Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes - History

History

The first inhabitants of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes were Native Americans of the Chumash tribe, whose settlements were noticed by early Spanish maritime explorers. However, Europeans did not travel through the Dunes themselves until Monday, September 4, 1769. These explorers were members of Don Gaspar de Portolà's overland expedition. While staying in the Dunes, the explorers shot a skinny bear by the shores of what is now called Oso Flaco Lake. After eating the bear, two of the explorers became sick. The skinny bear had been poisoned by the Chumash who, as a means of protection, often incapacitated dangerous wildlife by feeding them tainted meat. This incident resulted in the lake's name: Oso Flaco or "Skinny Bear."

In 1923, the epic movie The Ten Commandments directed by Cecil B. DeMille, was filmed on the Dunes. At the end of production, the massive sets reproducing ancient Egypt were dismantled and buried on the site to prevent reuse. They are still buried there today, and have been the target of various schemes for excavation for decades. Some artifacts have been recovered and are on display at The Dunes Visitor's Center, while others may be seen from time to time as the dunes shift.

From the 1920s until the 1940s, a group of mystics, nudists, artists, writers, and hermits known as the "Dunites" inhabited the Dunes. They believed that the Dunes were a center of creative energy and even published a magazine called "The Dune Forum." At the same time, oil companies were buying up Dune land and in 1948, oil was discovered in the Dunes. Unocal, an oil company, began operating the Guadalupe Oil Field in the 1950s. Over the course of the next forty years, Unocal leaked 18 million gallons of petroleum under the Dunes. In 1994, the company publicly recognized the spill and began cleaning up the 2,700-acre (11 km2) site, which is located in San Luis Obispo County immediately north of the Santa Barbara County line.

Starting in the 1970s, measures were taken to protect the natural environment at the Dunes. One of the biggest changes was the restriction of OHVs to the designated Oceano Dunes State Vehicular Recreation Area. This allowed for the other areas of the Dunes to undergo restoration efforts by conservation groups. The process of dune restoration continues into the present.