Mapping the Gaviota Coast
The Trails Council was awarded a $15,000 grant by the Coastal Conservancy to improve visitor experience along a 22-mile length of the Gaviota Coast. The Trails Council is creating maps in multiple formats, including a large-format paper map and an online interactive map, to foster broad community knowledge of coastal recreation opportunities along one of the largest remaining stretches of undeveloped coastline in Southern California. The Gaviota Coast is a spectacular landscape famous for its agricultural, biological, cultural, scenic, and recreational resources.
The maps will be distributed through a community outreach campaign supported by a coalition of nature-focused non-profit organizations. The organizations supporting the campaign include the Los Padres Forest Association (lpforest.org), which will make the maps available through its retail stores, Nature Track (naturetrack.org), which provides outdoor nature-focused field trips for Central Coast school age children at no cost to the schools, and the Wilderness Youth Project (wyp.org), which offers outdoor programs for young people from ages 3 to 17. All three organizations will use the maps as an educational tool as well as to help people access and appreciate this remarkable and mostly undeveloped coastal area.
Additional $4200 grant has been received from UCSB Coastal Fund for map printing and distribution through various organizations at UCSB.
Gaviota Coastal Trail and Access Study
The 130 page Gaviota Coastal Trail And Access Study (Trails Study) was prepared by the Trails Council with funding from community members and UCSB Coastal Fund. This up-to-date resource is available for free download by the community, Santa Barbara County staff and decision-makers, State agencies and our local representatives. The Trail Study provides useful information and recommendations for interested parties and stakeholders to consider as part of pending development projects and long range planning efforts on the Gaviota Coast. The report received the prestigious Public Involvement/Education Merit Award from the Association of Environmental Professionals.
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