Montaña de Oro State Park

Montaña de Oro State Park
Location	San Luis Obispo County, California
Coordinates	35°15′50.04″N 120°51′43.92″W / 35.2639°N 120.8622°W / 35.2639; -120.8622Coordinates: 35°15′50.04″N 120°51′43.92″W / 35.2639°N 120.8622°W / 35.2639; -120.8622
Governing body	California Department of Parks and Recreation

Montaña de Oro ("Mountain of Gold" in Spanish) is a state park in California, United States. The park is located six miles southwest of Morro Bay and 2 miles south of Los Osos. The name "Mountain of Gold" comes from the golden wildflowers found in the park.

It has 8,000 acres (32 km²) of cliffs, sandy beaches, coastal plains, streams, canyons, and hills, including the 1,347 ft (411 m) Valencia Peak. The park has many hiking, mountain biking, and equestrian trails, as well as a campground located across from Spooner’s Cove, a popular beach.

Proposed for closure

Los Osos Oaks State Reserve was one of the 48 California state parks proposed for closure in January 2008 by California's Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger as part of a deficit reduction program but will now stay open due to public outcry.^[1]

Background

Submarine Rock, Montaña de Oro coast

Five hundred years ago, when Europeans first arrived on the California's central coast, they found it inhabited by the Chumash Indians. An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 of them lived in small villages spread over a territory which extended from Morro Bay south to Malibu. Although the Chumash depended heavily upon the sea, they also drew on many other sources for food, clothing, and shelter, and were probably part of a large trading network. The Spanish Explorers who visited the Montana de Oro area in 1542 recorded that the Indians were attractive, friendly people who paddled out to greet them in canoes.

In 1769, Don Gaspar de Portola marched his troops north from San Diego to establish new territory for the king of Spain. With the beginning of the Mission period, the Indians were moved inland, and this was the beginning of the end for the Chumash. Most died from European diseases to which they had no immunity. The survivors abandoned their villages and disappeared. With them, their customs, heritage and culture all but vanished as well. Traces of Chumash middens (refuse mounds) and village sites can still be seen in the park, but our knowledge of the Chumash culture remains sketchy. Archaeological advances and further research may help fill in the gaps. For this reason, and so that others may enjoy them, it is against the law to tamper with or disturb any Indian sites.

Recent history

Looking northwest at Spooner's Cove

The property rights for the Montana de Oro State Park land area changed hands several times after California became a territory of the United States. It was used mostly for grazing sheep until 1892, when Alden B. Spooner, Jr., leased the land he later purchased around Islay Creek. He brought in dairy cattle, hogs and other agriculture. His two sons founded the Pecho Ranch & Stock Co., and built a ranch house, a complex of barns, a creamery, stables, sheds, and a waterwheel for power. On the south bluff of Spooner's Cove they utilized a warehouse with a long chute that led down to a wharf and a loading boom to service coastal steamers. The land just to the north was owned by Alexander S. Hazard, who also raised crops and maintained a dairy. Hoping to cash in on California's growing need for timber, he planted hundreds of eucalyptus trees, turning Hazard Canyon into a prospective lumber farm. Unfortunately, eucalyptus proved unsatisfactory for commercial use. In the early 1940s, a flood scoured Hazard Canyon, and in 1947 a grass fire burned up the coast from Diablo Canyon, destroying much of what had been the Hazard dairy buildings. However, Hazard's legacy, the rows of eucalyptus trees, remains. Rancher Oliver C. Field bought the land in the early 1940s, but sold it to Irene McAllister about ten years later. In 1965 the property was purchased by the State of California for a state park, and it was decided to keep the name McAllister had given it "Montana de Oro".^[2]

On April 24, 1965, Rancho Montana de Oro was dedicated as a California State Park after it was acquired in a "friendly" eminent domain proceeding under the Park acquisition program that then Governor Edmund G. "Pat" Brown had launched and managed to fund. The Rancho Montana de Oro property was held by a corporation, Rancho Montana de Oro, Inc., which was owned by the prominent Los Angeles trial and constitutional lawyer Morris Lavine and Irene M. Starkey. They had the options of developing the park land or preserving it as open space and in the public trust. They chose the later despite the fact that their financial gains were far less by doing so. Rancho Montana de Oro, until recently, has had the longest uninterrupted, preserved and undeveloped coastal area of any publicly owned land in California.

360° panorama at Montaña de Oro State Park. Appearing on the far-left is Valencia Peak along with the setting sun. The center-right features view of Morro Rock and the stacks of the Morro Bay power plant. The near-full moon can be seen rising in the east

Marine Protected Areas

Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area and Morro Bay State Marine Reserve and Point Buchon State Marine Reserve and Marine Conservation Area are marine protected areas offshore from the Morro Bay area. Like underwater parks, these marine protected areas help conserve ocean wildlife and marine ecosystems.

References

1. ^ CBS5.com: List Of Calif. Parks To Close In Budget Proposal
2. ^ Sierra Club

External links

• Official Montaña de Oro State Park website