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Michael A. Mariant//Staff
A proposal to open three miles of coastline for public access north of Diablo Canyon was reviewed by a task force Monday morning. At the southern boundary of the proposed hiking trail system, Diablo Canyon can be seen in the distance. A diverse and sensitive ecosystem would have to be managed under the task force guidelines to restrict the impact visitors would have on the area.
Most public glimpses of the wide-open, windswept bluff tops and undisturbed coastline between Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant and Montaņa de Oro State Park have been through a barbed-wire-topped chain-link fence.
But that's all expected to change by 2006, when Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which owns the land and has kept it closed for decades as a security buffer for Diablo, must open the area north of the power plant to public access.
A blufftop trail winding across the land between the southern border of Montaņa de Oro to Crowbar Canyon, about three miles out from the fence, has to be open to the public by Dec. 3, 2006.
Last year, the California Coastal Commission required PG&E to open the area as a condition in its approval of the coastal development permit for the planned spent-fuel storage project at Diablo, which will extend the plant's life until at least 2025.
But how much of the land between the southern border of Montaņa de Oro (Point Buchon) to Crowbar Canyon will be open to the public and how it will be managed remains to be seen.
A group of scientists and other experts - the Diablo Task Force - convened by the commission is presently surveying the stretch of unaccessed coastline and bluffs to provide PG&E with a comprehensive overview of the site's environmental resources and constraints. The group toured the proposed three-mile trail site for the first time Monday.
The information the task force compiles will be used by PG&E officials to formulate a plan that allows meaningful public access and resource protection.
"The Coastal Commission really saw this as an opportunity to provide public access (to this area) while still preserving the environmental resources, including the agricultural operation," said Charles Lester, California Coastal Commission Central Coast deputy director, during a tour of the land Monday.
PG&E has run the Diablo Canyon Land Stewardship Program, which includes a grazing operation of about 140 animals, on the property since 1990. The task force's job includes examining how the stewardship program can coexist with public access.
Mike Fry, PG&E senior terrestrial biologist and task force member, said access that interferes with rangeland management won't be allowed, and some areas of the trail may have to be fenced.
A botanical survey of Coon Creek, which would likely head the most southern end of the trail, is under way, and a wildlife survey of the area is also planned. The area also has numerous Chumash sites.
In addition to taking a lengthy tour of the site, the task force also held its first public meeting Monday in Avila Valley. Most in the audience were task force members, but a handful of interested citizens also participated.
Jim Blecha, longtime Shell Beach resident and marine biologist at Diablo, was concerned that the proposed access wouldn't be docent-led, as were others in the audience, including some task force members.
"If it's docent-led, you won't have people climbing down (the cliffs) to harvest intertidal species," Blecha said. "If you have someone along on these trails ... it will keep them well-defined."
State Parks Department ecologist Michael Walgren agreed with Blecha and warned that intertidal species will be taken by the public once the area is open if a docent isn't on site.
"You'll start to see them disappearing with visitors; it's going to happen based on what happens at Montaņa de Oro," said Walgren, who's also a task force member.
Presently, there are no plans to have docents lead hikes along the trail, according to Peter Douglas, task force member and Coastal Commission executive director.
Others in the audience suggested that any new parking lots be limited and kept as far away from the proposed trail head as possible to keep potential use of the entire area to a minimum while still allowing access.
"Some of the areas will be protected just because of the distance," Sara Copeland said. "There are going to be people who don't walk the whole trail."
The group could also recommend that the trail be realigned in some areas if access looks like it will damage resources once their environmental baseline survey is complete, Lester said.
He added that no final determinations have been made for threshold recommendations.
Once PG&E formulates the managed access plan, it goes to Douglas for final approval.
The task force plans to meet again June 20. The meetings are open to the public. For more information, call Lester at (831) 427-4863 or e-mail
clester@coastal.ca.gov.
* Staff writer April Charlton can be reached at 489-4206,
Ext. 5016, or by e-mail at
acharlton@pulitzer.net.
April 13, 2005
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