California Coastal National Monument (18824436018)

The California Coastal National Monument is located along the entire coastline of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. This monument ensures the protection of all islets, reefs and rock outcroppings along the coast of California within of shore along the entire long coastline. Conservative estimates are for at least 20,000 such outcroppings. The monument was created by

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again ...

via Presidential proclamation on January 11, 2000, with the authority in section two of the

Antiquities Act The Antiquities Act of 1906 (, , ), is an act that was passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by Theodore Roosevelt on June 8, 1906. This law gives the President of the United States the authority to, by presidential pro ...

of 1906. , the monument has expanded to . The

U.S. Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's l ...

, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages the monument, has developed gateways in cooperation with other agencies along the California coast to introduce the monument to the public. These include the

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

Point Arena Point Arena, formerly known as Punta Arena (Spanish for "Sandy Point") is a small coastal city in Mendocino County, California, United States. Point Arena is located west of Hopland, at an elevation of . The population was 460 at the 2020 cen ...

, Fort Bragg-Mendocino,

Pigeon Point Lighthouse Pigeon Point Light Station or Pigeon Point Lighthouse is a lighthouse built in 1871 to guide ships on the Pacific coast of California. It is the tallest lighthouse (tied with Point Arena Light) on the West Coast of the United States. It is sti ...

Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area Piedras Blancas State Marine Reserve (SMR) and Piedras Blancas State Marine Conservation Area (SMCA) are two adjoining marine protected areas that lie offshore of San Luis Obispo County on California’s central coast. The combined area of t ...

, and the

Palos Verdes Peninsula The Palos Verdes Peninsula (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a landform and a geographic sub-region of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, within southwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. Located in the S ...

. Although being the most-viewed national monument in California, people are usually unaware that the entire coastline is a national monument.

Expansion

The monument has seen two major expansions since its creation:

Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands

On March 11, 2014, President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

used a

presidential proclamation A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy and is a type of presidential directive. Details A presidential proclamation is an instrument that: *states a condition, *declares a law and require ...

to add the Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands to the monument. The proclamation added of onshore areas to the existing monument, comprising the estuary of the

Garcia River The Garcia River is a river on the northern coast of California, in southern Mendocino County. The river's watershed covers and its mainstem is long. The watershed receives of precipitation per year near the coast and inland. The watershed's ...

. The Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands is located on the Mendocino County Coast, north of the small town of Point Arena. Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands will receive full federal protection and will be open to the public. The Point Arena-Stornetta Public Land was the first onshore segment of the national monument that visitors were allowed on. Under federal protection, the public is allowed to use the land for bird watching, fishing, picnicking,

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, and wildlife observation. Overnight camping and parking is prohibited. Along the coastal area there are numerous sinkholes and unsteady cliffs. A bill adding this area passed the US House in 2013.

California Coastal National Monument Expansion Act

California Coastal National Monument (19006631852)

The California Coastal National Monument Expansion Act of 2017 added five coastal sites: at

Lost Coast The Lost Coast is a mostly natural and undeveloped area of the California North Coast in Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, which includes the King Range. It was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s. In a ...

Headlands, at Trinidad Head, at Lighthouse Ranch in Humboldt County, from the Cotoni-Coast Dairies in Santa Cruz County and from Piedras Blancas in San Luis Obispo County. It also would include some small rocks and islands off the coast of Orange County. In January 2017, President Obama used his executive power under the 1906 Antiquities Act to designate these sites as National Monuments.

Onshore units

Six onshore units comprise of public land: Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Point Arena-Stornetta, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, and Piedras Blancas.

Cotoni-Coast Dairies Unit

Cotoni-Coast Dairies is part of the California Coastal National Monument in

Santa Cruz County, California Santa Cruz County (), officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the San ...

, north of the city of

Davenport Davenport may refer to: Places Australia *Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality *Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia **Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta ** District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...

. For most of the 20th century, Coast Dairies was run as a farm and ranching operation by the descendents of two Swiss families. After it was purchased by Save the Redwoods League in 1998, it was transferred to Trust for Public Land. In 2006, about of its beaches to create Coast Dairies State Park.Coast Dairies State Park
at Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks Most of the rest of the land has been transferred to the Bureau of Land Management. In 2014, the

Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's ...

bought a tract of land on the inland side of the highway adjacent to the coastal parcels. President

designated Cotoni-Coast Dairies as a National Monument in 2017. The Bureau of Land Management developed a management that was approved by the California Coastal Commission in 2020. Some of the land east of the highway will continue to be used for farming, but most will become open to the public.

References

External links

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POINT ARENA STORNETTA UNIT
includes trail map, at Mendocino Land Trust {{authority control National Monuments in California Marine sanctuaries in California Bureau of Land Management National Monuments Bureau of Land Management areas in California Parks in Southern California Protected areas of Southern California 2000 establishments in California Protected areas established in 2000 West Coast of the United States Units of the National Landscape Conservation System