If there is one thing almost universally associated with California, it’s sunny, sandy beaches. And if recent work by the National Park Service is any indication, they could serve as the cornerstone of America’s newest national park. But very significant hurdles remain.
On Feb. 5, the National Park Service (NPS) opened a call for public comments for a proposal to turn about 22 miles of coastline, plus some nearby hills, into a national park.
While the public comment period is currently open until April 6, it is clear that the road to turning these extremely busy, populated, and commercialized parts of Los Angeles and Santa Monica into a national park will be long and complicated. Here’s what we know so far.
The Area
The NPS calls the land under consideration the Los Angeles Coastal Area. It consists of the coastline along the Pacific Ocean as it stretches from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area in the north to Torrance Beach in the south, about 22 miles of coastline. On the beaches, the area extends from the high tide line to about 200 yards inland.
A small sliver, up to Baldwin Hills, would extend inland along Ballona Creek. The area also includes a small, noncontiguous section of coastline to the south near San Pedro.
The Context
People have been trying to make parts of Los Angeles and Southern California a national park for over a century. In 1916, conservationist Stephen Mather got a bill into Congress to designate a few hundred acres of forest in the Sierra Madre Mountains above L.A. a national park. The bill never even made it to a vote, crowded out by contemporaneous efforts to create Olympic and Acadia national parks.
An environmental activist advocated for parts of Santa Monica to be designated a national park to protect against mining and development in the 1920s, but the Great Depression ended that effort.
In the 1970s, a local congressman, Alphonzo Bell Jr., tried several times to get the Santa Monica Mountains declared a national park, but all his efforts failed. The mountains were declared a national recreation area, however, in 1978.
What the NPS Is Doing
The NPS is currently conducting a “special resource study.” This is the first step in the long process of a land area becoming a national park.
The study seeks to answer four questions. First, the NPS will see if there are significant national or cultural resources. A national park “contains a variety of resources and encompasses large land or water areas to help provide adequate protection of the resources,” the agency explains.
Next is the issue of suitability. The land should be a resource that is not already protected within the NPS system or another comparable land management organization.
Then, the NPS “evaluates the potential for visitor enjoyment” and analyzes the question of feasibility, which involves examining “landownership, acquisition costs, maintenance costs, access, threats to the resource, and staff or development requirements,” it says.
Lastly, it will also see if direct NPS management “is clearly superior” to other options, like state or local control. This area of the Los Angeles coastline is currently managed by several local and state bodies, including the California State Parks Department and the Los Angeles City Department of Recreation and Parks.
The study also involves soliciting public comment, which the NPS will receive until April 6. The NPS will also hold two virtual public meetings on Feb. 11 and March 11. Once the study is complete, the NPS will hand over the report to Congress. Land can only be designated a national park by an act of Congress.
Does L.A. Meet the Criteria?
Natural Resources
Regarding significant cultural or national resources, these parts of L.A. have a lot to offer. The beaches are important habitats for crustaceans, fish, mollusks, sea stars, and shorebirds. Sea lions and harbor seals also frequently visit.
And these “sandy beaches are extremely popular for human visitors and, unfortunately, this makes this habitat and its inhabitants susceptible to marine debris, pollution, and other coastal disturbances,” according to a local aquarium.
The Ballona Creek wetlands are home to many species of mammals. As a waterway in the middle of a busy city, the creek is, unsurprisingly, extremely polluted, with trash, heavy metals, and pesticides, all of which affect wildlife. Nonprofits and local agencies have worked diligently for years to clean up the area, and the NPS study will examine how much federal management can help.
Feasibility
The park might pose serious issues regarding feasibility and local impacts. Los Angeles is infamous for its bad traffic. The I-10, which connects Los Angeles to Santa Monica, would be a key access point for this potential national park, and it’s already known as one of the most congested highways in the state. The 405 would be another key way to get to the southern part of the park near Torrance, and it’s already the stuff of traffic nightmares.
Data indicates that a national park designation boosts visitor numbers. In the 6 years since New River Gorge became a national park, its annual visitation has increased by about 900,000; tourists to White Sands National Park have increased by over 300,000 since its redesignation in 2019.
According to local data, Santa Monica already attracts about 8 million tourists per year. A new national park would likely increase those numbers, and developing the necessary infrastructure and parking for the area is a factor for the NPS to consider.
This area of Los Angeles is thoroughly developed. Most people associate national parks with remote wilderness, but there is a precedent for an urban national park. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Mo., became Gateway Arch National Park in 2018. This park, the smallest by land size, is in the middle of a downtown, with no significant natural resources.
GearJunkie reached out to many stakeholders and nonprofits, including the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce, Santa Monica City Hall, Ballona Creek Renaissance, the Bay Foundation, the National Parks Conservation Association, and the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, for comment. It did not receive any responses by the time of publication.
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