Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal National Monument

Proclamation 9563 of January 12, 2017

Boundary Enlargement of the California Coastal
National Monument

By The President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Through Proclamation 7264 of January 11, 2000,
President Clinton established the California Coastal
National Monument (monument) to protect the biological
treasures situated on thousands of unappropriated or
unreserved islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles
owned or controlled by the Government of the United
States within 12 nautical miles of the shoreline of the
State of California. Presidential Proclamation 9089,
issued on March 11, 2014, expanded the monument to
include the Point Arena-Stornetta Public Lands, a
landscape of coastal bluffs and shelves, tide pools,
onshore dunes, coastal prairies, and riverbanks, and
the mouth and estuary of the Garcia River. In addition
to providing vital habitat for wildlife, these coastal
lands were critical for the native peoples who first
lived along the California Coast, and they continue to
be treasured by modern generations.

Six other spectacular areas along the California Coast
contain significant scientific or historic resources
that are closely tied to the values of the monument.
Like the protections afforded by prior proclamations,
protection of Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch,
Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, Piedras
Blancas, and Orange County Rocks and Islands would
protect and preserve objects of historic or scientific
interest on the California Coast.

Trinidad Head

About 30 miles north of Eureka lies the majestic and
culturally important promontory known as Trinidad Head.
The tip of Trinidad Head encompasses several prominent
historic sites along with the rocky ledges that provide
their setting, such as the Trinidad Head Light Station,
which first operated in 1871 and is still active today.
Accompanied by a small wooden bell house, it sits atop
sheer cliffs overlooking crashing waves and rugged sea
stacks. The importance of this location predated its
first use as a lighthouse. Nearly 100 years earlier, on
June 9, 1775, representatives of the local Yurok
community first made contact with two Spanish ships
there. A granite cross installed in 1913 sits in a
clearing above the lighthouse, commemorating the spot
where the Spanish erected a wooden cross two days later
to claim the area for King Charles III. Today, the area
is culturally and spiritually significant to the Cher-
Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria,
the Yurok Tribe, and the Tsurai Ancestral Society.

Coastal bluff scrub vegetation, including coyote brush,
California wax myrtle, salal, blue blossom, ocean
spray, and evergreen huckleberry, surrounds these
historic features. Scattered stands of Sitka spruce,
Douglas fir, and red alder stand out among these native
shrubs and herbs. Coast Indian paintbrush grows in
rocky outcroppings near the bell house, adding splashes
of crimson to the landscape. Visitors to Trinidad Head
enjoy observing the Trinidad seabird colony, which
makes its home on the rocks and islands off the coast
of Trinidad Head and contains over 75,000 birds,
including several species of cormorant, the common
murre, and occasionally tufted puffins.

Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch

Perched on the edge of Table Bluff, 12 miles south of
Eureka, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch has spectacular
panoramic views of the Pacific Ocean, Eel River Delta,
and the south spit of Humboldt Bay. In addition to
outstanding scenery, visitors to Waluplh-Lighthouse
Ranch can view migratory raptors, songbirds, and the
endangered marbled murrelet.

Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch is part of the ancestral home
and current cultural traditions of the Wiyot Tribe, who
gave it the name Waluplh. With its expansive views, the
area served as a lookout point for the Tribe, as well
as a crossroads for trails connecting inland areas with
Humboldt Bay to the north and the bottomlands
surrounding the mouth of the Eel River to the south.
Beginning in the late 1800s, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch
was developed as a Coast Guard facility, and during
World War II, it served as a coastal lookout post and
the base for a mounted beach patrol. There are no
longer any buildings on the property, so visitors now
enjoy its panoramic views surrounded by open space.

Lost Coast Headlands

Thirteen miles south of Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, the
Lost Coast Headlands present a majestic coastline,
encompassing rolling hills and dramatically eroding
bluffs, punctuated by freshwater creeks, ponds, and
pockets of forests. Underlying the Lost Coast Headlands
are layers of highly erodible sedimentary rock known as
the Wildcat Group. This geology has weathered over the
years, leading to deeply carved and incised bluffs
along the beach made up of multi-hued layers of gray
clay, golden sandstone, and brown siltstone. The
eroding of the bluffs over time exposes fossils of
scallops, clams, and snails, providing a glimpse of the
marine fauna that lived in the area during the
Pleistocene Epoch 2.6 million to 11,700 years ago.

Coastal scrub vegetation and open grasslands blanket
the area's rolling hills. Coyote brush and California
blackberry dominate, and in the grasslands, small
patches of native Pacific reed grass meadow remain.
Pockets of Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and grand fir
shadow the eroded draws. These diverse habitats support
an array of wildlife species, including
black[hyphen]tailed deer, bobcat, brush rabbit, and
Douglas squirrel. While more elusive, gray fox, coyote,
and mountain lion also pass through the area, and a
careful observer may notice signs of their presence. A
variety of small birds dart about its grasslands and
scrub, while raptors such as American kestrels,
northern harriers, peregrine falcons, and Cooper's
hawks scan for prey overhead. Quiet visitors may hear
hairy woodpeckers in the forested draws. Foraging
shorebirds and gulls, along with the occasional harbor
seal, can be observed on the narrow beaches.

Buffered by red alder and willow, Guthrie and Fleener
creeks wind their way through the Lost Coast Headlands
on their way to the sea. Both perennial streams provide
habitat for three-spined stickleback, a small native
fish. Sculpin, Pacific lamprey, and the threatened
Northern California steelhead have also been observed
in Guthrie Creek, and both creeks are potential habitat
for the threatened coho salmon. During the summer, the
mouth of Guthrie Creek widens into a lagoon that can
provide shelter for estuary-dependent fish and
invertebrates. The area also features three small,
freshwater ponds that provide habitat for the
threatened California red-legged frog and a variety of
waterfowl, including green-winged teals.

While few signs of it remain, the northernmost point of
the Lost Coast Headlands was once the site of the
Centerville Beach Naval Facility, established in 1958
to monitor Soviet submarines during the Cold War. For
more than 100 years, several families who settled
nearby grazed livestock in the area.

Cotoni-Coast Dairies

Near Davenport in Santa Cruz County, Cotoni-Coast
Dairies extends from the steep slopes of the Santa Cruz
Mountains to the marine coastal terraces overlooking
the Pacific Ocean. Sitting atop the soft Santa Cruz
Mudstone

Formation and the hard, silica-rich Monterey Formation,
the area's bedrock supports a diversity of soils and
vegetation that have sustained wildlife and people
alike for millennia.

Dating back at least 10,000 years, an ancestral group
known to archaeologists as the Costanoan or Coastal
People (also called the Ohlone) lived in this region,
and the Cotoni, a tribelet of this group, lived in the
Cotoni-Coast Dairies area. Lithic scatter sites and
shell middens demonstrate that inhabitants moved
between the coastal ecological zones and upland
environments, making use of the landscape's diverse
resources. Europeans first made contact with the Cotoni
in the 1600s and 1700s. Most of the Costanoan people
were converted to Christianity, many forcibly, during
California's Mission period in the late 1700s and
1800s, and by the early 1900s, much of the ancient
cultural heritage of the Coastal People was left only
to memory.

Six perennial streams form the heart of Cotoni-Coast
Dairies' ecosystem, flowing from the coastal mountains
down to the Pacific Ocean. Molino Creek, Ferrari Creek,
San Vicente Creek, Liddell Creek, Yellow Bank Creek,
and Laguna Creek have each carved steep canyons on
their path to the sea. Vibrant riparian areas follow
along the six stream corridors, with red alder and
arroyo willow forests dominating the vegetative
community. A seventh stream, Scott Creek, flows along a
small portion of the area's northern boundary. Most of
the area's wetlands can be found within these riparian
corridors, though others exist in meadows and
floodplains.

Beyond supporting riparian and wetland communities,
Cotoni-Coast Dairies' waterways provide important
habitat for anadromous and freshwater fish. All of the
streams are thought to have historically supported
salmon populations. Today, the threatened steelhead and
coho salmon can be found on spawning runs in San
Vicente Creek, while steelhead are also found in
Liddell Creek and Laguna Creek. The endangered
tidewater goby may also be found in the tidally
influenced portion of Laguna Creek. The threatened
California red-legged frog uses many of the waterways
and water sources here, along with a wide range of
other amphibians and reptiles.

Grasslands, scrublands, woodlands, and forests surround
the riparian corridors in Cotoni-Coast Dairies. Purple
needlegrass and other native species, such as
California oatgrass and blue wildrye, characterize the
coastal prairie grassland community. The intermixed
wildflowers in the community provide visitors a
colorful display in the spring and early summer.
Occasional freshwater seeps amid the grasslands support
sedges, California buttercup, brown-headed rush, and
other species.

California sagebrush and coyote brush scrub communities
blanket the area's bluffs and hillside slopes. Native
trees, including Douglas fir and coast live oak,
dominate forests, which also include stands of coastal
trees such as madrone, California bay, Monterey pine,
and knobcone pine. Visitors are drawn to stands of
coast redwood, which thrive on the north-facing slopes
in some watersheds, accompanied by redwood sorrel, elk
clover, and other understory species.

The diversity of the uplands vegetation in Cotoni-Coast
Dairies supports a rich wildlife community including a
vast and varied mammalian population. Among the many
species inhabiting Cotoni-Coast Dairies are California
voles, dusky-footed woodrats, black-tailed jackrabbits,
mule deer, and gray fox. Evidence also suggests that
both bobcats and mountain lions hunt here.

Visitors to Cotoni-Coast Dairies may be able to catch a
glimpse of a variety of avian species, including black
swifts, orange crowned warblers, American kestrels,
Cooper's hawks, white-tailed kites, and peregrine
falcons. In the riparian areas, one may encounter
Wilson's warblers, downy woodpeckers, and tree
swallows, among others. Various bat species, including
the Townsend's big-eared bat, can be seen darting
overhead at dusk.

Piedras Blancas

Only 40 miles north of San Luis Obispo, the large white
coastal rocks for which Piedras Blancas was named have
served as a landmark for centuries to explorers and
traders along the central coast of California. Sitting
at a cultural interface between Northern Chumash and
Playanos Salinan peoples, Piedras Blancas was and still
remains important to Native Americans. The human
history of the area stretches back at least 3,000
years, and archaeologists have found stone tools,
debris from tool knapping, discrete quarrying
locations, and shell midden deposits that help tell
that history. Native peoples largely used the area as a
source of raw stone and for the manufacture of stone
tools.

In 1542, the Spanish explorer Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo
noted the value of this area as a maritime guidepost,
and the land he sighted from his ship was later claimed
by the Spanish, followed by the Governor of Mexico, and
subsequently became part of the United States. A
lighthouse built in the 1870s still stands today,
albeit without the three upper levels that were removed
after being damaged by an earthquake in 1948. The
lighthouse, with its ornate brick and cast-iron
structure, is listed in the National Register of
Historic Places along with its surrounding buildings,
such as the 1906 fog-signal and oil house. Visitors to
Piedras Blancas today are treated to unmatched scenic
vistas of the rugged mountain peaks of the Santa Lucia
Range and the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean.
Dramatic geologic features, such as the namesake white
rocks, along with the area's characteristic fog,
contribute to a dynamic visual landscape.

The bedrock in the area consists of both sedimentary
and volcanic rocks of the Franciscan Formation. This
Formation represents Jurassic age material from the
Pacific Plate that scraped off and attached to the
continental margin of North America. Atop the bedrock
lie Monterey Formation rocks, topped with marine
terrace deposits. Rain percolates through the rock
surface and sub-surface and emerges dramatically as
ephemeral springs from cliff faces.

California sea lions, harbor seals, and northern
elephant seals all spend time on the shores and within
the waters of this area. Visitors may observe colonies
of massive elephant seals loafing in the sun at Piedras
Blancas, where females can be seen nursing their pups,
and males occasionally battle for dominance. For
decades, scientists have used this land to conduct
annual censuses of the threatened southern sea otter
and other marine mammals. From the mainland of Piedras
Blancas, visitors can also be treated to regular visits
by migrating gray and humpback whales, and occasionally
blue, minke, and killer whales as well, in addition to
bottlenose dolphins.

Marine birds perched on or soaring over the Piedras
Blancas rocks include Brandt's cormorants, black
oystercatchers, peregrine falcons, and brown pelicans.
In a remarkable spring display, Pacific loons can be
seen migrating offshore of Piedras Blancas by the tens
of thousands. In the rocky intertidal zone found along
these shores, scientists have documented mussels, ochre
starfish, barnacles, sea anemones, and black and red
abalones.

The lighthouse's windswept onshore point is also a
sanctuary for plants and wildlife. Over 70 types of
native plants, including members from the agave,
cashew, sunflower, carnation, morning glory, gourd,
iris, and poppy families, establish a foothold in the
fine sand and fine sandy loam soils. Together this
diversity of vegetation can be characterized as
northern coastal bluff scrub. If visitors time their
visit, they will be treated to a dazzling array of
blooms from species such as seaside poppy, seaside
daisy, coastal bush lupine, hedge nettle, dune
buckwheat, and compact cobwebby thistle. This native
vegetation supports many wildlife species, including
brush rabbits, California voles, dusky-footed woodrats,
and bobcats. Black-bellied slender salamanders,
threatened red-legged frogs, western terrestrial garter
snakes, and other reptiles and amphibians thrive in the
Piedras Blancas area.

Orange County Rocks and Islands

This area consists of a series of offshore rocks,
pinnacles, exposed reefs, and small islands off the
Orange County coastline, where visitors onshore

are treated to dramatic crashing waves, unique geology,
and an abundance of marine-dependent wildlife. These
rocks and islands lie within the current monument
boundary but were not previously reserved as part of
the monument. These offshore rocks, many in pocket
coves, contribute to the rugged beauty of the Orange
County coastline and themselves include objects of
scientific and historic interest. The features also
provide important connectivity from south to north for
shore birds and sea birds, as well as for California
sea lions and harbor seals.

Cormorants, brown pelicans, gulls, and a variety of
other shore birds and sea birds can be seen roosting,
resting, and feeding on the jagged rocks and small
islands. These rocks and islands are also haul-out
areas for marine mammals, including California sea
lions, harbor seals, and the occasional northern
elephant seal.

Rich in vital nutrients, this offshore zone of swirling
currents supports a variety of habitats and organisms.
The tide pools around these rocks and islands are home
to a diversity of hardy intertidal seaweeds and animal
species uniquely adapted for survival within the
alternating and equally harsh environs of pounding surf
and baking sun.

The protection of Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse
Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies,
Piedras Blancas, and Orange County Rocks and Islands as
part of the California Coastal National Monument will
preserve their cultural, prehistoric, and historic
legacy and maintain their diverse array of natural and
scientific resources, ensuring that the historic and
scientific value of these areas, and their numerous
objects of historic or scientific interest, remain for
the benefit of all Americans.

WHEREAS, section 320301 of title 54, United States Code
(known as the ``Antiquities Act''), authorizes the
President, in his discretion, to declare by public
proclamation historic landmarks, historic and
prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic
or scientific interest that are situated upon the lands
owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be
national monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof
parcels of land, the limits of which in all cases shall
be confined to the smallest area compatible with the
proper care and management of the objects to be
protected;

WHEREAS, it is in the public interest to preserve the
objects of scientific and historic interest on the
public lands of Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse
Ranch, Lost Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies,
Piedras Blancas, and Orange County Rocks and Islands;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by the authority vested in me
by section 320301 of title 54, United States Code,
hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are
situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the Federal Government to be part of the
California Coastal National Monument and, for the
purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as part
thereof all lands and interests in lands owned or
controlled by the Federal Government within the
boundaries described on the accompanying maps, which
are attached hereto and form a part of this
proclamation. The Orange County Rocks and Islands shall
be managed as part of the original offshore area of the
monument, and the remainder of the lands shall be known
as the Trinidad Head, Waluplh-Lighthouse Ranch, Lost
Coast Headlands, Cotoni-Coast Dairies, and Piedras
Blancas units of the monument, respectively. These
reserved Federal lands and interests in lands encompass
approximately 6,230 acres. The boundaries described on
the accompanying maps are confined to the smallest area
compatible with the proper care and management of the
objects to be protected.

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the
boundaries described on the accompanying maps are
hereby appropriated and withdrawn from all forms of
entry, location, selection, sale, or other disposition
under the public land laws, from location, entry, and
patent under the mining laws, and from disposition
under all laws relating to mineral and geothermal

leasing, other than by exchange that furthers the
protective purposes of the monument.

The enlargement of the boundary is subject to valid
existing rights. If the Federal Government subsequently
acquires any lands or interests in lands not owned or
controlled by the Federal Government within the
boundaries described on the accompanying maps, such
lands and interests in lands shall be reserved as a
part of the monument, and objects identified above that
are situated upon those lands and interests in lands
shall be part of the monument, upon acquisition of
ownership or control by the Federal Government.

The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage
the area being added to the monument through the Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) as a unit of the National
Landscape Conservation System, pursuant to applicable
legal authorities, to protect the objects identified
above.

The Cotoni-Coast Dairies unit of the monument shall
become available for public access upon completion of a
management plan by the BLM, consistent with the care
and management of the objects identified above.

Consistent with the care and management of the objects
identified above, and except for emergency or
authorized administrative purposes, motorized vehicle
use in areas being added to the monument shall be
permitted only on designated roads, and non-motorized
mechanized vehicle use shall be permitted only on
designated roads and trails.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to
interfere with the operation or maintenance, or the
replacement or modification within the existing
authorization boundary, of existing weather station,
navigation, transportation, utility, pipeline, or
telecommunications facilities located on the lands
added to the monument in a manner consistent with the
care and management of the objects to be protected.
Other rights-of-way shall be authorized only if they
are necessary for the care and management of the
objects to be protected.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge
or diminish the rights or jurisdiction of any Indian
tribe. The Secretary shall, to the maximum extent
permitted by law and in consultation with Indian
tribes, ensure the protection of Indian sacred sites
and traditional cultural properties in the monument and
provide access by members of Indian tribes for
traditional cultural and customary uses, consistent
with the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (42
U.S.C. 1996) and Executive Order 13007 of May 24, 1996
(Indian Sacred Sites).

Laws, regulations, and policies followed by the BLM in
issuing and administering grazing permits or leases on
lands under its jurisdiction shall continue to apply
with regard to the lands added to the monument,
consistent with the care and management of the objects
identified above.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to enlarge
or diminish the jurisdiction of the State of California
or the United States over submerged or other lands
within the territorial waters off the coast of
California, nor shall it otherwise enlarge or diminish
the jurisdiction or authority of the State of
California, including its jurisdiction and authority
with respect to fish and wildlife management.

Nothing in this proclamation shall affect the rights or
obligations of any State or Federal oil or gas lessee
within the territorial waters off the California Coast.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to
alter the authority or responsibility of any party with
respect to emergency response activities within the
monument, including wildland fire response.

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke
any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation;
however, the monument shall be the dominant
reservation.

Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not
to appropriate, injure, destroy, or remove any feature
of the monument and not to locate or settle upon any of
the lands thereof.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord two
thousand seventeen, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
first.

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