{"id":4077,"date":"2026-07-08T22:38:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2026-07-08T22:38:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T22:38:43","slug":"this-scenic-portion-of-the-san-mateo-coast-could-be-added-to-the-national-park-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4077","title":{"rendered":"This scenic portion of the San Mateo Coast could be added to the national park system"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1970s and 80s, dirt bikes buzzed around its fragile landscape, creating erosion and noise. In the early 1990s, a developer planned to build 217 luxury homes there.<\/p>

Read more Opinion: Volunteering loses meaning if teenagers are \u2018hour-farming\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Now, a scenic oceanfront property with public hiking trails, bobcats, foxes and sweeping views of the San Mateo coast, Farallon Islands and the Marin Headlands could become part of the national park system.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Map<\/figure>\nPedro Point Headlands, a 246-acre promontory in northern San Mateo County perched on steep bluffs 625 feet above the ocean between Devil\u2019s Slide and the city of Pacifica, would be transferred to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area under an agreement being drawn up between local, state and federal officials.<\/p>\n

On June 18, the California Coastal Conservancy, a state agency that owns 94 acres at Pedro Point, agreed to donate the property to the National Park Service. City officials in Pacifica, who own the other 152 acres there, are also in discussions with national parks officials to transfer their portion.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the deal say that adding the properties to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area \u2014 a gem of America\u2019s national park system visited by millions of people a year that includes Alcatraz Island, the Presidio in San Francisco and Muir Woods \u2014 would increase protections for the property with professional management, rangers and signs.<\/p>\n

\u201cPedro Point Headlands is a beautiful property,\u201d said Amy Hutzel, executive officer of the California Coastal Conservancy. \u201cDonating it to the National Park Service is going to mean better public access and better long-term stewardship of the land.\u201d<\/p>\n

The conservancy\u2019s board voted 5-0 last month to approve a transfer plan for its portion of the property to the National Park Service.<\/p>\n

The final transfer could take two years, conservancy staff members said. They still must receive approval from the state Department of General Services, and hope to build a new trail on the land before transferring it \u2014 a 1.3-mile addition to the California Coastal Trail. It would connect Pacifica with Devil\u2019s Slide County Park, allowing people to hike and bike without having to be on Highway 1.<\/p>

\n<\/div>\n

Currently, the property is maintained by volunteers from the Pacifica Land Trust, a small non-profit. They have worked for years repairing erosion and doing trail work.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are doing it on a shoestring budget,\u201d said Sam Casillas, president of the Pacifica Land Trust. \u201cIt needs to be professionally managed, which would benefit the whole community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Casillas said the landscape, where trail cameras have photographed a wide variety of wildlife and wildflowers bloom in the spring, is often overlooked by motorists on Highway 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell people it\u2019s just as pretty as the Marin Headlands,\u201d he said. \u201cYou walk out there and say, \u2018Wow, this is spectacular.’\u201d<\/p>

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\n<\/div>\n

After Caltrans opened the Devil\u2019s Slide tunnel in 2013, improving safety on Highway 1, San Mateo County officials established the Devil\u2019s Slide Trail on a decommissioned section of the roadway. It is popular with hikers, providing views of the ocean, including whale watching.<\/p>\n

Hikers and mountain bikers use trails on Pedro Point Headlands now. They often park in a 12-space lot for the Devil\u2019s Slide Trail just off Highway 1 on the north side of the tunnel, and hike onto the headlands property.<\/p>\n

The land has a long, winding history.<\/p>\n

Its former owner leased it to a motorcycle club between 1970 and 1992. Riders used it as a private track. When a developer proposed building more than 217 luxury homes there, several environmental groups, including the Peninsula Open Space Trust, the Trust for Public Land and the then-newly created Pacifica Land Trust worked out a deal with the city of Pacific and the Coastal Conservancy for the city to buy much of the land in 1992.<\/p>\n

Three years later, the Coastal Conservancy bought the rest.<\/p>\n

The conservancy, which is funded by park bonds, federal grants and other sources, expected the parcels would be transferred to San Mateo County parks, the state park system, or the national park system. But due to various budgetary reasons and staff changes that never happened.<\/p>\n

National parks officials say now it would make a great addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which owns several other pieces of property nearby, including the 110-acre Mori Point in Pacifica and the 4,000-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra property near Half Moon Bay.<\/p>\n

Helping ease the transition, the Pedro Point Headlands is already located within the boundaries of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, meaning the addition wouldn\u2019t require a vote of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited about protecting this property,\u201d said David Smith, superintendent of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, during the June 18 Coastal Conservancy meeting. \u201cOnce the property is acquired we would have our ranger staff and park police as well as county sheriffs, who could enforce the state and local codes and the federal codes for these areas to protect them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The transfer would be the first significant addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area since 2011, when Rancho Corral de Tierra, a property purchased by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, was added to the park.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople spent such a long time restoring the motorcycle trails there that had really bad erosion problems,\u201d said Lennie Roberts, an environmental advocate who has worked for more than 50 years to protect open space along the San Mateo County coast. \u201cThis is a really great story of people working to project land over a long time. This is an important next step for long-term protection.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roberts said she has been out on the property several times over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a spectacular place,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s a very prominent point. The views are great. Anything that is relatively wild and coastal is well worth protecting.\u201d<\/p>

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Discover how the scenic Pedro Point Headlands on the San Mateo Coast may become part of the national park system, securing better trail access and management.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nThis scenic portion of the San Mateo Coast could be added to the national park system - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4077\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This scenic portion of the San Mateo Coast could be added to the national park system - 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