The race to save the coast has intensified, fueled by the strong economy. Although proposals for shoreline resorts and mansions are pushing forward, so are major conservation initiatives, funded largely by Proposition 12, the $2 billion Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act passed by voters in March 2000.

Prop. 12 was the first park bond measure in 12 years, and it came like long-awaited rain to a parched countryside. Communities up and down the coast had been working during the dry years on cherished projects, and they were ready with well-crafted proposals when funds became available thanks to the bill’s passage.

Many of these projects were developed in partnership with the Coastal Conservancy. During the years when there was relatively little money for on-the-ground projects, the Conservancy prepared for a more generous future by providing project planning assistance and cultivating partnerships with the growing number of local land trusts, as well as with government agencies at every level.

On June 30, 2000, the governor signed the budget bill and $250 million became available to the Conservancy, mostly in Proposition 12 funds. Thanks to the planning already in place, the agency was able to move quickly on many projects, seizing opportunities as they arose, to secure protection for precious coastal resources before they went to the highest-bidding developer.

Unlike most government agencies, the Conservancy was endowed by the legislature with flexible powers, enabling it to respond quickly to fleeting opportunities. This year, it helped the Trust for Public Land (TPL) and the Big Sur Land Trust to protect some of the most magnificent stretches of the 90-mile Big Sur coastline, a grand natural treasure.

TPL’s acquisition of the 1,226-acre Bixby-Ocean Ranch, with the help of $5 million from the Conservancy, protects world-famous views and opens opportunities for public access (see Coast & Ocean, Winter 2000–2001). The Big Sur Land Trust’s purchase of the Granite Rock property in the Monterey Dunes, with $2 million from the Conservancy, advances the goal of protecting the unique 12-mile band of dunes along Monterey Bay (see p. 35). Like many other projects in which the Conservancy has been involved, this purchase helps to stitch together a landscape under threat of fragmentation by inappropriate development. It also protects watersheds, park and habitat lands, and scenic open space.

Usually, several goals are accomplished by each Conservancy project. The preservation of historical resources is among these, as is cultivation of stewardship to assure that the natural and historic treasures being saved today are appreciated and enjoyed in the future.

Three recent cases in point are Notley’s Landing in Big Sur, the Pogonip Reserve in Santa Cruz, and the Annie & Mary Rail Trail in Humboldt County.

It seems almost inconceivable now, but from the 1890s to the 1930s ships used to anchor in a rocky cove beneath the sheer 100-foot bluffs of Big Sur to take on redwood and tan bark oak. Giant trees, cut in sections, were lowered by means of cables that ran from a boom on the blufftop to a mooring offshore and were then attached to a mast. Many trees were felled in Big Sur canyons to help rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake.

Notley’s Landing has now been acquired by the Big Sur Land Trust, with the help of the Coastal Conservancy, foundation grants, and individual donations. It will be preserved as part of California’s natural and historical heritage.

Situated about midway between Carmel and Big Sur Village, just south of Rocky Point and Palo Colorado Canyon, Notley’s Landing (named for an early entrepreneur) was one of the West Coast’s “dog hole” ports—small, often dangerous, natural cove harbors where ships could anchor to take on timber. A village of about 500 residents stood on the marine terrace above the harbor. Its dance hall, far enough from Monterey that police could not easily get to it, was known as a raucous place.

Today you can pull off the highway, walk along an informal trail to the bluff edge, and exult in the views and the natural quiet. The fragrance of sage is intense in the salty breeze blowing in from offshore. Aside from a glass-fronted house perched on a bluff across the small canyon to the south, nothing prevents you from imagining yourself standing here before the Europeans arrived. Below, waves wash the rocks. You may spot a sea otter lolling in the kelp.

Only some old photographs and texts prove that there was a town here. The port was abandoned after the Pacific Coast Highway was built in the early 1930s. A fire later destroyed vacated buildings. Now only a few hunks of concrete lie scattered on the terrace, overgrown with grasses and brush, remnants of the foundation for the cable boom.

The Big Sur Land Trust had been talking for 17 years with the landowner, who is now 94, hoping she would agree to sell the 5.59-acre Notley’s Landing parcel to ensure its permanent protection. The two parties entered into an option agreement in January 2000, which the Land Trust exercised a year later. The seller stipulated that the purchase price be kept confidential, but it was a bargain: “She stuck to her price for 17 years while the value has more than doubled,” Zad Leavy, founder and general counsel of the Land Trust, told the Coastal Conservancy at its April meeting.

The Conservancy agreed to contribute $400,000 from the Governor’s Challenge Grant Program. This amount must be matched by the Land Trust. The Land Trust will maintain the historic and natural resources of the site and provide public access until Notley’s Landing can be turned over to a public agency, probably the U.S. Forest Service or California State Parks. An easement over the property will be dedicated for the California Coastal Trail. The owner of ten acres across Highway 1 intends to donate that property to the Land Trust, expanding the preservation site.

Pogonip

Just a mile from downtown Santa Cruz, Pogonip is a scenic 640-acre spread of coastal prairie, woodlands, creeks, springs, and historic structures within the City of Santa Cruz Greenbelt. Visitors walking along the wooded hillsides and in the canyons sense they are in a truly remote natural area.

This urban oasis is bordered by the University of California campus to the west and the San Lorenzo River–Highway 9 corridor to the east. Its northernmost tip borders Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, and to the south is Harvey West Regional Park and light industrial/commercial development.

Though it may feel pristine, Pogonip has had many uses in the past 150 years. Logging destroyed its ancient redwoods in the mid–19th century. Old growth was cut not only for construction but also to fuel lime kilns. In the early 20th century, a polo field and a golf course were developed, with a clubhouse in Craftsman Bungalow style.

During the early 1970s its then-owner, the Cowell Foundation, considered developing a convention center, office complex, or a residential community. But then interest grew in creating a greenbelt around the city. Citizens passed Measure O, which identified lands for such a greenbelt, and Pogonip was among them. After much planning and discussion, the City bought the land in 1989 with bond funds from Proposition 70.

Ever since, the City and people from local communities have been working to make Pogonip a place to enjoy nature, learn about local history, and cultivate watershed stewardship. A watershed resource center is being created for citizens and professional people working on watershed restoration, and for teachers to gather to learn and share information that they then will take to students. There will also be a garden maintained by homeless people, a network of interpretive trails, and a day camp. In April the Conservancy approved $500,000 to assist in the renovation of the clubhouse, built in 1911, for use as a visitor center and educational facility.

New Trail for Annie & Mary Railroad Corridor

The 6.8-mile Arcata & Mad River Railroad line, known locally as the “Annie & Mary” for two secretaries who once worked at either end of the line, is believed to be the first railroad to operate west of the Rockies. It ran along the Mad River through Glendale and Blue Lake, ending at the Simpson Timber Company mill in Korbel. Trains haven’t run on the tracks since 1992, and restoring them for use would be extremely expensive. Thousands of miles of similar corridors throughout the United States have been converted to “rail trails,” including the Hammond Trail in north McKinleyville. In 1997, Humboldt County residents formed the Friends of the Annie & Mary Rail Trail to work toward restoring the corridor for recreation and transportation.

In April the Conservancy provided the Redwood Community Action Agency $160,000 to conduct a feasibility study and prepare initial designs for a trail along the corridor. The study will address the needs of adjacent properties, renovation of historic redwood trestles and the steel bridge over the Mad River, the potential for return of rail service, and long-term management options.

The corridor includes a historic rail yard, old engines and other equipment, and a museum in the former Blue Lake railroad station. Since the railroad stopped operating, parts of the corridor have been fenced off, landscaped, or used for parking.