California approves $42M to protect Wild Cherry Canyon

After more than two decades of efforts, California approved a $42 million grant to permanently conserve Wild Cherry Canyon, a 2,060-acre stretch of coastal hills in San Luis Obispo County. The California State Coastal Conservancy has authorised the grant to acquire both the property’s leasehold interest and underlying fee title in two transactions, with the first closing by year’s end and the second anticipated by mid-2027.The land, which overlooks Avila Beach and sits within the broader 12,000-acre Diablo Canyon Lands, had remained vulnerable for decades under a long-term private lease, with the risk of residential development. The grant will help remove the threat of future development and eventually turn the property into a permanently protected nature preserve.“This has been 25 years in the making,” Senator John Laird said in a release. “I worked to protect Wild Cherry Canyon as California’s Natural Resources Secretary, and many others worked on it before and since. There were plenty of times when it looked like it might not happen, but the Central Coast community never gave up. Today, we can finally celebrate a major victory for this incredible piece of our coastline.”The outc...