The President’s Proclamation adding the Cotoni-Coast Dairies to the California Coastal National Monument has created protections for many biota, helping to guarantee a balanced approach between public access and preservation. The property’s managers, the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), had previously demonstrated disregard for all but federally listed species of plants and animals, which are few on the property. The Proclamation now obligates BLM to manage for 24 species as well as 13 biotic communities that are not otherwise federally protected. The Proclamation guarantees some public access for the property only after the completion of a management plan that is ‘consistent with the care and management’ of these resources.
The following non-federally protected species (24) probably would not have received attention by BLM had this Monument proclamation not included their mention:
- Wilson’s warbler
- Orange-crowned warbler
- Downy woodpecker
- Black swift
- Tree swallow
- Cooper’s hawk
- American kestrel
- California vole
- Dusky footed woodrat
- Black-tailed jackrabbit
- Gray fox
- Bobcat
- Mountain lion
- Mule deer
- California buttercup
- Brown-headed rush
- Redwood sorrel
- Elk clover
- Madrone
- California bay
- Monterey pine
- Knobcone pine
- Douglas fir
- Coast live oak
The following biotic groups/communities (13) must now be protected and managed for by BLM:
- California sagebrush
- Coyote brush scrub
- Amphibians and reptiles
- Bats
- Red alder forests
- Arroyo willow forests
- Riparian areas
- Riparian corridors
- Wetlands – in riparian areas as well as meadows and floodplains
- Grasslands
- Scrublands
- Woodlands
- Forests
The following federally listed species (4)were also mentioned in the Proclamation:
- Tidewater goby
- Steelhead
- Coho salmon
- California red-legged frog
The following species (2) are listed in the Proclamation and are also listed by BLM California as requiring protection on BLM lands. These species might not have been protected in perpetuity, though, as that BLM list changes with administrations.
- White tailed kite
- Townsend’s big-eared bat
Grey Hayes 
I feel so much gratitude to you for your critical work in getting this information and language into the proclamation!!!!
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Thanks for the kind words! This was a team effort- many thanks to the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Trust for Public Land, Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, Save the Frogs!, Valley Women’s Club, Audubon California, Sierra Club Santa Cruz Group, California Native Plant Society, etc. for supporting this work…and, all of the experts who added to the effort, named in prior post.
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