Monument off-limits Obama spotlights wildland, but welcome sign probably years away
DAVENPORT, Santa Cruz County — Here on the remote Santa Cruz County coast, a little-known stretch of rolling hills has been thrust into the spotlight by President Obama, who in one of his final acts in office declared the area a national monument.
But don’t dial it into your GPS just yet. The conservation of this wild and beautiful spot is part of a long story — and one that is still unfolding.
The federal designation puts the 5,800acre Coast Dairies in the company of such treasured sights as Muir Woods, Mount St. Helens and the Statue of Liberty, a valida-
tion of a dramatic show of land and sea that has long enchanted locals while rarely being acknowledged beyond.
In fact, years ago, the former dairy ranch consisting of sprawling meadows, forests and ridgetops faced an uncertain future, having narrowly escaped the grip of outsiders wanting to tap it for other kinds of monuments — oil development, a nuclear power plant and luxury estates.
“It’s an honor to have the president of the United States recognize the property that our community fought to protect,” said Ryan Coonerty, the county supervisor who represents the region. “It’s an extraordinary place.”
But with federal recognition comes an expectation: to welcome in the American public. That’s a challenge that neither the neighboring towns of Davenport and Bonny Doon nor the administrators at the U.S Bureau of Land Management are quite ready to take on.
Concerns about too many visitors and too few accommodations, which sparked resistance by many residents, mean the property will remain closed until the public can be provided for. This process could take years.
Federal officials and local boosters, though, say it will be well worth the wait.
“I don’t think there’s a landscape like this. These are extremely high-quality and scientifically valuable lands associated with the coastal environment of California,” said David Ledig, manager of the Bureau of Land Management’s California Coastal National Monument, the group of properties that Coast Dairies joins. “We just don’t want to allow something (on the site) that’s going to create a nuisance.”
According to Ledig, plans for Coast Dairies remain uncertain. But after natural resource experts work with the community on a strategy, he said, the land could eventually host a network of trails inviting hikers, and perhaps bikers and equestrians, to trek from scenic Highway 1 on the coast high into the Santa Cruz Mountains.
A visitor center could also be in the cards, he said, perhaps in conjunction with the many nearby state parks.
On Friday afternoon, a day after Obama’s announcement, Santa Cruz resident Steve Reed, who worked with the Sempervirens Fund land trust to push for the property’s federal status, led a tour of the area in his Honda Civic.
After getting stuck in the mud on a washed-out road and then towed out by a friendly neighbor with a pickup, he continued the excursion on a steep ascent past a cattle pasture, which is leased to a rancher, to a ridge with jaw-dropping views of the Pacific and its faraway rocky cliffs.
“You can imagine that most people driving up and down Highway 1 will want to stop and take advantage of this,” he said.
Around a curve was a clump of oak trees abutting a redwood grove. Reed said these forests were home to Ohlone Indians known as the Cotoni for thousands of years, prompting the government alongside conservation groups to add them to the site’s official name, making it Cotoni-Coast Dairies.
While natural beauty is in no short supply on the property, it does have some wear and tear. Remnants of the old dairy ranch, started by a pair of Swiss families at the turn of the last century, dot a portion of the grasslands.
Higher up, quarries scar some of the mountainsides, while milelong conveyers, which once hoisted limestone to Davenport’s shuttered cement plant, still crisscross the land.
Pam Koch, a longtime Bonny Doon resident who sits on the Sempervirens Fund board of directors, was elated to see the industry cease and the land be set aside for protection. With a terrace that overlooks the site, she remembers what an irritation the property was almost two decades ago.
“There was noise. There was smoke,” she said. “Noon whistles. Conveyor belts. Big trucks.”
The conservation effort began amid several attempts to develop the property. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. envisioned nuclear power, and a Las Vegas real estate developer eyed Malibu-style homes.
In 1997, the Save the Redwoods League negotiated an option to buy Coast Dairies, and a year later the Trust for Public Land sealed the deal. Eventually, the property’s coastline was transferred to California State Parks, while the bulk of the land was given in 2014 to the Bureau of Land Management.
The federal donation came with an agreement: The area would not be used for mining or any exploitive activities.
Last week’s designation of the land as a national monument didn’t add any protections that the property didn’t already enjoy, but advocates say it could mean more money. The Bureau of Land Management hasn’t had the funding to push ahead with a cleanup of the site or add visitor amenities.
This is what concerns Davenport resident Leanne Salandro, who was among many who fought the special status for Coast Dairies. They say the area isn’t prepared for the traffic, the parking and any other problems, such as litter or even an accidental wildfire, that crowds could bring.
“There’s already people who come walking down our streets and they have day packs on,” she said. “Everybody’s looking for that secret, special, no-one-has-been-there spot.”
With the federal designation, she said, the floodgates have opened.
The Bureau of Land Management and local leaders, however, pledged to do their best to protect the property as well as the serenity of those living nearby.
Coonerty, the county supervisor, acknowledged that public services like law enforcement are already tested by crowds flocking to state parks on the isolated coast. While a national monument will probably add more pressure, he said, the county is working on adding support.
Until that happens, he said, Coast Dairies will remain offlimits.
“This is something for our grandkids,” he said. “So we need to take the long view.”