Glass Beach State Park
Task 3: Implement Specific Segments of the California Coastal Trail in Mendocino County
Glass Beach, the only accessible beach in the City of Fort Bragg, was purchased by the Mendocino Land Trust and conveyed to California State Parks in October 2002. The California Coastal Conservancy, with the City of Fort Bragg, the Mendocino Land Trust, and local citizens, worked for over four years to assemble funding for the purchase of the 38-acre property.
State Parks is the lead agency in preparing a Glass Beach Trail Project for much needed trail improvements and proposed mitigation in the form of restoration of the site. Through a State Coastal Conservancy grant, the Land Trust contracted consultants for the needed technical studies on Glass Beach for CEQA review for the project. The Conservancy also provided funding that will be used by State Parks to construct the trail using the CA Conservation Corps.
Some of the potential alternative trail alignments to be considered at Glass Beach include an ADA accessible trail that reduces potential impacts to sensitive plant communities and discourages use of existing social trails that have exacerbated erosion of the headlands.
Land Trust staff and MLT intern conducted a visitor survey over a two week period in July 2008 to observe vistiation rates and routes in order to better understand visitation patterns at the property. An average of 1000-1200 people visit Glass Beach per day making this one of the most visited destinations in Mendocino County.
Glass Beach Visitation Survey Results:
Glass Beach Visitation Survey, 2008
November 15, 2007 Glass Beach Community Meeting proceedings and presentations:
State Parks Presentation and Maps of proposed trail alignment
City of Fort Bragg Presentation
Mendocino Land Trust Presentation
