Refugio State Beach and Gaviota State Park are still closed as of Friday, as crews work on winter storm cleanup, palm tree removal and fixing damaged infrastructure.

California Conservation Corps crews are cleaning up debris and flooding damage at Gaviota, and State Parks is working with Caltrans to address a sinkhole near Refugio’s entrance kiosk.

“The staff are working their hearts out to get the parks back to a state where we can open them again,” said Dena Bellman from the Channel Coast District of State Parks.

Falling Palms

Winter storms have taken out at least 16 iconic palm trees along the Refugio State Beach shoreline.

About 10 palms fell down after waves eroded the sandy shoreline, and State Parks marked several more for removal because they’re tilting at a hazardous degree.

That line of trees is more than a historic, visual gem of the park — the palms also provide erosion control.

They’ve been helping protect the park’s campgrounds and day-use amenities from the ocean for years, said Bellman.

“We’re really at the front line of climate change and sea level rise issues,” she said.

“Dealing with those are key to having a park for the future.”

State Parks doesn’t have plans to move any of the oceanfront palm trees farther back or plant more right now, she told Noozhawk last week.

Palms have been moved in the past, but that was a “much different situation” because those trees were still healthy, Bellman said.

Foresters assessing trees this winter looked at whether they could survive a move, and whether they had an intact root system, she added.

However, the agency is working on a longer-term plan for protecting the Gaviota Coast parks from the tides, and palms will be part of that conversation, she said.

State Parks has a team working on a “nature-based solution for shoreline adaptation that can protect the park,” she said.

General Plan Update for Gaviota Coast State Parks

Last year the agency started general plan updates for all three Gaviota Coast parks: Refugio, El Capitan and Gaviota. These plans are land use management guides for the parks.  

Canary Island date palm trees aren’t native to California, but they will very much be part of the conversation, Bellman said.

State Parks is trying to find a way that “will let us do what is needed to protect the park and keeping its character that people have loved,” she said.

The park is designated as a historical place, and State Parks hopes to keep the character and iconic viewshed of the park, she added. There are more than 210 Canary Island date palms in Refugio State Park, and fan palm trees as well.  

The current general plan, which is the parks’ planning document, is from the 1970s, Bellman said.

State Parks hopes to have a programmatic environmental impact report done by the end of 2025.

State Parks will want the public’s input on plans for the parks, including what pieces of the parks are the most important to them.

“They can help make those decisions on if we need to create different day use areas so we can have the palms and have a shoreline that protects the park from the ocean and higher sea levels that we’re seeing. How can we construct all of that together?” Bellman said.