“The coast is never saved. It’s always being saved,” Peter Douglas, co-creator of the 1976 California Coastal Act, once said.
For five decades, the Coastal Act has protected the state’s 1,100 miles of coastline from over-development while safeguarding sensitive marine habitats and biodiversity.
“Peter’s quote is a great reminder that this work has been happening for a very long time to defend our coast, well before the Coast Act existed,” said Gianna Patchen, chapter coordinator for the Santa Lucia Chapter of the Sierra Club. “I hope we will see it influence the California coast in a way that allows us to create a sustainable future and present.”
The Sierra Club, a grassroots organization dedicated to climate and environmental advocacy, often works on projects within the Coastal Act’s jurisdiction, Patchen said.
“The Coastal Act is a crucial piece of legislation that makes our work have a lot more strength to it. It creates a place for us to advocate with more teeth,” she said.
“As a San Luis Obispo County environmental activist, the Coastal Act is really this crucial tool in our work to fight for the coast,” Patchen added. “It provides an arena for us to advocate and to have legal grounds to sway decision-makers on the basis of protecting our coasts and coastal communities.”
The Coastal Act, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, continues to be the “strongest defense” against environmental impacts from development such as the Trump administration’s off-shore drilling expansion push to increase U.S. oil and gas production, according to Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz).
“When we’re outside of the coastal zone and when we don’t have the Coastal Act as a tool at our disposal, communities are way more vulnerable to being harmed by large-scale development decisions,” Patchen said. “It means local communities and ecosystems don’t have to be prioritized in the same way when they’re out of the coastal zone.”
The Coastal Act specifies the protection of “coastal zones,” regions reaching 3 miles offshore to the state’s outer boundary, including offshore islands. The inland boundary depends on land use and environmental significance, and that boundary extends 1,000 yards from the ocean’s mean high tide line, expanding to areas with important estuaries, habitats, or recreational resources. The official boundary maps can be found on the California Coastal Commission’s website, coastal.ca.gov.
“When we talk about protecting our ocean and our coasts, we are all impacted by the ocean,” Patchen said. “You could be in the middle of the Midwest far from the ocean, and the ocean will still impact you. These protections do protect coastal Californians and they protect people across the world because we are all interconnected.”
With a large focus on protecting coastal ecosystems and beach access for the public and local communities, the act protects public health, Patchen said..
“Air quality is connected to water quality … is connected to what activities or industrialization does or doesn’t happen on our coast,” she said. “All of that is connected to public health.”
According Sen. Laird’s office, over the past 50 years the California Coastal Act has created more than 2,500 public accessways along the coast; protected 12,000 acres of open space and habitat; restored more than 4,600 acres of habitat; opened 875 miles of the California coastal trail to the public; provided $30 million to local governments to plan for sea level rise; and awarded $25.5 million in grants to 1,074 tribes, schools, and nonprofits for outdoor education, stewardship, and access projects.
As it celebrates the Coastal Act’s anniversary, the Coastal Commission noted that Gov. Jerry Brown said beaches are “for all the people” upon signing the act into law on Sept. 24, 1976. “On a hot day you find millions of people at the beach, and it is the whole spectrum, from rich to poor.”
Fast fact
• The Central Coast Brewers Guild is returning with its ninth annual Central Coast Craft Beer Fest on March 21 in Atascadero. Catch more than 55 independently owned craft beer, cider, selzter, kombucha, and wine makers from across California at the Sunken Gardens in Atascadero. The event runs from noon to 4 p.m. and is 21-and-older. The fest features food trucks, merchant vendors, lawn games, and “mega sized beer pong.” Tickets can be purchased at eventsbyfuego.ticketsauce.com. ∆
Reach Intern Fiona Hastings at ntintern@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in March 5-12, 2026.