Community hopes of conserving 2,400 acres of coastal open space known as Wild Cherry Canyon must stay on the back burner for longer while two stakeholders battle over land rights in court.
“We were very close but there was always one or more issues that came up,” Kara Woodruff, the district director for Senate District 17, said. “So, for the deal to work, we needed the state to be on board, we needed Eureka Energy … and we needed the entity, which is now known as HomeFed. At one time or another, one of those three parties dropped out.”
The money for conservation exists thanks to 17th District Sen. John Laird’s (D-Santa Cruz) and state Assemblymember Dawn Addis’ (D-Morro Bay) advocacy, but the legal tussle stands in the way.
Wild Cherry Canyon lies southeast of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant. It’s the southern-most parcel of Diablo Canyon land that stretches along 14 miles of coastline. The land is owned by Pacific Gas and Electric Company and its affiliates.
While PG&E subsidiary Eureka Energy owns the underlying fee title for Wild Cherry Canyon, a legal dispute emerged between the group and real estate development company HomeFed Corporation, which holds two long-term leases on the property.
On Sept. 25, Eureka Energy petitioned the 2nd Appellate District of the state’s Court of Appeal for a rehearing after the court ruled earlier in the month that HomeFed owns the rights to a 99-year lease on Wild Cherry Canyon.
The upper court’s ruling potentially allowed HomeFed to build despite only allowing cattle grazing on the land for decades.
“The essence of the opinion’s holding is that the grazing of 111 cattle on 2,400 acres (or one cow per 21 acres) is not an ‘agricultural’ purpose as a matter of law,” Eureka Energy said in its rehearing request. “Appellants neither briefed nor argued that 111 cows grazing on Wild Cherry Canyon was insufficient as a matter of law to qualify as an agricultural use; rather, they argued that the lower court’s conclusion was not supported by substantial evidence.”
The focus of HomeFed and Eureka Energy’s fight is a 1968 lease of Wild Cherry Canyon that was written for 99 years with an additional 99-year renewal option. According to a 2019 lawsuit, plaintiff Pacho Limited Partnership—of which HomeFed is a major player—tried to renew the lease in 2018, which would have extended it to 2166. But Eureka Energy refused, insisting that cattle grazing made the lease agricultural. California Civil Code 717 limits agricultural leases to 51 years.
In 2023, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Rita Federman ruled in favor of Eureka Energy. She determined that cattle grazing constitutes agricultural use and that the primary purpose of the 1968 lease was to continue grazing.
Further, she said evidence showed that the undeveloped property had been grazed for more than 100 years, with no rezoning or development ever pursued. The judge added that the lease provides for base rent plus additional payment of a percentage of net profits from nonagricultural activities conducted on Wild Cherry Canyon.
Federman confirmed that under the California Civil Code, the lease expired 51 years later in December 2019.
HomeFed’s appeal resulted in the higher court opining that Federman’s ruling wasn’t “fair.”
“While the law abhors a forfeiture, the trial court’s ruling results in a $39 million forfeiture for a lessee and a corresponding windfall profit to the lessor. This valuable oceanfront property can be used for a variety of purposes,” the appeal court’s ruling said. “The lease did not specify the purpose for which the property could be used.”
PG&E told New Times that it can’t comment on active litigation. HomeFed didn’t respond to requests for comment by press time.
While the two groups are locked in dispute, the state money set aside for Wild Cherry Canyon conservation has a time limit.
Following the 2023-24 legislative session, Sen. Laird announced in partnership with Assemblymember Addis that $40 million was secured to conserve Wild Cherry Canyon.
Conservation advocate Woodruff, who’s championed Wild Cherry Canyon preservation since 1999, said the sum is part of $110 million set aside by SB 846 that authorizes the extension of Diablo Canyon operations.
Along with that, the 2023-24 state budget for the 17th Senate District included an allocation of $5 million to the California State Coastal Conservancy for the development of a conservation easement across Diablo Canyon Lands. The fund would also be used to map future coastal and interior public trail locations and conduct public and tribal outreach.
“Per the state budget language … the money has to be spent by June 30, 2029,” Woodruff told New Times via email. “It’s possible that it could be extended after that, but let’s hope that won’t be necessary!”
Woodruff remembers the first public acknowledgment that the land held potential as a public recreation and conservation area—the result of an advisory ballot measure in 2000.
Called the Diablo Resources Advisory Measure, the DREAM Initiative asked county leaders to set aside Diablo Canyon lands for habitat preservation, public use, and agriculture once the power plant shuts down. Almost 75 percent of SLO County voters supported the measure.
Over the years, both the Nature Conservancy and the Land Conservancy of SLO County stepped up to purchase Wild Cherry Canyon. But by 2013, those plans came to a screeching halt when delays to state funding made the Land Conservancy and partnering groups unable to close a $21 million deal.
“If you’re in Avila Beach, you could walk to Wild Cherry Canyon and hike 20 miles and eventually end up in Montaña de Oro without crossing the public roadways,” Woodruff said. “I think it would be a trail that would be as significant as the Inca Trail in Peru.”
Conservation proponents like Woodruff have to wait out the legal process between Eureka Energy and HomeFed, and they also must figure out which would be willing to sell their property interests at fair market value.
In the meantime, the rolling stretch of Wild Cherry Canyon keeps Woodruff optimistic.
“It’s been 26 years since I started working on this, but it’s not developed yet; it’s not fragmented” she said. “That gives me hope. … As long as our hope is alive, I’ll continue to pursue it until we actually get this right once and for all.” ∆
Reach Staff Writer Bulbul Rajagopal at brajagopal@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Oct 2 – 12, 2025.