January-February Wave Newsletter

San Onofre SB History
The Park Aide That Roared

By Dick Troy, Retired, former Park Operations Chief

When Janet Carle, the new editor of the WAVE, asked me to write an historic piece about Orange Coast, it jogged my memory regarding a land use battle that occurred 28 years ago at San Onofre SB. And it just so happens, that the hero of the story was Janet's husband Dave. While Janet might feel a bit awkward about running a story about someone who was later to become her husband, I hope she finds her way to print it. It's the kind of state park story that should be told. It proves that universal axiom that we all know to be true: If you want something done, find a park aide to do it.

In 1973 and 1974, Dave Van Cleve and I were supervising visitor services at San Onofre SB. The park had recently come into the State Park System when President Nixon (whose Western White House was just a mile or so to the North) arranged for the Marine Corps to lease to the department 5 miles of gorgeous coastline and nearly 2,000 acres of inland property (San Mateo Canyon).

San Onofre was wide open in those days; a 24 hour operation. Our two major challenges at the time were 1) controlling the indiscriminate camping which was occurring up and down the beach and 2) dealing with a constant flow of illegal aliens who would make their way through the park each night to hook up with their 'Coyotes'. Obviously, we had some fun.

At that time, Southern Cal Edison was planning a multi-billion dollar expansion of their adjacent nuclear reactor site. To do so involved flattening a half-mile of some incredibly beautiful coastal bluffs. Needless to say, building two new nuclear power plants on the coast was very controversial and required approval of the newly formed Californi Coastal Commission. Van Cleve, Dave Carle and I, on our off time, were involved with a local group that opposed the project. Both the opposition group and the Commission staff wanted us to make a presentation at the upcoming Commission hearing. With Nixon as president and Ronald Reagan as Governor, it was made clear to us from on high that neither we, nor the department, could be viewed as being out front in our opposition.

San Onofre Bluffs as they appear today

Dave Carle was both a hard-working park aid and a talented photographer. He had worked for us at Doheny the previous summer and had decided to come along with Van Cleve and I when we moved down to San Onofre. He had taken some absolutely riveting photos of the coastline that was to be sacrificed for the expansion. He knew that as 'permanents', Van Cleve and I might be risking our careers with the department if we spoke out at the hearing. He volunteered: "Hey, I'll do it. After all, what can they do to a park aide?" And did he ever do it!

The hearing room at the Town and Country Hotel in San Diego was jammed to the rafters with state and national press in attendance. Dave Carle was introduced as someone who would provide an interesting visual perspective on these scenic coastal bluffs. The lights went down and 10 minutes later, the power and poetry of his words and images had awed the entire audience into quiet. The commission's executive director punctuated the moment by summing up that, "Razing these gorgeous bluffs for a power plant would be tantamount to chopping down our cathedrals for firewood".

The commission voted down the project to roaring applause. I can still remember the ashen faces of the Edison executives and their squads of attorneys as they stared at Dave and pondered the damage he had wrought. A true David and Goliath story.

We all know the unfortunate end of the story. Corporate and political pressures were eventually brought to bear on some of the commissioners who had voted no and, 9 months later, the project was reheard and approved. Some of the bluffs were razed, the off-shore kelp beds soon disappeared and the related fishery was damaged for the next 25 years. However, recently, former Coastal Commission Executive Director Joseph Bodovitz described that hearing 28 years ago in San Diego as precedent setting, one that put the commission on the map as a dominant force in preserving coastal resources.

Dave Carle went on to have a stellar career as a park ranger at Hearst, Auburn, Sacramento and Sierra Districts and over the years, played a critical role in preserving the beauty and viability of Mono Lake. More recently, he has become an accomplished author of two critically acclaimed books: Drowning the Dream, California's Water Choices at the Millennium, and Burning Questions: America's Fight with Nature's Fire.

But I'll always remember him as the park aide who, for a short time, turned California's corporate/political world on its ear. He simply did what state park employees do every day. He used his passion and his art to try to save a precious piece of California.

* Dave Van Cleve's Rejected Bluff Modification Proposal