RECENT CONSERVANCY ACTIONS
At its meeting on January 18 in San Diego, the Coastal Conservancy supported 16 projects along California's coast and around San Francisco Bay by approving a total $9.6 million in funding. The Conservancy's support for these projects is leveraging almost $8 million from federal and local governments and private organizations.

Among the statewide projects funded in January is $4.2 million for data collection, research, monitoring, and other actions to improve California's management of marine fish habitats and populations. The funding will help implement the Marine Life Protection Act and Marine Life Management Act, as specified in the Ocean Protection Council/Department of Fish and Game joint work plan, and will include grants to the Department of Fish and Game and the Pacific Coast Marine Fisheries Commission.

The Conservancy also granted $90,000 to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to prepare a study of existing state expenditures and identify funding gaps for California coastal and ocean restoration programs and projects. Among other projects approved in January are:

Making San Diego's Beaches More Accessible
Wheelchair riders will soon be able to explore more beaches in San Diego County on their own, using motorized beach wheelchairs equipped with balloon tires. Coronado and Oceanside city beaches and Silver Strand State Beach will each provide three power beach wheelchairs that can be used at no cost by people with impaired mobility. They will join the four San Diego city beaches--Mission, South Mission, Ocean, and La Jolla Shores--that already provide wheelchairs through the City's Beach Access Program, developed with the assistance of Accessible San Diego, a group that provides information on accessibility to seniors and travelers with disabilities.

Accessible San Diego will use $313,000 approved by the Conservancy to buy both power and manual wheelchairs for the three beaches, train city staff to operate them, and publicize the program to both residents and visitors. Motorized beach wheelchairs allow their users to move around independently, while manual beach wheelchairs must be pushed by another person but can also be used in the water. After the first year, city staff will take over the program.

Accessible San Diego will also help staff at each location assess the accessibility of parking, paths, restroom facilities, and signage, and will work with local companies to design improved equipment for beach accessibility. If the programs at these beaches are successful, the group will work to establish similar programs at other beaches in San Diego County and beyond.

Sustainable Sea Urchin Harvesting
In a time when so many commercial fisheries are in trouble, San Diego's sea urchin fishermen are taking steps to help their still-healthy sea urchin populations stay that way. The San Diego Sea Urchin Project aims to move the fishery toward long-term conservation and sustainability through better collection and sharing of data, and improved fishery management. The project is being developed by the San Diego Watermen's Association, a fishery harvesting cooperative that includes the area's leading commercial sea urchin divers, with the help of $114,120 of California Ocean Protection Council funding approved by the Conservancy.

The association will recruit and train urchin fishermen to collect data about the areas in which they fish and share it with academic collaborators and government fishery managers. The data will be used to create a stock assessment for the fishery, which will help managers, scientists, and fishermen to create cooperative harvest strategies that help conserve urchin populations. The group will also conduct meetings between divers, fish processors, scientists, and resource managers to develop proposals for a sea urchin fishery management plan for the San Diego area.

One of the primary goals of the project is to develop a collaborative, community-based system of fishery management, grounded in accurate scientific assessment of the state of the sea urchin populations. Using this system, the association hopes to change the fishing environment from one of competition, where it is not in an individual diver's interest to leave sea urchins behind in order to mature, to one of cooperative conservation, where fishermen jointly decide to delay harvesting to increase sea urchin yields and quality.

Another element of the project aims to improve product quality and distribution--including developing a steady supply of live sea urchins for market--so that fishermen can get higher prices more consistently, rather than having to rely on selling large quantities. After the project is completed, the association will use the information to develop a business plan for the fishery.

Progress toward Carmel River Parkway
The Big Sur Land Trust will purchase 8.1 acres from two private owners for the proposed Carmel River Parkway with the help of $3.5 million approved by the Conservancy. Of the total, $2.5 million is a three-year loan, $1 million is a grant.Landowners who participate will be required to restore and manage the ponds and the 300 acres of rangeland surrounding each of them to accommodate the habitat needs of the threatened California red-legged frog and California tiger salamander. Other animals, including western pond turtles, San Joaquin kit foxes and Alameda whipsnakes, will benefit from the habitat restoration as well.

The Parkway Plan, developed by the land trust in 2005 with community input, envisions a connected network of protected lands and waters reaching 18.5 miles upstream from the lagoon at the river mouth to San Clemente Dam. The Plan also calls for restoring 264 acres of floodplain habitat and 6.4 miles of the Carmel River, improving five wildlife corridors, removing invasive species, and planting native plants.

The three-acre Quail property, on the river’s south side, will link Valley Greens Drive and Palo Corona Regional Park along a two-mile utility road that will become part of the Parkway trail. A two-bedroom house on the Quail property, currently used by the Santa Lucia Conservancy as office and visitor center, will become an educational center. A small parking lot will provide for Parkway users and visitors to the center. The 5.1-acre Howe property, on the river’s north side, about 1.5 miles from its mouth, will be used as a staging area, with parking, equestrian facilities, and trailheads for both the Parkway and Palo Corona Regional Park. The access road to this property is a critical connection between Rios Road and the river.

The Parkway Plan focuses on first developing the mid-valley stretch of the parkway, then eventually extending it into Los Padres National Forest. (See more on plans for this region in the next issue of Coast & Ocean.)

A “Green” Center for Environmental Education
Salmon Creek School, on Salmon Creek in Sonoma County near Occidental, has 420 pupils in kindergarten through the eighth grade, and is known for the excellence of its environmental education program. Children watch and monitor the creek from an observation deck, grow native plants in a greenhouse and nursery, and participate in activities that include recycling and composting programs and an annual harvest celebration.

Soon the school will get a new “green” environmental learning center that is expected to become a model of sustainable design, meeting the rigorous criteria of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The 6,150-square-foot, single-story structure will be built with nontoxic, resource-efficient materials and will be heated by a passive solar energy system backed up by an under-floor hydronic heating system. It will include a photovoltaic electrical generation system and a rainwater collection system. The new center, which will highlight the diverse ecosystems within the school’s 67 acres, will include classrooms, an auditorium, a cafeteria, and habitat gardens.

Students from other schools in Sonoma County are expected to participate in Salmon Creek School’s environmental education program after the new center is built. High school and university students, teachers, and community organizations will be invited to visit.

The Conservancy approved $750,000 to the Harmony Union School District to help build the center. Earlier, the Conservancy helped to build an outdoor classroom at the school.

Lighthouse Upgrade
Pigeon Point Historic Light Station State Park will use $305,000 allocated by the Conservancy to relocate and expand the station's parking lot, install a public restroom, construct trails overlooking the ocean, and create a scenic gateway for the lighthouse and neighboring parklands.