For Joe Weiland, board president for The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, being able to purchase and preserve the Gaviota overlook is part of a dream.
He recalls driving along the coast and wondering how the land had stayed so beautiful and undeveloped. Thirty years later, Weiland was part of the team that completed a $3 million fundraising campaign to purchase the Gaviota overlook and protect the land from development.
The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County had an event on Friday to celebrate the end of the campaign and break ground on the new trails.
“In 50 years, 500 years from today, people will be right here enjoying the exact same beautiful, remote land that we’re getting today,” Weiland said at Friday’s celebration. “I could not possibly be prouder than to be part of the people that helped make this happen.”
Weiland credited the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors for its support of the purchase. In September, the board approved a $500,000 grant for the Land Trust to use for the purchase of the Gaviota overlook.
Joan Hartmann, supervisor for the Third District, which includes the Gaviota Coast, said she hopes to see more conservation projects along the Gaviota Coast.
“This is going to make it accessible so people can really view and experience and hike here,” Hartmann said. “I hope that this is opening the door on a new era of conservation on the Gaviota Coast.”
The campaign to purchase the Gaviota outlook began in August 2022. Weiland told Noozhawk that they received numerous donations from individuals in the community.
The 48 acres neighbors the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, which gives the Land Trust the opportunity to grow Arroyo Hondo’s trails, programming and public access.
The overlook adds a marine terrace element in the valley and canyon environment that already exist in the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, according to Weiland.
“If everything goes well, this will be part of a greater trail network along the Gaviota Coast,” Weiland said.
Das Williams, First District supervisor and chairman, also attended Friday’s celebration and said that preserving the Gaviota Coast is a big priority for the county and Board of Supervisors.
“Preservation of the Gaviota Coast means making sure that people who have farmed here for generations can continue to farm here for generations,” Williams said.
The purchase leads the way for a future Gaviota Coast Trail Network. The Land Trust aims to have thousands of conserved acres from Dangermond Preserve to Refugio and El Capitan state beaches, according to a news release.
The Land Trust aims for the Gaviota overlook at the Arroyo Hondo Preserve to be open to the public by summer 2024; however, the opening could get pushed back depending on winter weather, according to a news release from the Land Trust.