On January 12, 2017, then-President Obama, under the auspices of the National Antiquities Act, proclaimed Coast Dairies a national monument. Out of respect for the history of the 5,800 acre property that stretches from Highway One up into Bonny Doon, he added the name of the Cotoni band of Amah Matsun people, who used to inhabit the area, to the Coast Dairies name.
Responding to concerns raised by the Rural Bonny Doon Association and the Davenport North Coast Association, in April 2015 the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution that based their support for the monument on a set of conditions that would help mitigate the impacts of the increased visitation that properties designated as monuments attracts. The Proclamation fails to meet several of those conditions, starting with the inclusion of Cotoni-Coast Dairies as part of the California Coastal National Monument (CCNM), the huge expanse of water and coastal rocks that stretches along California’s shoreline. (The Supervisors resolution specifically stated, “There should be no implication in the Proclamation that the National Monument is adjacent to the California Coastal National Monument.” Instead, Coast Dairies is now part of the CCNM.) Several critical aspects of the Proclamation don’t meet the criteria set by the Supervisors for support of monument status. For example, Condition 10 is that “Long-term funding from private, as well as public, institutions should be secured to assure adequate management of the Monument.” While Sempervirens Fund, which initiated and spearheaded the campaign for monument status, has promised some funding, it is paltry compared to the amount needed for “adequate management.” More importantly, the Dept. of Interior, which manages Coast Dairies through the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), has long been pinched for funding by the Republican dominated Congress, and the Trump Administration will almost certainly be opposed to increasing Interior’s budget. In fact, a shrinking of Interior’s budget is more likely to occur. Condition 3 stated that “The Proclamation designating the National Monument shall contain a commitment that the National Monument Management Plan shall: a. Be comprehensive and specific to the land included in the Coast Dairies National Monument.” The Proclamation made no mention of that, and it seems that the management plan may instead be made part of the CCNM management plan. The Proclamation also ignores Condition 2, which calls for the management plan to be completed within 3 years. Condition 3f. said the Proclamation should direct that the management plan “Assure that local fire and rescue services are not overburdened by increased use.” No such language is in the Proclamation. Condition 3g. demanded that a fee-for-service be negotiated for emergency services, and take into consideration “costs that occur off the property as a result of its public use.” Again, not in the Proclamation. Condition 9 was that “There should be no specific reference to plant communities not specifically listed as endangered on Federal or California state endangered species lists.” The Proclamation specifically names several such plant communities. The big question now is whether there will be enough additional funding, from public and private sources, to minimize the impacts of greatly increased visitation on the flora and fauna, on the neighboring communities of Davenport and Bonny Doon, and on local emergency and law enforcement services. As for the increased traffic, especially on Highway 1/Mission St., but also on Highways 17 and 92, and on Bonny Doon and Felton Empire roads, we find it hard to come up with any viable solutions. We hope, though by no means expect, that the Supervisors will actively pressure the BLM, which most likely will continue to manage Cotoni-Coast Dairies, to live up to the conditions their Resolution demanded. Sempervirens Fund and other organizations that pushed monument status on us have a moral obligation to make this work as best as possible. Those of us who fought this designation, on the grounds that Coast Dairies was already fully protected and that greatly increased visitation would have only negative consequences, also have an obligation to try to make the best of this, through public participation in the management plan process, oversight of BLM’s implementation of the management plan, and by volunteering our time as docents on the property itself.
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