Our community recently celebrated a big local win: the opening of America’s newest National Monument. Cotoni-Coast Dairies NM officially opened last weekend north of Santa Cruz, California, and I’m so proud to have contributed to this wild regional gem, even in the tiniest way.
Originally the homeland of the Cotoni tribe, part of the greater Awawas-speaking Ohlone people, these vibrant coastal bluffs and lush forests have been proudly stewarded since time immemorial. It’s an awesome achievement to have preserved these lands once again for all future generations to come, and it’s been an honor to participate in the stewardship of such a special place.
The 5,800 acres of this varied landscape nearly triples the size of the already formidable California Coastal National Monument, which protects 20,000 rocks, islands, exposed reefs and pinnacles along the California coastline and now 7,924 acres onshore. These lands are a vital part of California’s marine ecosystem and are estimated to provide shelter for hundreds of thousands of seabirds and thousands of marine mammals.
With Cotoni-Coast’s opening, 8.3 miles of brand new trails are now available to the public. The accessible Hawk (Káknu in Awaswas) Trail glides across coastal meadows. The Tree (Huyya) Trail winds through neat forest nooks, and the Bobcat (Toróma) Trail is the toughest but offers epic views at the top. Open to hikers, bikers + equestrian riders, there’s something for everyone in our newest local trail system, and as active ranch land with sweeping ocean views, it’s quite an experience!
The primary organizations that made this work possible are the Trust for Public Land, Sempervirens Fund, the Bureau of Land Management + Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship (SCMTS), and I’m so grateful for their massive collaboration required to preserve + share this incredible open space. They’ve been planning, campaigning and fundraising to protect this land and design these trails for over a decade. In addition it took millions of dollars in donations and over 10,000 volunteer hours to finally bring it to life.
I’m so proud to have poured my own sweat + $$ into this project, joining SCMTS as a volunteer for a few trail building days + as an ongoing donor of this great org. Here’s a photo collection of a few of my favorite memories of building the trails in our new National Monument:
If you want to explore more:
Cheers to keeping public lands in public hands!