Article taken from the
Santa Barbara News Press
Published with permission
GAVIOTA: Coast at a crossroads
No common ground found in similar cases
By MELINDA
BURNS
NEWS-PRESS SENIOR WRITER
3/19/03
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Property owners on the coast tried but failed to stop the study, which was ordered by Congress three years ago. And despite an attempt to find common ground, the two sides remain worlds apart, unable to agree on whether the coast needs special protection in the first place.
It's not surprising, then, that ranchers and environmentalists drew opposite conclusions from the stories of residents living in and around the Point Reyes National Seashore, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, and Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, as recounted in the News-Press this week.
"I don't see how we can do this without the larger, more ready funding sources that are available through the federal government," said Mike Lunsford, president of the Gaviota Coast Conservancy, a nonprofit group that lobbied Congress to perform the study.
But "the National Park Service and agriculture can't coexist," says Bill Giorgi, owner of the Nojoqui Falls Ranch, a property north of Gaviota and within the study boundary. "They've got different goals."
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Meanwhile, 38 acres of "prime ocean front" at the Eagle Canyon Ranch, with a "heavily treed, secluded sandy beach," is newly advertised for sale just west of the Bacara Spa & Resort. The price is just $25 million, or $658,000 per acre. That's a 13 percent increase in land values since last August, when the ocean bluffs at Naples, a mile west of the Eagle Canyon, went on the market for up to $580,000 per acre.
In the eyes of preservationists, the Park Service has rescued other scenic West Coast sites from the familiar cycle of escalating land prices, rising property taxes, decline of agriculture and ensuing sale to developers.
"It's clear, from the Santa Monica Mountains, that if you don't buy the land or the development rights, then eventually you lose to speculators," Mr. Lunsford said.
But Gaviota coast ranchers point to the complaints from Point Reyes cattlemen about extensive Park Service environmental studies and delays in permit renewals.
"There's a few bits of agriculture going on at Point Reyes, but it's nothing compared to what it was," Mr. Giorgi said. "Parks don't have anything to do with production. My biggest fear is that the regulations will drive us out."
Mr. Giorgi also noted the Park Service has insufficient funds to buy land and development rights from all the willing sellers in parks such as the Santa Monica Mountains.
"They've got such a backlog now, we've got to take care of what we have," he said.
The Park Service is presently studying 40 areas around the country, including Gaviota, for possible inclusion in the national park system. Most of the areas are historic sites or groups of historic sites, such as the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, where more than a dozen sizeable Civil War battles were fought; or the buildings associated with Harriet Tubman, who led 300 slaves to freedom on the Underground Railroad.
"The trend in the last few years has been more of a focus on historic sites than on large natural landscapes," said Warren Brown, the Park Service chief of planning and special studies.
The Park Service study to be released next month will review the biological, archaeological and historical resources of the 76-mile-long coast, which includes Vandenberg Air Force Base. It will examine the pros and cons of different levels of Park Service involvement, including strategies in which much of the land within park boundaries would remain in private hands.
Bob Keats of the Surfrider Foundation says that only the federal government can ensure permanent protection for the Gaviota coast.
"I don't see any other way," he said. "How do you manage all these resources, and how do you pay for it all? If we don't take steps to protect these areas, they're going to get urbanized. Just standing on the sidelines and watching isn't going to get it done."
But the Park Service study also will consider the status quo, in which county supervisors decide how much can be built on the coast, and the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, a nonprofit group, strives to purchase development rights from willing sellers. Mr. Giorgi favors this "no-action" alternative.
"I thought things were going along pretty well as they were," he said.
Frank Alegria, who, along with Mr. Giorgi, has participated in regular meetings with environmentalists to discuss the future of the Gaviota coast, said he was hoping for a "local solution."
Mr. Alegria runs a ranch in Refugio Canyon and is a field manager for Calavo, an avocado cooperative.
"I would rather see private ownership in the area enhanced instead of being fought against."
Mr. Alegria said. "I'm not sure a national seashore is for private ownership."
As required by law, the draft Park Service study will include a selection of the "environmentally preferred alternative" -- that is, the strategy that would best preserve the resources and history of the Gaviota coast. A 90-day public comment period, including public hearings, will follow.
The final study, including a Park Service recommendation, will be released in the fall. The preservation strategy recommended by the Park Service for the Gaviota coast may be different from the "environmentally preferred alternative."
Congress has the final say regarding any new national parks. Given recent trends, a designation such as a national seashore on the Gaviota coast, in which most of the land is owned by the Park Service, seems highly unlikely.
In looking into historical sites around the country, said Mr. Brown, the Park Service planning chief, "there's no anticipation of authority from the federal government to acquire any property . . . We're often looking at very large landscapes, but focusing on the role the Park Service might play in providing technical and financial assistance."
A park designation called the "national heritage area," in which the Park Service provides $1 million per year for 10 years to a regional agency, has generated considerable interest elsewhere, Mr. Brown said. But he cautioned that the idea would not work unless there was consensus at the local level about wanting national recognition.
"One of the major conditions is the existence of a strong local base of support," he said. "From what I've heard, I'm not sure that's the case on the Gaviota coast."