California Coast & Ocean

New Strategic Plan Shows Phenomenal Growth
The Coastal Conservancy approved its 2007 strategic plan at a public hearing in Eureka on September 20, charting a course for the next five years. The document describes current and historical resource allocation by the Conservancy, public needs served, policies and principles guiding the Conservancy and its staff, and the intended and recommended future course.

The Coastal Conservancy strategic plan is a “living” document, intended for reference in the course of conducting the daily activities of the Conservancy. It will be subject to an annual formal evaluation and will be updated within five years.

Since it was created by the Legislature in 1976, the Conservancy has experienced phenomenal growth in capital outlay funding for projects. In its first 20 years, the agency spent approximately $200 million on restoration, acquisition, and access projects. During the next five years it spent twice that. Between 2001 and 2006, the agency’s capacity and responsibilities continued to grow as voter-approved Propositions 40 and 50 allocated $380 million directly to the Conservancy, the Legislature allocated an additional $46.4 million from Proposition 40 for watershed management projects, and the California Wildlife Conservation Board granted the Conservancy $40 million for San Francisco Bay Area wetland projects.

It is anticipated that the next five years’ funding will be at levels similar to or greater than the past five years. The passage of Proposition 84 in November 2006 allocated $360 million to the Conservancy. Another $90 million is available to the Conservancy for purposes of ocean protection through the Ocean Protection Trust Fund.

Funds available for expenditure on projects over the next five years total approximately $500 million, including balances from recent bonds and Proposition 84. For purposes of planning and prioritizing expenditures, the Conservancy assumes that $100-150 million of additional funds will become available, derived from legislative appropriations of unallocated sections of Proposition 84, one additional state resource bond, and some newly developed or allocated non-bond sources, such as a Bay Area license plate. The strategic plan assumes that with these additional resources, the Conservancy will have a total of $600 to $650 million to spend--$100 to $130 million per year over the next five years. The plan also assumes that the Conservancy will continue to leverage its funds by at least two to one, on average.

The Conservancy’s recently completed Five-Year Capital Infrastructure Plan (FY08/09-12/13) identified a need for approximately two times the dollar amount assumed to be available to the Conservancy. Like the strategic plan, the infrastructure plan also assumes the Conservancy’s funds will be matched by at least two to one.

The Coastal Conservancy’s 2007 strategic plan is available at www.scc.ca.gov and also in print by contacting the Coastal Conservancy, 1330 Broadway, 13th Floor, Oakland, CA 94612; (510) 286-1015.

More Funding for the Bay Trail
Many more miles of the proposed 500-mile San Francisco Bay Trail network will be completed during the next few years with the help of $3 million approved by the Conservancy in September. Since 1990, 290 miles have been completed, enabling hikers, bicyclists, skaters, and wheelchair riders to visit more than 130 parks and wildlife preserves along or near the shores of San Francisco and San Pablo Bays, as well as city waterfronts, beaches, marinas, piers, and boat launches. The Conservancy has contributed nearly $17 million to the Bay Trail Project since its inception, and each dollar has leveraged four dollars from other sources.

Ocean Hazard Warnings
By May 2008, 1,325 signs in English and in Spanish will be posted on beaches statewide, warning visitors of potentially dangerous steep beaches and rip currents. The nonprofit Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods and a local designer created a steep beach warning sign in English and Spanish versions out of concern for drownings in the Spanish-speaking community in Sonoma County (see Coast & Ocean, Vol. 22, no. 3). The Stewards and California Sea Grant Extension will produce and distribute both steep beach and rip current signs, 600 of which have already been posted in San Diego, Orange, and Los Angeles Counties. In September, the Conservancy approved $21,925 to the Stewards to complete the final 725 signs.