Treehuggers International » Trestles

Defending the Environment In Court

tommy — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:11:49 +0000

High tide along Monterey Bay, near Pacific Grove.

Angela Howe was born and raised in Texas, but found her calling defending the beaches she enjoyed surfing in her adopted home of California. As a law student, Angela first came in contact with Surfrider in the foundation’s home waters in Malibu, and has since gone from volunteering on beach clean-ups and grassroots activism to becoming an integral component of Surfrider’s legal team, where she now serves as Legal Manager for the Surfrider Foundation’s national office in San Clemente.

While President Obama has thus far made conservationists happy passing expansive wilderness legislation, reinstating the EPA’s traditional watchdog role, and pledging to move forward on alternative energy initiatives, the young administration has also thrown environmentalists for a loop by not actively working to reinstate the Reagan-era moratorium on offshore oil drilling along the nation’s outer continental shelf, which President Bush removed by executive order last summer (ironically, it was President Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, who last imposed and upheld the moratorium in the early 1990s).

Angela talks with Tommy about the possibility of renewed offshore oil drilling along the California coast, and Surfrider’s push for alternative energy solutions and stance against offshore oil drilling via the Not the Answer initiative. She also discusses the history of the Surfrider Foundation, the current situation at Trestles, and Surfrider’s litigation campaigns, including the halting of Florida “dredge and fill” projects in Palm Beach County, a process which failed to go through proper permitting and was destroying marine habitats and ecosystems until Surfrider stepped in with a coalition of local activists and surfers to stop it.

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 » Trestles

Defending the Environment In Court

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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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