California's Golden Coast

In the premiere episode of California's Golden Coast, Huell learns about an inspiring success story. Located at the Presidio in San Francisco, once a U.S. Army outpost and cornerstone of military operations on the West Coast, Crissy Field became the most significant site of aviation development in the western United States in the early part of the 20th Century. Today, it is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and has been transformed from 100 acres of asphalt surrounded by chain link fence to a magnificent shoreline, which includes tidal marshes, pristine beaches and grassy green fields.

Join Huell as he visits Paradise Creek Educational Park. Paradise Creek is an urban salt marsh creek that connects San Diego Bay to the watershed of the surrounding mountains and city landscape. It's home to crabs, egrets, snails and various wetland plants, but in the recent past, was a trash-filled, neglected urban stream threatened by development. Due to the hard work of a local couple and nearby schoolchildren, an education park was created in 1999 on a half-mile stretch of Paradise Creek which has been returned to its natural state. Focused on a tidal creek habitat, walkways, picnic areas and observation stations combine with environmental education programs to form an inspiring outdoor classroom.

Where can a student explore the ice fields of Europa or conduct an underwater excavation on the sunken Jamaican city of Port Royal? At the Ocean Institute in Dana Point, of course. Huell visits the Ocean Institute, a non-profit organization founded in 1977 and dedicated to ocean preservation through education. For 25 years, the institute has been used by educators as a hands-on laboratory for schoolchildren to learn about marine science and maritime history. In late 2002, the opening of the institute's new Ocean Education Center expanded its goal of education with an impressive 34,000 square-foot campus that includes a 15,000 gallon seawater system, an impressive collection of oceanographic testing equipment and over 20 student learning stations. The new facility is a model for future interactive environmental education programs throughout the world, while continuing to promote ocean awareness and understanding.

Huell tours the the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes preserve with a representative of the Dunes Center, an agency, which along with other state, county and federal organizations, works to balance public use and resource protection of the largest, most biodiverse, coastal dune-lagoon ecosystem on earth. With 1,400 known species of birds, plants and animals and with the highest sand dune on the west coast, it is a place of rare beauty and significance.

Anacapa Island, one of California’s Channel Islands, is located 14 miles off the coast from Ventura. From the ocean, Huell finds that ocean waves have eroded the perimeter of the island, creating steep sea cliffs towering hundreds of feet in height and exposing the volcanic origins of air pockets, lava tubes, and sea caves. Once on land, he learns that the largest breeding colony of the endangered California brown pelican is located on West Anacapa. Other sea birds include western gulls and several species of cormorants. The island's rocky shores provide resting and breeding areas for California sea lions and harbor seals. Springtime brings colorful flowers, including the strange tree sunflower, or coreopsis, a plant found only on the Channel Islands and a few isolated areas on the mainland.

Huell sets off from Moss Landing in the middle of Monterey Bay and discovers Elkhorn Slough. It's an ecological treasure, providing habitat for rare plants, animals, and nearly 300 species of birds. The slough harbors the largest tract of tidal salt marsh in California outside of San Francisco Bay, and its watershed includes dunes, coastal marsh, oak woodlands, and unique maritime chaparral.

The Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens is the only public garden in the continental United States located directly on the coast. Huell explores this rare jewel set within coastal pines and coastal bluffs in Fort Bragg. In addition to its diverse flora, there is a retail nursery and garden shop as well as workshops, classes and lectures so you may take a bit of the garden home with you.

The organization Coastwalk was founded to shift perception of the California coastline from one of a few isolated beaches and accesses to one of many continuous miles of unbroken beauty. Huell gets a firsthand look at portions of the California Coastal Trail, the 1200 mile route along the entire length of California's spectacular and diverse shore from Oregon to Mexico.

Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge is located on the northwestern California coast near Arcata. The refuge protects wetlands and bay habitats for migratory birds, and includes the Lanphere Dunes. It is one of the most pristine dune ecosystems remaining in the Pacific Northwest. Join Huell as he tours the dunes and learns about the coastal sand dune habitats and species that rely on its preservation.