More than 24,000 acres of the Gaviota Coast are now permanently protected. A new conservation easement bans development in The Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve.
The preserve is one of the last undeveloped stretches of wilderness on California’s Coastline. It’s the kind of place where mountain lions still hunt marine mammals on the beach.
Mark Reynolds is a lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy’s Point Conception Institute, a research lab based at the preserve. He said the preserve is a special place.
“ It's a biodiversity hotspot, and it's a very important coastal landscape as well, with about eight miles of coastline,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said the Nature Conservancy and other environmental groups fought for nearly two decades to shield the land from oil and gas development.
The Dangermond Preserve is located at Point Conception in Santa Barbara County.