California Coastal Conservancy Funds Ellwood Mesa Planning Project

July 2012. The project will prepare design, engineering, environmental compliance and permit application documents for the construction of accessway improvements and a blufftop segment of the California Coastal Trail for public access to and along the Ellwood Mesa in southern Santa Barbara County. In support of the project, the California Coastal Conservancy has issued an award of $100,000.
read more

Butterfly Grove Gets Upgrade

Twenty hardworking volunteers just finished replacing 100 posts and over 1000 feet of manila rope that cordoned off the viewing galleries in the Goleta Butterfly Grove. If you have not had a chance to see the Monarch butterflies fluttering around their winter home in the Eucalyptus groves on Ellwood Mesa now is a great time to go.  Not only will you see the plumbed posts and the new natural...
read more

Las Varas Ranch Project: EIR Inadequate

[UPDATE: In 2019 Charles Munger acquired and then donated Las Varas Ranch to the University of California, Santa Barbara. “This is much more than just a gift of land, but rather a living legacy, a vision for the long-range future of our campus,” says UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang. Conservation stands at the heart of the deal. The historic cattle ranch boasts two miles of pristine coastline along...
read more

Send a Selfie Postcard

Secure Coastal Access and Trails [UPDATE: At Tuesday's hearing the Planning Commission made a motion to send the project on to the Board of Supervisors without approving the project. Comment letters and postcards received before the hearing are posted here. More postcards were sent than the ones posted online. Thanks to all who participated. The hearing with the Board of Supervisors will be in...
read more

Save Gaviota Coastal Access

[UPDATE: The  Santa Barbara County Planning Commission at their hearing of September 23, 2014 the commissioners made the following motion on the Las Varas Ranch Project ACTION: Recommended that the Board of Supervisors not certify the Environmental Impact Report (10EIR-00000-00005) and require additional environmental review in the areas of Aesthetics/Visual Resources, Agricultural Resources,...
read more


s2Member®