two years. Among those supporting a feasibility and suitability study are Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senator Barbara Boxer, Congresswoman Lois Capps, state Senator Jack O'Connell, and state Assemblywoman Hannah Beth Jackson.

The Conservancy effort has also received a unanimous vote of support from the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Barbara City Council. In order for the effort to succeed, broad-based public support for the effort is critical.

The Gaviota coast represents the last significant stretch of relatively undeveloped, unprotected coastal land of this magnitude remaining in Southern California. As Bob Keats, founder of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy, has said, "Not only should we save it, it is our duty to save it."