Thanks to nearly 300 of our supporters, we packed the Veterans Hall in Cambria, California on September 16, 2016.  

If you were unable to attend, please send your comments to

mailto:ccnmcomments@mail.house.gov

so your voice can be heard! 

Speaker after speaker made passionate statements to the panel which included Rep. Capps and BLM Director, Neil Kornze, about the importance of expanding the California Coastal National Monument in all 6 proposed areas. From Humboldt to Orange County, supporters from around California, spoke about why expanding the California Coast is so important to them. 

If you have yet to submit your comments, please describe why you want to see an expanded California Coastal National Monument to the address to ccnmcomments@mail.house.gov 

The Piedras Blancas Outstanding Natural Area lies halfway between San Francisco and Los Angeles in is home to the historic Piedras Blancas Light Station, first illuminated in 1875. Lighthouse operations continue to this day.  The site is surrounded by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, rocky shoreline, and large rocks of the California Coastal National Monument.  This area includes fantastic coastal vistas, estuaries, wetlands, dune fields, and a large array of marine wildlife, including harbor seals, sea lions, sea otters, Bottlenose and Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, Gray and Humpback Whales and the iconic Elephant Seals. 

Background

Trinidad Head is a rocky promontory comprising over 60 acres of land surrounded by sea stacks in Trinidad Harbor.  14 acres, including the Trinidad Light Station, are managed by the federal government (BLM), with the remaining 46 acres managed by the City of Trinidad and almost 5  acres managed by Trinidad Rancheria at the entryway to the peninsula.  The area offers breathtaking ocean views of the offshore rocks and islands of the California Coastal National Monument.  

The Head and the surrounding landscape is of significant spiritual, historic, biologic, and geologic importance to the community and visitors.

History

Trinidad Head has long held unique prominence to the local Native American communities, with the Head serving as a major part of their culture and religion by being part of their origin story.  Native Americans inhabited the area long before Spanish explorers arrived in 1775, claiming the area for Spain.  In the late 1800s, the United States Coast Guard established the Trinidad Head Light Station.  The station became automated in 1974, and is still in operation.  In 1983, the federal government transferred 46 acres to the City of Trinidad.  The remaining federal lands were transferred from the Coast Guard to BLM in 2014.  The BLM and community partners are currently developing a land management plan to address public access, recreation, conservation, and preservation.

The Lost Coast Headlands are located along the coastal bluffs south of the mouth of the Eel River, approximately 280 miles north of San Francisco, 25 miles south of Eureka, and 6 miles west of Ferndale. The 463 acres of public land, managed by the Bureau of Land Management, provide seasonal beach access and offers opportunities for hiking, bird watching, wildflower viewing, and beachcombing.

The Headlands contain a variety of habitats in a relatively small area including grasslands, coastal scrub, forested pockets, several fresh water creeks, ponds, and seeps.  The northern point is a place of rolling mountains and windswept coastal bluffs crumbling onto narrow beaches.  The western boundary is composed of steep bluffs, slides, and beaches that provide foraging habitat for shorebirds and gulls.  The coastal scrub that surrounds the ponds and covers some of the hillsides provide habitat for warblers, sparrows, hummingbirds, and other bird species.  Grasslands provide foraging habitat for black-tailed deer, small rodents, raptors, and songbird species such as savannah sparrows.

The area also includes two perennial streams, Fleener Creek and Guthrie Creek.  The Fleener Creek watershed consists of forests and grasslands dominated by dense red alder and willow.

Close to 1700 acres of land near the town of Point Arena in Mendocino County will be preserved for future generations thanks to the Action of President Obama in 2014.   It is the first land-based expansion of the monument and has paved the way for additional areas to be designated. 

In late 2013, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell visited Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands for herself, hosting a public listening session on prospective conservation measures. She came away from the experience touting the administration’s opportunity to “create a world-class destination for outdoor recreation and the study of coastal resources, and to strengthen the local economies."  

Congressman Jared Huffman, Senator Boxer and Feinstein and advocates on the ground including the Mendocino Land Trust and the newly formed Friends of Point Arena Stornetta Lands. Click below for a larger map.