Coastal Conservation, Politics, and a New Commission

Set against the backdrop of the presidential election of 1972 and Republican Richard M. Nixon’s calculated support for the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, the failed effort in California to obtain passage of a statewide law regulating the shore is detailed, followed by enactment of Proposition 20 and the California Coastal Act. Exhilaration from passage of these two foundational state laws was short-lived as the Golden State’s next governor, Republican George Deukmejian, slashed the new Coastal Commission’s budget in the early 1980s and afterward did all he could to dismantle the agency, headed by Michael L. Fischer. By then Douglas, en route to becoming the commission’s next executive director, guided it through the hard times.

Ebb Tide

Having waged many battles on behalf of California’s coast and survived firing attempts, Douglas finally faced a foe that could not be outfought: terminal throat and lung cancer. Impending death edged him toward retirement and launched Douglas into his deepest metaphysical musings and on road trips to visit again the people and places that had meant the most to him. He reflected on the Earth, the cosmos, and nature; citizen activism to save the coast; property rights versus community rights; purposeful living and public service; and death. He confronted his last months with the same fearlessness that had characterized nearly his entire Coastal Commission career. For some time before his 2012 death the warrior-administrator had evolved into the coastal sage.

High Tide

The book’s core, this chapter treats Douglas’s somewhat unconventional personality and his management of staff before surveying his role in the commission’s handling of 12 representative issues and/or cases that came before that agency during his executive directorship (1985-2011). In many ways a maverick administrator, he carefully selected staffers and then trained them to be coastal warriors. His 26-year tenure as agency chief attested to his superb political skills, which he deployed not only to defeat various attempts to fire him, but also to maximize the clout of the Coastal Act. Lawsuits and/or commission decisions involving Malibu beach access, the Jonathan Club, Marine Forests Society, Bolsa Chica Wetlands, and the 241 Toll Road are highlighted.

Sea Change

In the 1960s and early 1970s a profound shift in the Golden State’s history was taking place. The convergence of California’s counter-cultural movement, a Bay Area conservation effort, public insistence on beach access at the Sea Ranch development along the Sonoma coast, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the struggle to pass environmental legislation in Sacramento catalyzed a robust, grass roots ecological consciousness. This consciousness, which spread nationwide, was resident in Douglas. The sea change in public thinking about the importance of protecting the environment that was taking place paved the way for statewide, as opposed to merely local, management of California’s shore.

Footprints in Sand

News of Douglas’s death triggered a plethora of newspaper obituaries and other valedictory pronouncements from the California legislature and Congress. Most of these hailed his leadership; some compared him to John Muir. During a 34-year career with the Coastal Commission Douglas witnessed an overall severe cut in the agency’s funding and staffing; still, development had been checked and regulated while California registered the nation’s largest coastal economy, proving that effective regulation and economic growth could be compatible. Moreover, beach access had been increased substantially. Though Peter Douglas’s achievements for the coast have been singular and might land him in the pantheon of California’s greatest environmentalists, more time will have to transpire before history hands us its verdict on his legacy.

California’s Coast

The origins and natural features of California’s coast and seaward islands, which Douglas understood well, are surveyed, followed by a chronological overview of ever-increasing development from the Spanish missions of the late 18th century to the eve of passage of Proposition 20 in 1972. Plate tectonics, the Southern California Bight, the California Current, the Franciscan Complex, El Niño, and more are explained in the first part of this chapter. The built environment, spurred by the gold rush and followed by real estate booms, population explosion, urbanization, and industrialization, is taken up in the last half of the chapter. Rapid development along California’s scenic shore set the stage for a rising public concern about a vanishing coast.

Few Safe Harbors

Roughly the first 30 years of Peter Douglas’s life are sketched, from his birth in WW II Berlin, Germany to his landing a job with California Assemblyperson Alan Sieroty in 1971. His family’s wartime traumas affected him, while afterward his moving to coastal Southern California assuaged painful memories and opened new opportunities for ocean swimming, surfing, diving, and working on boats. Douglas’s grandmother, Alice Ehlers, exerted a profound influence on his ethical development as did Henri Lohrengel, a teacher. Later, Douglas’s wife helped shape his liberal politics. After overseas travel and law school completion, he worked for Sieroty, thereby embarking on a lifetime career in coastal governance.