During the last days of his final term, President Barack Obama expanded the California Coastal National Monument (CCNM), protecting six locations along the coast that make up 6,230 acres of California shoreline. The move was part of a larger conservation and commemoration effort that involved the establishment of three civil rights monuments in Alabama and South Carolina, and the expansion of the Cascade Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon by 48,000 acres.
The six new sites designated for preservation on the California coast span from Humboldt County to Orange County and include Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, Piedras Blancas, and Orange County Rocks and Islands. The protected sites encompass public access points, scenic settings, ecologically diverse areas, and lands that hold cultural and historical value for Native American tribes as well as the non-indigenous population.
Trinidad Head, for example includes space that is vital to the Yurok Tribe, the Tsurai Ancestral Society, and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria. The Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch is important to the Wiyot Tribe as a focal point of cultural tradition and ancestral history.
The newly protected areas will also benefit marine based wildlife. The Trinidad seabird colony alone houses a multitude of seabird species, and an estimated 75,000 individual nesting birds. The Piedras Blancas site offers an ideal habitat for California sea lions, elephant seals, harbor seals, the southern sea otter, migrating humpback and gray whales, orcas, and dolphins.
The largest swath of coast being preserved through the action is the Cotoni-Coast Dairies, a 5,785-acre parcel in Santa Cruz County. Along with a diversity of trees that includes Douglas fir, coast live oak, California bay, Monterey pine, and madrone the area holds some of the Central Coast’s most captivating beaches.
According to the presidential proclamation issued by the White House the protection of these zones, “Will preserve their cultural, prehistoric, and historic legacy and maintain their diverse array of natural and scientific resources, ensuring that the historic and scientific value of these areas, and their numerous objects of historic or scientific interest, remain for the benefit of all Americans.”
sources and links:
http://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article126286469.html
images from:
http://www.chrisburkard.com and https://photos.smugmug.com
http://www.surf-forecast.com/system/images/1244/large/Trinidad-State-Beach.jpg?1281801139
http://cdn.abclocal.go.com