The 437-acre Fiscalini Ranch Preserve has become one of Cambria’s most treasured public spaces, offering miles of trails, sweeping ocean views, and protected habitat along the coastline. But maintaining the ranch requires agreement on who is responsible for its care and how limited resources should be used.
After months of discussion over maintenance responsibilities, funding challenges, and long-term stewardship, the Cambria Community Services District (CCSD) approved an updated Fiscalini Ranch Public Access and Resource Management Plan on July 9.
“[The plan] clearly identifies CCSD as the sole entity for responsibility for managing the ranch,” said Kitty Connolly, executive director of Friends of the Fiscalini Ranch Preserve (FFRP) during the district’s July 9 meeting. “It better defines CCSD’s day-to-day management responsibilities, removes outdated references to things like cattle grazing, and reinforces the process for making future revisions to the management plan that are consistent with the conservation easement.”
The updated plan is the first major revision since the document was adopted in 2003. In a July 9 staff report, CCSD General Manager Matthew McElhenie said the update was needed to reflect current conditions, clarify responsibilities, and create a more sustainable approach to managing the preserve.
“It was agreed that updating the Fiscalini Ranch Public Access and Resource Management Plan will enable the district to clearly define operational roles and responsibilities, establish appropriate oversight and maintenance priorities, and articulate the financial constraints associated with district resources,” McElhenie said.
The revision process began in August 2025, when the CCSD board formed an ad hoc committee to review maintenance practices, identify unclear expectations, and define the district’s role in managing the ranch. The committee included district directors, staff, and representatives from FFRP.
FFRP Board Chair Dianne Anderson said the process strengthened the relationship between the two organizations responsible for stewarding the preserve.
“As this phase of the work comes to a close, one thing I’ve come away with is that we’ve accomplished more than updating a document,” Anderson told the board. “We’ve actually built a stronger working relationship between CCSD and FFRP. One based on better communication, growing trust, and mutual respect.”
The process included hard discussions, Anderson said, but remained focused on a shared goal.
“It won’t surprise you to hear that it wasn’t always easy,” she said. “There were difficult conversations and differing perspectives, but through it all, everyone stayed at the table. They listened. They asked hard questions and kept working toward the shared goal of a revised ranch management plan.”
The revised plan updates maps and photographs, removes outdated references, clarifies agency roles, and adds sections addressing funding constraints, daily operations, annual action planning, and future amendments.
It also clarifies CCSD’s management responsibilities. Under the updated plan, the district will continue managing both the East and West Ranch areas unless FFRP, or its successor, exercises its option to assume management of the West Ranch.
A central concern throughout the revision process was whether changes to the management plan could affect the conservation easement—the permanent legal agreement that protects the ranch and guides its conservation purposes.
Anderson said FFRP worked with legal counsel throughout the process to ensure the updated plan remained consistent with the easement.
“After careful review, we’re confident that the core responsibilities, authorities, and obligations of both CCSD and FFRP remain unchanged,” Anderson said. “Nothing in the updated management plan changes or overrides the conservation easement, which continues to protect the ranch, preserve public access, and guide its stewardship.”
Connolly said the conservation easement and management plan serve different purposes.
“The conservation easement is a permanent legal agreement that protects Fiscalini Ranch Preserve,” she said. “It says what can and cannot happen on the land. It establishes the conservation purposes of the property, namely public access and resource conservation. The easement is the controlling document.”
She said the management plan is different.
“It’s a stewardship document that guides how those conservation purposes are carried out and should be updated periodically.”
The State Coastal Conservancy and FFRP reviewed and approved the revised plan, waived the typical 45-day notice requirement, and determined an additional public meeting was unnecessary, according to the staff report. ∆
This article appears in July 16-23, 2026.
