by Peter S. Alagona

On U.S. highway 101, just west of Santa Barbara, California, there is an inconspicuous street sign that catches the eye of every passing nature lover. It says, next services 32 miles. Beyond it lies the Gaviota Coast, which, besides some agricultural development and low-density residential development, is the last remaining relatively intact stretch of coastline in urbanized southern California.

Overlooking the Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands National Park, the Gaviota Coast is a hot spot of biological diversity. Its waters are home to steelhead salmon, at least 25 species of marine mammals, and towering underwater kelp forests. A diverse assemblage of wildlife, including mountain lions and black bears, inhabit its chaparral-covered mountains, and the National Audubon Society recently designated portions of the region as a Globally Important Bird Area.

The Gaviota Coast, for all its diverse beauty, is also highly imperiled. For years threats of development have loomed over its pounding surf like a thick summer fog, but now local citizens, politicians, scientists, and landowners are banding together in an attempt to preserve the area's rural character. But within that general alliance is a movement to create the United States' next national seashore out of the area's mosaic of private, state, and federal lands, some of which are already protected. 

Efforts to preserve the Gaviota Coast got off the ground in April 1994, when the Santa Barbara Audubon Society sponsored the Coastal Preservation Conference. The conference was organized by Lee Moldaver, who now serves as vice-president of the Santa Barbara Audubon Society, representative for California's Central Coast Audubon chapters, and vice-chair of Audubon's California board. According to Moldaver, "The Coastal Preservation Conference brought together--for the first time--a diverse group of stakeholders to discuss the future of the Gaviota Coast. Whereas many other conservation groups in California had been left to fight for the last remnants of critical habitat, we began planning proactively on the scale of an entire region." 

Since 1994 the Santa Barbara Audubon Society has continued its coastal conservation efforts through the restoration of local creeks and wetlands, the support of slow-growth planning policies, the scientific monitoring of local bird populations, and conservation education. The chapter also helped start the Gaviota Coast Conservancy, which was established specifically to preserve the Gaviota region.

The federal government is now involved in coastal conservation efforts, and National Park Service officials are currently studying the feasibility of creating a new national seashore along the Santa Barbara coastline. Designation as a national seashore could establish conservation easements, provide a framework for regional conservation planning, and limit new development within the area. For additional information about preservation efforts along the Gaviota Coast, see the Santa Barbara chapter's web page at www.audubon.org/chapter/ca/santabarbara/.