News.bytes Extra, issue 229

BLM Wins Award for California Coastal National Monument Plan

How do you manage a National Monument that is 1,100 miles long, covers 1,000 acres, and contains more than 20,000 offshore islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles above mean high tide along the entire California coast? That was the challenge facing the BLM California office when the California Coastal National Monument was designated by presidential proclamation on January 11, 2000.

On April 11, 2006, the Resource Management Plan developed by BLM to protect important biological and geological values within the California Coastal National Monument was honored by the California Association of Environmental Professionals with the award for Best Planning document at the organization’s annual conference in Newport Beach. Gail Acheson, BLM field manager of the Palm Springs/South Coast field office which oversees the southernmost portion of the monument, accepted the award on behalf of Rick Hanks, the monument’s manager, all the BLM staff who worked on the plan, and the two main state partners, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, and the California Department of Fish and Game.

Developed with the help of environmental consultants and planners Jones & Stokes, the RMP was the product of public outreach and close cooperation with existing programs, agencies and stakeholders. In keeping with the emphasis on communities, the management plan calls for a high level of partnership with local agencies and organizations. These collaborative partnerships are designed to foster local stewardship and establish local gateways for the public to visit the monument. The City of Point Arena, the Trinidad Museum Society, and the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary are among partners already actively working with the BLM and its other CCNM partners in developing gateways and sharing existing facilities to serve as CCNM visitor contact stations.

“This is not a plan that will sit on a shelf somewhere,” notes Rick Hanks. “It’s a working roadmap for the next 20 years, and outlines how we’re going to work with our partners and local groups to protect the biological and geological resources in this unique national monument that extends from San Diego all the way up to the Oregon border.”

For more information about the California Coastal National Monument, see www.blm.gov/ca/pa/coastal_monument/.

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BLM California News.bytes, issue 229