Coastal Conservancy Awards Over $113 million for Restoration, Resilience, and Public Access on California Coast

Projects funded range from Del Norte to San Diego Counties

11/21/24, OAKLAND, CA – Today, the Board of the State Coastal Conservancy approved grants totaling over $113 million for coastal restoration, protection, public access and climate resilience. The 47 projects awarded today include funding to acquire approximately 52 acres at Point Molate in the City of Richmond to create a regional shoreline park, to construct of 1.71 miles of the Santa Ana River Trail in Riverside County, and for nine Coastal Stories projects that will create storytelling installations, murals, and other interpretive materials that represent diverse communities’ perspectives that historically have been excluded from narratives of California’s coast and publicly accessible land.

The funding awarded today will help to acquire over 1,100 acres of land for conservation and public use and restore over 650 acres.

The awarded projects are as follows:

Del Norte County

  • A grant of up to $1,412,307 as an augmentation of the Conservancy grant authorized on February 15, 2024 of $1,500,000 to the Smith River Alliance to conduct the Point Saint George Coastal Trail Implementation Project (“the Project”), consisting of implementation of cultural resource protections and construction of 1.25 miles of the California Coastal Trail, new restrooms, interpretive signage, and improvements to the main trailhead parking area at Point Saint George in Del Norte County. The augmented funds will be granted to the California Department of Parks and Recreation to implement the cultural resource protections component of the Project.

Humboldt County

  • California Trout, Inc. was awarded $2,500,000 to undertake the Cannibal Island Marsh Restoration Project, consisting of restoring full tidal exchange to 500 acres of former tidal marsh habitat through the removal of degraded water control structures, re-excavation of historic slough channels, and enhancement of natural marsh topography at the Cannibal Island Unit of the Eel River Wildlife Area, Humboldt County.
  • The Trinidad Coastal Land Trust was awarded $750,000 for the Moonstone Beach Coastal Resilience and Public Access Planning Project, which consists of conducting studies and community engagement, identifying and evaluating alternatives, and preparing designs and draft environmental review documents for public access improvements that will alleviate crowding and improve accessibility and climate resilience at Moonstone Beach in Humboldt County.

Trinity and Humboldt County

  • The Wildlands Conservancy was awarded $439,000 to undertake the Great Redwood Trail Eel River Canyon Preserve Planning Project, Phase 1, consisting of preparing resource studies and surveys, conducting community engagement, coordinating with California Native American tribes, and conducting vegetation management for an 11.2-mile segment of the Great Redwood Trail in unincorporated Trinity and Humboldt Counties.

Mendocino County

  • Mendocino Land Trust was awarded $215,050 to conduct necessary surveys and studies, prepare initial designs, and complete permit applications for one-half mile of new California Coastal Trail near Albion, one mile of new California Coastal Trail connecting Schooner Gulch to Saunders Landing, and improved access to Hearn Gulch Beach in Mendocino County.
  • Authorization for the City of Point Arena to expand the scope of the Arena Cove Harbor Access and Reliance Plan project, which includes plans, designs, and environmental review for a variety of improvements to protect and enhance existing and future use of the Point Arena Pier, Harbor, and Cove for commercial and recreational purposes, to include repair or replacement of a boat hoist at the Point Arena Pier.
  • The Mendocino County Resource Conservation District was awarded $447,785 to undertake the Tenmile Creek Vassar Ranch Habitat Enhancement and Sediment Control Project, which consists of restoration of 15-19 acres of grasslands, repair of 3,000-3,600 linear feet of gullies, and upgrade of 1.2-1.4 miles of roads, to enhance water quality and reduce sediment delivery to Tenmile Creek, a tributary to the South Fork Eel River, in Mendocino County; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • The Mendocino Land Trust was awarded $2,505,000 to undertake the Bell Point Land Return Acquisition and Coastal Trail Planning Project, which consists of acquiring the 157-acre Bell Point coastal blufftop property in Westport, Mendocino County for the purposes of natural resources and habitat protection and enhancement; open space and California Native American tribal cultural resources protection; and public access and trail recreation compatible with such uses; and to prepare plans, permit applications, initial designs, and environmental review documents for the establishment of 0.8 miles of California Coastal Trail on the property.

Sonoma County

  • The Sonoma County Regional Parks Department was awarded $950,000 to obtain final permits and construct two separate segments of the California Coastal Trail totaling 2 miles and related public access amenities, including parking, a restroom, fencing, and signage at the Kashia Coastal Reserve and Stewarts Point Ranch in Sonoma County; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Napa County

  • The Land Trust of Napa County was awarded $704,000 to acquire the approximately 523-acre Phinney property for the protection and enhancement of open space, wildlife corridors, and scenic and natural resources; and public access compatible with such uses. The property will be transferred to the Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District to expand the adjacent Moore Creek Park and for long-term management.

Marin County

  • Marin County Parks was awarded $245,000 to prepare designs, permit applications and environmental compliance documents for the Letter Property Shoreline Restoration Project, which consists of restoring 0.8 acres of intertidal habitat by removing a dilapidated residence and barn built over tidal wetlands, removing retaining walls, revegetating to stabilize the wetlands and uplands, and installing a trail and parking along the Bolinas Lagoon shoreline in Marin County.
  • A grant of up to $4,000,000 to a selected contractor or contractors to undertake the Novato Baylands Public Works Contract for Interim Site Management, consisting of site maintenance and adaptive management tasks at the Bel Marin Keys Unit V, North Antenna Field, and Hamilton Wetlands properties in Marin County.
  • The Town of Tiburon was awarded $1,403,200 to undertake the Greenwood Beach Restoration Project, consisting of preparing final designs, constructing, monitoring and adaptively managing a restored natural beach system at Greenwood Beach in Marin County; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.

San Francisco Bay Area

  • The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission was awarded $300,000 of funds granted to the Conservancy by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to implement its Coastal Zone Management Program.
  • The California Invasive Plant Council was awarded a grant of up to $6,639,000, including a $2,639,000 grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board, to for the planning, management, treatment, monitoring, and restoration activities of the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project from January 1, 2025-June 30, 2027.

San Francisco County

  • The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department was awarded $1,000,000 to implement the Upper Great Highway Climate Resilience Project, consisting of conducting technical studies and community engagement, and preparing conceptual alternatives to prepare Upper Great Highway, from Lincoln Way to Sloat Boulevard, for climate change impacts in the City and County of San Francisco.

Contra Costa County

  • The East Bay Regional Park District was awarded $1,000,000 to implement the San Francisco Bay Trail: Gap Closure to Martinez Intermodal Station Project, consisting of constructing 0.5 mile of the San Francisco Bay Trail along the Carquinez Strait Scenic Loop, in Martinez, Contra Costa County; and the adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • The East Bay Regional Park District was awarded $35,985,000 to acquire approximately 52 acres at Point Molate in the City of Richmond, County of Contra Costa, to create a regional shoreline park that will protect, and may restore and enhance, open space, natural, scenic, cultural, and historic resources; and that will provide compatible public and California Native American tribal access, including recreational and visitor-serving amenities.

Alameda and Contra Costa Counties

  • Civicorps was awarded $250,000 to purchase equipment to support Civicorps’ East Bay Wildfire Risk Reduction project, consisting of providing workforce development and removing vegetation from high fire hazard areas in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

Alameda County

  • The City of Berkeley was awarded $385,000 to augment a previously authorized Conservancy grant of $3,383,733.49 (after previous augmentations) for design, permitting and construction of Berkeley Waterfront improvements in Alameda County. The project augmentation includes development of further designs and plans, and preparation of environmental review documentation and permit applications for a new San Francisco Bay Trail section and two trail staging areas that will be resilient to sea level rise over the next fifty years.
  • The Trust for Public Land was awarded $3,000,000 to acquire 430 acres of Newark Baylands (Area 4) for the protection and restoration of habitat, public access, the potential creation of an interpretive visitor center, and to the extent compatible with those purposes: education, research, and Native American tribal cultural uses.

San Mateo County

  • Pacifica Land Trust was awarded $136,500 to augment a previously authorized Conservancy grant of $103,270 for community-based habitat restoration and trail enhancement at Pedro Point Headlands in San Mateo County.
  • Pacifica Land Trust was awarded $120,000 to undertake the Pacifica Coastal Resilience Opportunity Study, consisting of preparing studies, surveys and other reports, and conducting community engagement to identify opportunities for nature-based sea level rise resiliency projects in the City of Pacifica, and potentially conducting additional planning tasks to move one to two of the priority projects towards implementation.
  • The San Mateo Resource Conservation District was awarded $1,542,000 to undertake the San Mateo County Critical Evacuation Corridors Wildfire Resilience Project, consisting of the removal of hazardous vegetation along two critical road evacuation corridors, Highway 92 and Sand Hill Road, in San Mateo County; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.

Santa Clara County

  • The Association of Bay Area Governments was awarded $2,000,000 to undertake the Palo Alto Horizontal Levee Pilot Project, consisting of replacing an existing levee by constructing a 500 linear-foot berm, of which 315 linear-feet will be a horizontal levee, at the Baylands Nature Preserve in Palo Alto, Santa Clara County.

San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties

  • The Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County was awarded $1,000,000 for the Integrated Watershed Restoration Program to conduct planning and to prepare designs and permit applications for at least four high-priority watershed restoration projects in San Mateo, Santa Cruz, and Monterey Counties.

Santa Cruz County

  • The California Department of Parks and Recreation was awarded $500,000 for the Seacliff State Beach Living Shoreline Planning Project, consisting of conducting technical studies and community engagement; and preparing designs, environmental review documents, and permit applications to restore approximately 4.5 acres of dune habitat as a nature-based solution to sea level rise at Seacliff State Beach in Santa Cruz County.
  • The City of Santa Cruz was awarded $1,766,000 to augment the Conservancy funding previously authorized on February 15, 2024, to expand the scope of the Santa Cruz Wharf Resilience Improvement project to include construction of additional resiliency improvements along the eastern edge of the Wharf.
  • A grant of up to $179,260 to Sea Otter Savvy, University of California at Santa Cruz, and U.S. Geological Survey to implement three separate projects to aid in the recovery of the southern sea otter.

Monterey County

  • The County of Monterey was awarded $3,000,000 to augment the Conservancy grant, previously authorized on February 3, 2022 and augmented on June 1, 2023, to construct the Carmel River Floodplain Restoration and Environmental Enhancement Project in Monterey County.
  • A grant of up to $2,000,000 to the Big Sur Land Trust to augment the Conservancy funding previously authorized on April 18, 2024, to undertake the Carr Lake Restoration and Park Construction Project Phase 2, consisting of restoration of 66 acres of wetland and upland habitat and construction of public access improvements at Carr Lake in Monterey County.
  • The Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District was awarded $500,000 to augment the Conservancy grant previously authorized on September 22, 2022, to implement the Garland Ranch Wildfire Resilience Project, consisting of thinning 12 acres of eucalyptus trees, creating a 6.2 acre shaded fuel break, maintaining previously treated areas, collecting data, and conducting community engagement at Garland Ranch in Monterey County; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • A grant of up to $1,626,000 to the United States Forest Service to treat approximately 24 miles of historic fuel breaks by removing vegetation along the Santa Lucia ridge line within the Los Padres National Forest to protect neighboring communities in Monterey County from catastrophic wildfire.

Ventura County

  • The Concerned Resource Environmental Workers (C.R.E.W.) was awarded $98,016 to implement the Once Upon a Watershed at the West Campus Preserve Project, which will restore 4.98 acres of wetland habitat situated along a tributary of the Ventura River in Ojai, Ventura County as part of the 2024 Community Wetland Restoration Grant Program.

Santa Barbara County

  • The City of Satna Barbara was awarded $947,850 to augment the Conservancy grant authorized on February 2, 2023 of $525,000 for the Wildfire Resilience Project, and authorization to expand the project to include reducing wildland vegetation fuels on an additional approximately 25 acres across six parks, restoring native species on an additional approximately 5 acres across three of the six parks, and conducting additional community engagement activities including volunteer events in the City of Santa Barbara.
  • The Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara was awarded $1,000,000 to conduct community engagement and prepare technical studies, actionable sea level rise adaptation pathway plans, and preliminary designs for the Campus Lagoon and Lagoon Road shoreline areas of campus in Santa Barbara County.

Los Angeles County

  • The Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains was awarded $5,000,000 to augment a previously authorized Conservancy grant of $2,275,650 for planning for the Topanga Lagoon Restoration Project at Topanga State Park and Topanga Beach in Los Angeles County; authorization to expand the project scope to include additional analysis, preparation of ninety percent design plans, and permitting for visitor services improvements of the Project; and adoption of findings under the California Environmental Quality Act.
  • The Santa Monica Bay Foundation, known as The Bay Foundation was awarded $10,260,000 to undertake the Santa Monica Coastal Habitat Restoration Program, consisting of implementing a suite of nature-based restoration projects to increase the resilience of Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles County to climate change impacts.
  • North East Trees, Inc. was awarded $1,131,700 to implement the Ascot Hills Resilience Project, which consists of enhancement of at least 33 acres of habitat through the removal of invasive plants and planting of native plants to increase wildfire resilience, within Ascot Hills Park in the City of Los Angeles

Riverside County

Orange County

  • The City of Anaheim was awarded $1,200,000 to augment the Conservancy grant of $5,000,000 previously authorized to prepare plans, designs, permit applications, environmental review documentation, and conduct community outreach, for the “OC River Walk,” a project to improve and enhance a portion of the Santa Ana River Trail and Parkway in the County of Orange, including reconfiguration and vegetating the riverbank and creating new trail connections.

San Diego County

  • The Southwest Wetlands Interpretive Association was awarded $153,005.50 to undertake an additional five years of monitoring for the Los Peñasquitos Lagoon Monitoring Program, a program of physical and biological monitoring at Los Peñasquitos Lagoon in San Diego County.
  • The City of Encinitas was awarded $1,060,000 to undertake the Cardiff Beach Living Shoreline Project, Phase 4, consisting of restored dune performance monitoring and adaptive management, including sand placement and native plant management, and preparation of a long-term plan for sea level rise adaptation at Cardiff State Beach in San Diego County.
  • The Buena Vista Audubon Society was awarded $600,000 to undertake the Buena Vista Lagoon Wetlands Reserve Coastal Habitat Restoration & Resiliency Project, which consists of conducting community engagement and preparing designs and permit applications needed for the restoration of 5.94 acres of wetland habitat at the Buena Vista Lagoon Reserve in San Diego County.
  • Surfrider Foundation was awarded $1,000,000 to undertake the San Onofre Shoreline Resiliency Project, a sea level rise adaptation project consisting of conducting technical studies, alternatives design and analysis, and community engagement, and preparing preliminary designs for a nature-based solution to protect public access along the San Onofre Surf Beach shoreline in San Diego County.

San Diego, Orange, Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties

  • California Wildlife Foundation, fiscal sponsor for Climate Science Alliance, was awarded $1,500,000 to undertake the Advancing Coastal Co-stewardship Project, which consists of providing relationship building, meaningful engagement training, workforce development, opportunities for collaboration, and other activities to integrate traditional ecological knowledge, tribal leadership, and tribal co-stewardship into the planning and implementation of coastal habitat restoration projects, including through subgrants, along the southern coast of California.

STATEWIDE

  • Orange County Coastkeeper was awarded $350,000 for the Beach and Coast Accessibility Program to provide grants to nonprofits, agencies, and tribes for beach wheelchairs and other equipment to increase accessibility to California’s beaches and coast in coastal counties statewide.
  • A grant of up to $1,301,915 to nine non-profit organizations for Coastal Stories projects that will create storytelling installations, murals, and/or other interpretive materials that represent diverse communities’ perspectives that historically have been excluded from narratives of California’s coast and publicly accessible lands.