Surf by Story

"Let's go to the beach" has always been an entitlement of California living, with 80 percent of Californians living within 30 miles of the water's edge. But as urbanization continues to encroach on the 1,100-mile-long coast, our shoreline has come under siege. Development is swallowing up miles of coastline; access to beaches is being cut off; and seawalls may be causing beaches to disappear. A battle is raging around the fundamental question: Whose coast is it, anyway?

Solana Beach
Exploring the effects of seawalls, Coastal Clash visits Solana Beach, where more than half of its mile and a half coastline has some type of armoring. We meet a property owner whose home, built on a sandstone cliff, is in danger of falling into the ocean, and talk about beach nourishment with the City Manager.
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Ballona Wetlands
From the time gold was discovered in 1849, development in California has been open to speculators of all stripes. Since that time, California has been buffeted by periodic population explosions. Along the coast, developers have exploited the state's natural resources for everything from oil and timber to housing.
Learn more about one region's history of coastal development.

Malibu
The fight over beach access and public versus private property rights is examined in Malibu. City officials, a property owner, and a beach access advocate all weigh in on the issue.
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Matilija Dam
Many of California's beaches are starved for sand. For decades sand has been held back by dams on coastal rivers or mined from river channels to make concrete for building. Recent attempts to remove some of the dams and let trapped sand start flowing back to the beaches have hit hurdles -- chief among them money. It is easier and cheaper to construct a dam than to take it down. Despite the obstacles, groups of environmentalists and government officials are coming together to accomplish the feat so that sand can flow down coastal rivers and fish swim up them.
Airs on The California Report, Fri, Nov 12, 2004. Audio available online shortly thereafter.

Gaviota Coast
Despite the fact that California leads the nation in its protection and management of coastal resources, few locations in the United States rival California for its constant, intense pressure for development. No more so than along the Gaviota Coast, in Santa Barbara County, where thousands of acres are currently for sale, and urbanization butts right up to the rural line. We tour the area with a real estate agent, a coastal scientist, a land trust president and a rancher whose family has been on the land since the 1860s.
Learn more about the Gaviota Coast's unique ecosystem.

Hollister Ranch
In the 1960s, activists and state leaders became alarmed about heavy development on California's coastline. They won wide support for a ballot initiative to rein in growth, and in 1972 Proposition 20 established a coastal commission. In the years since, state officials have sought to guarantee public access to the California coastline. But tensions between beach-loving Californians and the few who can afford beachfront property have grown. Reporter Cheryl Colopy visits coastal areas where the public's right to access beaches remains a work in progress.
Airs on The California Report, Fri, Oct 22, 2004. Audio available online shortly thereafter.

San Simeon
One of the nation's largest land trust deals is occurring at Hearst Ranch, in San Luis Obispo County. Advocates and the Hearst Corporation tell viewers why they feel the deal is a benefit for California, while environmental groups discuss why they feel the only benefits are being given to the Hearsts.
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Peninsula Open Space Trust
Viewers travel the nearly pristine San Mateo coast with the Peninsula Open Space Trust, responsible for saving thousands of acres in the county.
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Pacifica In Pacifica, we discuss seawalls and meet a woman who lost her home in an El Nino storm. We also look at retreat and restore, a solution that Pacifica City Officials hope will end their battle with the ravages of the ocean.
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Fort Bragg
Southern California has been the center of most of the battles over the California coast... but even on the north coast, in places like Fort Bragg, development and beach access are becoming issues people are fighting over. For more than one hundred years, the Georgia Pacific Mill has kept Fort Bragg from its coast. Now the mill has closed, and the three and a half miles of coastline where the mill once stood are for sale. We attend a community meeting and talk with citizens to find out what the future might hold for this former logging and fishing town.
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California Coast Walk
Viewers walk along the spectacular Sonoma coastline with Coastwalk, a group dedicated to the creation of a trail along the entire length of California's coast. The group discusses the barriers they encountered along their hike last year. We also meet an activist who has been fighting for California's coast for more than thirty years. He describes the passage of the Coastal Act and the history of the Coastal Commission.
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California Coastal Commission
The California Coastal Commission was born of controversy and has been a lightning rod for it ever since. It has become known as one of the toughest regulatory agencies in the nation in the past three decades. It succeeded in putting the brakes on development in some of the most prized real estate in California. But property rights advocates say it's only done that by trampling on the rights of people who own land on the coast.
Airs on The California Report, Fri, Oct 29, 2004. Audio available online shortly thereafter.

Private Property
The decisions of the California Coastal Commission often anger property owners. But most of the tough land use negotiations these days are not over scenic shorelines, since so much of the oceanfront property in California has already been developed or set aside in public parks. But there are still many sizeable pieces of property under the jurisdiction of the commission a few miles inland. Environmentalists see the land as precious wildlife habitat. Developers say these are appropriate places to build and help ease the state's housing shortage.
Airs on The California Report, Fri, Oct 29, 2004. Audio available online shortly thereafter.