Development and Environmental Concerns
Many associated with the present Hollister Ranch see themselves as responsible stewards of the land, ardently claiming to have worked out a successful formula balancing ecological preservation with residential development which functions within both a working commercial agricultural operation and a healthy natural habitat with a wide range of flora and fauna. But non-owners argue that the owners' formula precludes the public access through and over their property to beaches, mandated by California state law, and that the Hollister Ranch Association beaches remain open to heavy vehicular traffic from registered beach going vehicles. In addition, non-owners argue that the working cattle operation is subsidized by the owners and exists primarily for tax-front purposes. Environmentalists note the potential impact such an operation could have on native flora and fauna. Thus, a sharp difference of opinion exists between Ranch owners and non-owners, some of whom view Ranch policies as exclusivist and disingenuous.
In 2004, the National Park Service abandoned a proposal to designate parts of the Gaviota coastline, including the seashore in front of Hollister Ranch, as National Seashore. Local landowners, especially those in Hollister Ranch, mounted a lobbying campaign to oppose the study. The Hollister Ranch Owners' Association assessed its members at least $300,000 to hire a former congressman to lobby against the National Seashore proposal.
Previous projects proposed since the 1970s have included oil development, a nuclear power plant and high-density housing.
For over twenty years Santa Barbara area grade school children have been encouraged to participate (at no cost to the schools) in the Hollister Ranch Conservancy's "Tidepool Classroom" that preserves intertidal life forms not found elsewhere along the coast.
Hollister Ranch owners are currently restricted in terms of development in a situation that many say will result in efficient preservation of one of the last vestiges of the natural California coastline. In the view of Hollister Ranch property owners, they (private owners) are judged better stewards than regional public, state or national preservation projects.
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