CLINT EASTWOOD AND THE MONTEREY PINES

Monterey Pines in the mist, Del Monte Forest, Monterey Peninsula, California [Photo: Sierra Club]

Film star Clint Eastwood is one of the major investors in a controversial proposed development in the Del Monte forest, on California’s Monterey Peninsula. If allowed to proceed, it will require the felling of 17,000 Monterey Pines from what is currently the world's largest stand of these unique trees.

The Pebble Beach Company's proposed project area is almost 200 acres and includes a new golf course, 33 luxury homes, 160 new hotel rooms, a driving range and a new equestrian centre.

This massive project is proposed for an area which is not only thickly forested with native Monterey pines also has multiple wetland habitats with healthy populations of wetland vegetation, defined under the Coastal Act as an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area.

The plan would also threaten coastal dune habitat and rare maritime chaparral. Nineteen species of plants in the project area are considered to be rare or endangered, seven of which are State and/or Federally-listed.

For more than a year now, the controversy over the project has persisted. According to the Sierra Club: ‘When the project sailed through the approval process at the Board of Supervisors last March, for weeks domestic and international papers from as far away as London and Australia wrote scathing reports, especially concerning the chopping down of so many native trees.’

The Sierra Club, starting with John Muir himself, has worked for over 100 years to protect the Del Monte Forest, the largest natural forest of Monterey pines left in the world, and all the endangered plants and animals which call the forest home.

This March 8-10, the California Coastal Commission met in Monterey and the Pebble Beach Company plan was on the agenda. The Commissioners were taken on a field trip to view the site. The Coastal Commission has the power to modify or deny the project. Over 20 private persons and organizations filed appeals with the Commission requesting that they deny the project.

We wait to hear news of their decision.

There is great concern about a tree disease called Pine Pitch Canker Fungus, which is threatening the survival of all the remaining stands of native Monterey Pine (Pinus radiata). Of these six remaining stands recognized as high quality native radiata forest, the largest and the one in best health is that part of the Del Monte Forest which will be destroyed by this development. See: Preserving Monterey Pine Forest Ecosystems