Legislation proposed to expand the California Coastal National Monument

September 19, 2015

New legislation, introduced in the House Friday by North Coast Congressman Jared Huffman, would expand the California Coastal National Monument to include five sites along the coast, including Trinidad Head and Lighthouse Ranch in Humboldt County.

The monument currently covers 1,100 miles of the California coastline, including more than 20,000 small islands, exposed reefs and rookeries. Similar legislation to expand the monument was proposed in the Senate in August by Sens. Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

The two pieces of legislation are similar, but Huffman’s legislation does not inclusion the Lost Coast Headlands, 440 acres of land in Humboldt County, for protection.

Lands that would be included are Trinidad Head, 13 acres, Lighthouse Ranch, 8 acres, Cotoni-Coast Dairies in Santa Cruz County, 5,780 acres, Piedras Blancas in San Luis Obispo County, 20 acres and a group of small rocks and islands off the coast of Orange County, 2 acres.

“To bring new lands on the North Coast into this National Monument is good for the economy and for the environment, and I look forward to working with my colleagues — along with local officials and communities, tribes, and businesses — to build the support necessary to see this through,” Huffman said in a press release.

In 2013, Huffman introduced his first piece of legislation as a member of Congress, the California Coastal National Monument Expansion Act of 2013. That legislation added 1,660 acres to the monument and created the first land-based addition in Mendocino County.

Huffman introduced the legislation with Reps. Lois Capps (D-Santa Barbara) and Anna Eshoo (D-Menlo Park) to introduce the new piece of legislation that would protect nearly 6,000 acres of coastline.


Source: By Tabitha Soden