Coastal Tales

As the Coastal Act approaches its 50th birthday, reflecting on its half-century of success invites us to celebrate the things we don’t see. California’s landmark coastal protection law has been used to prevent new development from blocking trails and beaches, protect coastal ranches from encroaching urban uses, stop the filling of wetlands, and advance equitable access to beaches, waves and watersheds for all the people—not just those who are fortunate enough to own a piece of the Golden Shore.

This “unseen” history stands at the heart of The Coastal History Project, an educational podcast and video series. Drawing from oral history interviews conducted by UC Berkeley historian Todd Holmes, each episode of this forthcoming series will feature a specific site on the state’s coastline and detail the story of a proposed development that, if not for citizen activists and the Coastal Commission, would have significantly altered those sites and communities forever.

The episodes of Coastal Tales will be available in two forms on this website.

• An audio version of each episode will be accessible at the featured site by scanning a QR Code with a smart phone. This will allow people to listen to the story of the site they are visiting and experience for themselves how the coastal environment around them could have been drastically different if not for the work of both activists and the Commission.
• A video version of each episode will be created for classroom use, which will feature photographs, video footage, and other historical material along with the audio.