California Coast & Ocean

The closing of escrow on the acquisition was announced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Feb. 18, 2005. Soon after, these 949 acres were transferred to State Parks, to be added to San Simeon State Park. This year, the 20-acre Piedras Blancas Motel site was added. What else has happened? Not much, save for ongoing monitoring of the conservation easements, the expansion of some boardwalks near elephant seal rookeries, and the installation of a few pedestrian entrances. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

True, no public campgrounds or trails have been developed along Highway 1, but no McMansions have sprouted east of the highway, nor is there a new resort at San Simeon Cove. So far, Hearst hasn’t sought a single building permit. The ranch looks much the same as it did right before the agreement--the same, in fact, as it has for a century or more. There is the rocky coast, fronted by grasslands and chaparral that roll up against oak uplands. The Santa Lucia Range stands as a rampart to the east, sometimes exquisitely detailed in full sunshine, sometimes dark and brooding, partially obscured by fog and shadows.

You could imagine Drake sailing up this coast, observing a landscape not appreciably different from that which exists today--Hearst Castle being the one exception, of course. Located 30 miles north of Morro Bay on the Enchanted Hill, it ineluctably draws the eye. Yet somehow it doesn’t clash with the wild landscape; it looks otherworldly, like something from another time, or out of time altogether.

When the deal closed, much remained vague. It was not clear when or if the Hearst Corporation would try to build the ranchettes east of Highway 1, or the resort at San Simeon Cove. Nor was it determined when State Parks would develop the Coastal Trail or when campsites would be established.

“It was a very large and very complicated project, consisting of many components,” observed Steve Horn, former deputy executive officer of the Coastal Conservancy, who participated in the negotiations--and who still seems a little fatigued when discussing it. “So many things were wrapped up in it--the realignment of Highway 1, increased public access, the conservation of scenic views. It is a difficult agreement to summarize.”

One thing’s sure: the entire process is moving slowly. State Parks held four workshops in Cambria and San Luis Obispo in the spring and summer of 2006 to enable the different groups and agencies that participated in the deal to coordinate future plans and provide interested citizens the opportunity to comment.

“The one thing we [got] from the public is that they want the least disturbance possible, and we’re honoring that request,” said Leander Tamoria, State Parks’ supervising ranger for the San Luis Obispo Coast District. “We’re not sure what the final configuration will be, but we want to make the impacts to the land minimal.”

Currently, State Parks is wrapping up studies of the coastal property’s archeological and natural values. Some surprises have emerged, most notably the presence of the Smith’s blue butterfly, a federally listed endangered species. It feeds on coast buckwheat, a fairly common plant in the area. Park staffers also are removing invasive flora, particularly pampas grass and ice plant.

In the meantime, visitors have free access to the coast at any point along the 13 miles of new state parkland, with the exclusion of elephant seal rookeries, where safety requires that people stay at a distance. Hearst is not enforcing its rights along the five miles of shoreline it has retained, so the informal access that has long existed there continues. Guided tours on San Simeon Point and Ragged Point have yet to happen.

Access to beaches and coves can be had via primitive trails that wend through the thick vegetation, and for the foreseeable future a certain laissez-faire policy will prevail: people are allowed, if not explicitly encouraged, to get to the coast as best they can.

Three possible locations for new campgrounds exist: at the Junge Ranch between San Simeon Creek and the town of San Simeon; the Molinari Ranch, just north of the existing campground at San Simeon State Park; and on a 20-acre blufftop parcel north of Point Piedras Blancas, site of the former Piedras Blancas Motel, acquired recently with the help of the Coastal Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land. All three properties are now state parklands. At a public brainstorming session about the future of the motel and its site held on November 14, those present agreed they want low-cost overnight accomodations there.

“We’re taking slow methodical steps for a reason,” Tamoria said. “We want to make sure our mapping and resource inventories are comprehensive, and we want to avoid overbuilding. We’re asking the public to be patient.”