Treehuggers International » California State Parks

Earth Day Restoration at California State Parks and the Crystal Cove Alliance

tommy — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:50:25 +0000

New State Park Closures List Due Any Moment

Treehuggers International welcomes Sara Feldman, the Vice President for Programs at the California State Parks Foundation, back to the program to talk about potential state park closures, as well as the California State Park Foundation’s upcoming Earth Day Restoration and Clean-Up on April 16th.

Also on this edition of Treehuggers International is special guest Laura Davick, the President and Founder of the Crystal Cove Alliance in Orange County, a model for successful public/private partnerships with the mission of preserving California’s state parks.

A pelican enjoys the sunset from the Crystal Cove tidepools.

Familiar Ground

Since the beginning of Treehuggers International in 2007, founder and host Tommy Hough has often referred to California State Parks as the “envy of the nation.” While National Parks and National Monuments located in California typically defy superlatives and stand as some of the grandest in the nation, California’s state parks also hold a bounty of National Park-worthy sites, vistas, and resources, from Anza-Borrego to Montaña de Oro and Henry Coe, to the network of Redwood state parks along the North Coast.

California State Parks also go a long way towards preserving the history of the Golden State, from a park celebrating Southern California’s long-gone citrus empire in Riverside, to the one of the first African-American communities in the Central Valley, to the beginning of California’s gold rush at Sutter’s Mill along the American River.

With the failure of Proposition 21 in last November’s election, California’s remarkable state park system remains faced with the same threats of closure they’ve faced in previous years. As returning Governor Jerry Brown has made clear from the moment he took office, he intends to spread the pain of budget cuts across the board, including California State Parks. So far, the governor’s proposed 2011 budget calls for $11 million dollars in cuts to state parks, with an additional $11 million to be cut in 2012, making state park closures a certainty.

With park advocates’ backs to the wall and the impending release of a new state parks closure list, California State Parks, in conjunction with the California State Parks Foundation and various conservancies and associations around the state, is once again considering alternate sources of funding in order to keep parks open to the public and able to operate.

Earth Day Restoration and Clean-Up

Sara and Laura also take a few moments to talk about this year’s California State Parks Foundation annual Earth Day Restoration and Clean-Up, happening at state parks sites around California on Saturday, April 16th. You can join volunteers to plant trees, restore trails, and clean waterways at California’s magnificent state parks.

For individuals, groups or businesses interested in volunteering on Earth Day or to find an Earth Day Restoration and Clean-Up site a site near you, go to the California State Parks Foundation website, or call 1-888-98-PARKS.

For more information on Laura and the Crystal Cove Alliance, call (949) 376-0900.

Statement On the Defeat of Proposition 21

tommy — Wed, 03 Nov 2010 06:21:05 +0000

Stately oak grotto at Los Osos Oaks State Reserve, San Luis Obispo County.

Statement On the Defeat of Proposition 21

By Tommy Hough, Founder of Treehuggers International

(San Diego, CA) – Sometimes you come up short.

Proposition 21 was a well-constructed piece of citizen legislation and a sensible idea, but even in a good economy, passing it would have been an uphill battle.

When it comes to preserving the environment and conservation initiatives, change has never come easy. With the mercurial nature of the proposition process and taking the temperature of the electorate, multiple tries at an issue are often required before the right formula is reached. Our only hope at Treehuggers International is we still have California State Parks to save once we arrive at the right formula, whether with the help of lawmakers in Sacramento or through another proposition measure.

While there are dozens of regional conservancies and organizations the length of the state doing tremendous work every day keeping California State Parks the “envy of the nation,” the system itself is reaching a point of critical mass.

The best way to raise awareness, generate enthusiasm, and get people excited about the natural history and legacy of California State Parks is by getting friends, family, and neighbors into the Great Outdoors to experience parks and connect with them.

Whether in a Redwood grove at Prairie Creek, hiking the bluffs at Montaña de Oro, or savoring the view from Font’s Point at Anza-Borrego, it doesn’t take much for the average person, when confronted with the beauty and wonder California State Parks, to find their “batteries recharged” and their sense of peace and balance restored.

The dedicated men and women of California State Parks do an amazing job of adapting and making do with what they have, providing the best experience for park users. But only when the public can tangibly appreciate what California State Parks have to offer and what they stand to lose will they demand Sacramento cease strangling park budgets and leaving historic sites mothballed or in a state of permanent disrepair, from trails to visitor facilities to ranger-led law enforcement.

While we can’t control the end result of a proposition campaign, we can continue to pro-actively work toward solutions, building relationships and coalitions, and most importantly, getting our friends, family, and neighbors into California’s Great Outdoors with us. Lead a hike, organize an outing, and show your friends and neighbors what we value, and what natural wonders decades of conservation efforts and brave stands by wise lawmakers have set aside for us, in our name, at California State Parks.

California State Parks will likely suffer more closures and cuts, but if there is one silver lining, it is the fact California has a new governor. While Jerry Brown pledged there would be “no sacred cows” when it comes to the budget, Brown also understands the economic engine state parks represent for adjoining communities, and realizes current funding for the beleaguered park system takes up less than one-tenth of one percent of the state’s general fund, proportionally a microscopic sliver. Considering Jerry Brown also cut the ribbon on many state parks during his previous service as governor, he is also more aware than nearly any other California elected official of the importance and value parks have for the state’s citizens.

Prop. 21 would have effectively and economically enabled the survival of California State Parks and offer the opportunity for even more people to connect with them, but keep your chin up parks fans: we move forward. Over 760,000 signatures were collected around the state to put this proposition on the ballot. That’s no small number.

Now lace up your boots, grab a friend, get outside, and enjoy the Golden State’s natural heritage.

Treehuggers International

Treehuggers International is an environmental affairs and natural science program, dedicated to the preservation of parks, wilderness, and special places, which airs Sunday mornings on KBZT FM 94/9 in San Diego and on-line at KMTT 103.7 The Mountain in Seattle. Treehuggers International is the brainchild of radio personality, conservationist, and outdoorsman Tommy Hough.

More information at www.treehuggersintl.com.

Castle Crags State Park from Vista View, Shasta County.

Afternoon sunlight on the bluffs at Torrey Pines State Reserve, San Diego County.

Abundant springtime grass at Henry W. Coe State Park, Santa Clara County.

Prop. 21 Gives California State Parks Hope

tommy — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 17:57:37 +0000

Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Santa Cruz County.

The California Parks Access Pass initiative has at last been certified for the November ballot, and it now has a number: Proposition 21.

We at Treehuggers International fully support the Parks Access Pass initiative, which will generate some $500 million dollars a year exclusively for California State Parks, thereby taking funding for treasured parks like Humboldt Redwoods, Mt. Tamalpais, Crystal Cove, Sutter’s Mill, and hundreds of others off the political roller coaster of the general fund and what has become annual threats of closure.

The cost of the Parks Access Pass to Californians? An annual $18 dollar fee on the vehicle license renewal for all Californians, which breaks down to about $1.50 per month for year-round, no-fee access to California state parks. No more entry fees, and fully-staffed parks.

When you consider the average day-use pass at a California State Park runs between $8.00 and $15.00, the California Parks Access Pass is a bargain for Californians, who get to enjoy their parks year-round with no entry fees, while long-standing, backlogged maintenance needs and renovation projects can at last get underway and return the Golden State’s parks to their rightful status as the Envy of the Nation, to say nothing of the economic engine they provide nearby communities and businesses.

Treehuggers International revisits our Septemer 2009 conversation with Sara Feldman, the Vice President for Programs with the California State Paks Foundation, when the closure of 100 California State Parks due to budget shortfalls appeared imminent. Even though state parks put $2.35 back into the local economies of areas around parks for every one dollar of taxpayer money spent, and take up less than one-tenth of one percent of the entire annual California budget, the budget crises of recent years has again and again rendered California’s state parks a pawn in a political tug-of-war between the Governor and the legislature.

Along with the financial impact of potential park closures, Sara also discusses opportunities for joining parks with conservancies, foundations, and local governments to keep parks open in the event of mass closures, and goes over additional threats facing the integrity of California State Parks which have received less notice in light of threatened closures, particularly the long-proposed toll road through San Onofre State Beach and the proposed route of the Sunrise Powerlink transmission line through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

Learn more about the California Parks Access Pass and how you can help, take action, or volunteer at a state park near you at the California State Parks Foundation and the Yes On 21 for State Parks websites.

American River from Marshall Gold Discovery State Park, El Dorado County.

New Surfrider Film Illustrates Cross Purposes of Water Agencies

tommy — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:31:31 +0000

Spring runoff along Big Rock Creek, San Gabriel Mountains.

With World Water Day coming up on Monday, March 22nd, it’s a good time to think about the myriad of directions water agencies tend to go, with some agencies charged with the task of bringing water to thirsty Southern California, while others are charged with the task of flood control, flushing any rainwater the region may receive into the ocean as quickly as possible.

It’s not counter-intuitive to take a step back and ask why these agencies’ goals aren’t more in tandem. When rainwater falls in Southern California or a similarly dry climate, it would make as much sense to keep more than just what winds up in reservoirs and use it, rather than expel the rainwater into the sea, only to pull it from the ocean again in the form of a desalination plant, thereby burning more fossil fuels to extract the same fresh water which was just flushed away.

Enter The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water, a new, animated film produced by a team of activists from different chapters of the Surfrider Foundation, with Surfrider San Diego member and Know Your H20 co-chair Belinda Smith at the helm as Executive Producer.

As part of Surfrider’s new Ocean Friendly Gardens campaign, The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water discusses how the current management of our water supply runs counter to grade-school lessons about the water cycle, highlights controversial problems and solutions related to water management, and serves as a practical, good sense-driven outline for individuals curious about water issues.

And from one cycle of insanity to another, there remains Governor Schwarzenegger’s ongoing scheme to remove California State Parks from the state’s general fund, and instead fund the operation of all 278 state parks (and several other starving state institutions, including the U.C. and Cal. State systems) from oil revenues collected from a long-delayed, highly-controversial, twice-rejected offshore drilling plan along the Tranquillon Ridge in the Santa Barbara Channel.

In conjunction with the California State Parks Foundation, Treehuggers International was recently in Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day actively lobbying against such a move, and pressing state legislators for support of the Parks Access Pass initiative, currently in the signature-gathering stage and expected to be on the November ballot. By adding an annual $18 surcharge to all California-registered vehicles, state parks will similarly be removed from the general fund and fully funded from a regular, annual source of support, with the added benefit of EVERY Californian enjoying free access into all state parks, year-round.

Stefanie Sekich is best-known for her work in helping defeat the proposed Orange County toll road through the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach as part of Surfrider’s coastal campaigns and Save Trestles initiatives, and along with Belinda Smith, she stops by Treehuggers International for an update on not only the possibility of expanded offshore oil drilling in California’s coastal waters, but also in federal waters beyond the three-mile offshore mark of the state. While President Obama has been instrumental in the resuscitation of federal regulatory agencies and the creation of new wilderness areas with last year’s omnibus bill, he’s been reluctant to remove the option of renewed offshore oil drilling off the California coast.

From The Cycle of Insanity film to the ongoing parks-for-oil cycle of insanity, we cover some extra ground on this edition of Treehuggers International.

The San Diego Surfrider chapter is hosting the premiere screening of The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water on March 22nd at 4:00, 6:00, and 7:30 pm at The Loft on the UCSD campus. The screenings are open and free to the public, with a Q & A session following the 4:00 and 6:00 screenings.

Treehuggers International Heading to Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day

tommy — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 03:13:45 +0000

A Save Our State Parks demonstration at the state capitol in Sacramento.

Treehuggers International is heading to Sacramento on March 8th to put in a little face time with California state legislators on Parks Advocacy Day.

The mission is to not only encourage legislators to keep California State Parks open, but to encourage lawmakers to reject Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposal to eliminate public funding for California State Parks by replacing it with funding from offshore oil drilling projects which are controversial at best, twice rejected by the California Coastal Commission, and far from being approved.

Along with our partners at the California State Parks Foundation, Treehuggers International continues to advocate for a statewide measure to put the State Park Access Pass on the ballot in November. Called the California State Parks and Wildlife Conservation Trust Fund Act of 2010, the initiative is currently in the signature-gathering stage.

If passed, Californians would support their state park system and wildlife conservation areas by paying an $18 dollar annual surcharge on vehicle license fees. In return, state parks would not only remain open, but ALL Californians with vehicles registered in their name would be able to access any California State Park, at any time, for free.

Talk about a win-win. Californians get free access to their parks, and the parks remain open with a steady, reliable, regular funding apparatus.

Sacramento, we’re coming your way on March 8th. See you then.

An eagle makes a stand at Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park.

California State Parks Held Hostage By Big Oil

tommy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:53:09 +0000

Will San Simeon State Park's future be tied to offshore oil drilling?

California Gov. Schwarzenegger tends to vascillate between being a constructive friend of the environment to annoying we conservationists and outdoors fans down to the soles of our hiking boots. For all the good environmental sense Schwarzenegger has demonstrated leadership on, from demanding greater fuel efficiency to actively working to combat climate change to embracing solar and alternative energy solutions, he’s also racked up a bizarre track record of being on the wrong side of local conservation issues, from calling the proposed toll road through Trestles and San Onofre State Beach “essential,” to backing the Sunrise Powerlink’s route through Anza-Borrego wilderness areas, to his pathological habit of playing brinksmanship-style politics with California State Parks.

Last spring, Schwarzenegger took the state’s breath away by seriously proposing to close and mothball 220 of the state’s 279 state parks. A revised budget approved by the Governor during the summer forced the early closure and haphazard staffing of state parks which continues today, and it’s not as it California State Parks is one of the budget-breakers of the state’s general fund. The state park system which is justifiably the envy of the nation has been making due with little-to-less for much of the past 30 years. Today, it has been cut to the literal bone.

The latest madness involving California State Parks can be found in Gov. Schwarzenegger’s budget proposal for the 2010-11 fiscal year, which includes a scheme to fund all 279 state parks from oil revenues (!) collected from a long-delayed, highly-controversial offshore drilling plan along the Tranquillon Ridge in the Santa Barbara Channel.

Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park.

Never mind the plan has been shot down by the California Coastal Commission, twice, and never mind it was a catastrophic oil spill off the Santa Barbara coast in 1969 which gave rise to the current environmental movement and moratorium on offshore drilling in the Golden State, this is how Schwarzenegger proposes to fund the state park system, which not only operates 279 state parks, but also an effective law enforcement apparatus with less than one-tenth of one percent of the entire annual general fund. A bargain.

To top it off, the Governor’s proposal was announced the same day supporters of a ballot initiative designed to secure regular, permanent funding for state parks via an annual $18 fee on license tab renewals (the average day-use fee at California State Parks is around $10) announced the launch of a signature-gathering campaign to qualify the initiative. Currently, about 700,000 signatures are needed to get the measure on the November ballot. Should it pass, all state residents will be able to use California State Parks for free, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

So why would Gov. Schwarzenegger tie the survival of the nation’s best state park system to fossil fuels and an offshore drilling plan which has already been denied permits twice, especially when such a constructive alternative is already in the signature-gathering stage? We at Treehuggers International were wondering if we’d missed something, and to better explain, Jerry Roberts with the Santa Barbara Independent wrote an outstanding op/ed dissection of the story in the paper’s January 14th edition:

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last week released his latest budget plan, which posed a no-win dilemma for many environmentalists. Grabbing $140 million from the California State Parks system – about one-third of its $431 million budget – Schwarzenegger said he’s counting on approval of Santa Barbara’s controversial Tranquillon Ridge drilling project for the money to backfill the cut. In other words, if he doesn’t get his way on offshore oil, state parks will take the hit.

Roberts goes on to say:

As a political matter, the governor’s third attempt to push through a new state lease, on behalf of the Houston-based PXP oil company, considerably raises the stakes on the issue. The oil versus parks formulation is one of several key changes Schwarzenegger made in earlier versions of the twice-defeated project; the move is aimed in part at undercutting an ad hoc coalition of more than 100 environmental group that oppose his oil plan.

The project has caused a bitter family feud between the coalition and Santa Barbara’s Environmental Defense Center. The EDC last year reached a confidential agreement with PXP, which the group claims includes conditions that will lead, within 15 years, to the end of much of the drilling off the county coast. Foes say, however, the project sets a dangerous precedent for breaching the California Sanctuary Act, and sends a political message that drill-baby-drill advocates will use to support their pro-oil position.

Last week, hours after Schwarzenegger released his proposal, EDC “expressed its appreciation” to him for his new push for the T-Ridge proposal: “We look forward to the opportunity to have this project reconsidered by the State Lands Commission,” said Linda Krop, EDC’s chief counsel.

You can read the rest of the Santa Barbara Independent story HERE, and to send a letter to Gov. Schwarzenegger with the help of the California State Parks Foundation, click HERE.

Mitchell Caverns State Park: should expanded offshore oil drilling fund these caves?

80 Percent of California State Parks to Close

daley — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 22:11:33 +0000

Desert Valley at Anza-Borrego erupts into a riot of color in the spring.

California’s State Parks are the envy of the nation, but they are facing grim times as Governor Schwarzenegger intends to close, padlock, and mothball 80% of California’s State Parks by the end of the summer in order to help pay down the state’s $24 billion dollar budget deficit. 80% of California’s duly revered state park system comes down to 220 out of 279 properties, and the volume and quality of the parks set to be closed is staggering. It’s not even a matter of which parks will close, but which ones will remain open.

In San Diego County, the current home of Treehuggers International, nine parks and beaches are set to be padlocked including: Palomar Mountain State Park, Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, Torrey Pines State Beach, Torrey Pines State Reserve, Border Field State Park, Silver Strand State Beach, Carlsbad State Beach, San Pasqual Battlefield State Park, and perhaps most impossibly of all, massive Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, the biggest state park in the nation.

So far, the projected fiscal savings are coming up as microscopic. The annual budget for state parks makes up less than one-tenth of one percent of the entire state budget, while at the same time, for every one dollar from the general fund which goes into California State Parks, a full $2.35 on the dollar goes back into the local economies of communities around parks, and state parks generate $4.3 billion dollars annually.

The price tag for closing the parks down, only to eventually re-open them, does not result in a net savings. So why close them in the name fiscal responsibility? Even as the illogical nature of the proposal is becoming clear, communities around the state are bracing for a financial calamity with park closures, so keep writing those letters and making calls to your state legislators.

Making special in-studio appearances for this urgent edition of Treehuggers International are Traci Verardo-Torres, the Legislative and Policy Director at the California State Parks Foundation, and Michael Cipra, the California Desert Program Manager at the National Parks Conservation Association’s California Desert Field Office in Joshua Tree.

For more information and to take action, click HERE.

Big Basin Redwoods State Park

Retired Ranger Steve Long Reflects On the Lessons of Trestles

daley — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 22:57:41 +0000

Heading Home: The Bush Commerce Department granted Trestles an 11th hour reprieve.

In the end, when it came, it was a whimper.

December’s U.S. Commerce Department decision essentially ended the TCA’s bid to build a toll road at San Onofre State Beach and Trestles, and served as a reprieve for one of Southern California’s most popular coastal destinations. For the Southern California surfing and environmental community, which fought so hard to keep the TCA’s designs on the park at bay, the decision was a reinforcement of the watershed California Coastal Commission decision in February 2008.

While greeted with relief, the federal decision was something of an anti-climactic postscript, marking the end of a hard, ultimately rewarding year fighting to keep Southern California’s greatest surfing destination, cleanest and most intact watershed, and miles of wild coastal backcountry free of a toll road which only developers believed was necessary and only the truly committed believed could really be beaten back.

Part of the anti-climactic nature of the ruling came from the fact no one ever believed Carlos Gutierrez, President Bush’s Commerce Secretary, would seriously validate the Coastal Commission’s findings by denying the TCA a construction permit. As a result, many surfers and activists had already made their peace with the park and their efforts to save it, and had steeled themselves for the worst.

When the announcement came, at Trestles, there were no shouts of joy or the back-slapping satisfaction of a hard-fought battle won: the waves crashed, the gulls cried, San Mateo Creek flowed, and surfers went about their sport as they have for decades.

One man who was there from the beginning of the park itself, and eventually, the toll road designs which fell upon San Onofre’s backcountry, is retired California State Parks ranger, surfer, and Senior Advisor to the San Onofre Foundation, Steve Long, who spent almost his entire outdoor career with the Orange Coast District of California State Parks.

Having spent 34 years watching over Trestles and the San Onofre backcountry in the service of the citizens of California, Steve Long is now leading the way in shaping the future of the park and what will happen after the state’s lease with the Navy Department runs out in 2021.

Retired from state duty, Steve offers an insider’s perspective and a fascinating glimpse into his time on the job and the battles behind the long-proposed toll road at San Onofre, which he justifiably calls “a world treasure.”

One of the cleanest watersheds in Southern California, San Mateo Creek at Trestles.

Commerce Department Hearing Regarding Trestles: Monday, September 22nd, Del Mar Fairgrounds

tommy — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 23:58:39 +0000

The Department of Commerce hearing regarding the proposed southern extension of the Foothill South 241 toll road at San Onofre State Beach and Trestles is Monday, September 22nd, from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm. The hearing will be held at the same place as the California Coastal Commission hearing in February: O’Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Turnout is EXTREMELY important.

If you would like to speak at the hearing, you must submit a written request via U.S. mail or a commercial carrier to the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration by THIS FRIDAY, September 12th. Requests after this date will be disqualified by the Commerce Department, and requests submitted by fax, e-mail or voicemail will, for whatever reason, not be accepted. Submit your written request NOW if you wish to speak.

While crucial issues include retaining the integrity of California State Parks and keeping a six-lane freeway out of the San Onofre State Beach and the intact San Mateo Creek watershed ~ which makes up the bulk of the San Onofre backcountry and empties onto Trestles Beach ~ the message is simple: SAVE TRESTLES.

Like Eddie Vedder says, "Save Trestles."

On September 22nd from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm at O’Brien Hall at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, the fight to save Trestles goes from being a state matter to a federal matter. The Orange County Transportation Corridors Agency has been appealing the state Coastal Commission’s denial of a permit to build the toll road through the park to the federal government, so this will be our only opportunity to tell the Commerce Department we want our state parks and intact watersheds to be left intact.

Send a brief, polite letter or postcard asking to speak at the Commerce Department public hearing at the Del Mar Fairgrounds on September 22nd. Be sure to indicate you are speaking only for yourself, not an organization. Put a stamp on it and mail it to:

Mr. Thomas Street
NOAA Office of General Counsel for Ocean Services
1305 East-West Highway
Room 6111
Silver Spring, MD 20910

Even if you don’t want to speak at the hearing, take a vacation day or a personal day and come to the public hearing on Monday, September 22nd, from 10:30 am to 8:30 pm. As was the case with the February hearing, turnout is EXTREMELY important.

Rogue Wave supports the Save Trestles campaign.

The proposed Foothill South 241 toll road through the San Onofre backcountry won’t just compromise the surfing quality, clean water, and wild character of Trestles, it will also throw into jeopardy long-protected Native American burial and cultural sites at Panhe, close miles of backcountry trails, force the closure of the San Mateo Campground, further dissect wildlife habitat area and corridors into ever-smaller pockets, and set a terrible precedent for the disposability of parks and protected places.

Interestingly, according to a July 15th article in the Orange County Register, toll road supporter Congressman Gary Miller of California’s 42nd District (Brea/Mission Viejo) has a financial stake in seeing the Foothill South 241 toll road built through San Onofre. Coincidence?

Also, a rebuttal from the Transportation Corridors Agency in the North County Times on July 27th seems to take the position whatever wild character the backcountry of San Onofre State Beach may still retain isn’t worthy of the protection it was originally granted. Why? Because it’s not 100% wilderness; therefore, by the TCA’s logic, it’s okay to build a six-lane toll road through it. Of course, who said San Onofre State Beach or Trestles was ever intended to be managed as wilderness? Not the point, fellas (but then you knew that anyway). Unfortunately, the original sin proposition of building a toll road through a state park in the first place is not addressed..

Click on the video below to see former Carmel mayor Clint Eastwood talk about why Trestles and San Onofre State Beach need to be saved and preserved, as was the case when the park was set aside by Governor Reagan in 1971.

Treehuggers International » California State Parks

Earth Day Restoration at California State Parks and the Crystal Cove Alliance

New State Park Closures List Due Any Moment

Familiar Ground

Earth Day Restoration and Clean-Up

Statement On the Defeat of Proposition 21

Statement On the Defeat of Proposition 21

Treehuggers International

Prop. 21 Gives California State Parks Hope

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New Surfrider Film Illustrates Cross Purposes of Water Agencies

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Treehuggers International Heading to Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day

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California State Parks Held Hostage By Big Oil

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80 Percent of California State Parks to Close

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Retired Ranger Steve Long Reflects On the Lessons of Trestles

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Commerce Department Hearing Regarding Trestles: Monday, September 22nd, Del Mar Fairgrounds

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