New Sanctuary Celebrated Along Monterey Coast : Environment: Proponents of nature preserve applaud Bush Administration decision to protect the region.

MONTEREY, Calif. —  Here is the nation’s newest nature preserve: richer in life than a tropical rain forest, and bigger than Los Angeles County and Orange County combined.

Dominated by a chasm twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, its lush beauty is something few people will ever see in person.

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the largest ocean refuge off North America, extends along 350 miles of coast from Cambria north to Marin County. At its furthest reach, the sanctuary is a haven from oil drilling and some other human encroachments for 53 miles out from the beach.

The sanctuary designation, formally enacted last week, was marked along the central coast with four days of ceremony that ended Tuesday in San Simeon, the coastal town by the Hearst Castle. Among the celebrants were environmentalists who had promoted the sanctuary for 17 years and Bush Administration officials.

“This is as large and significant and lasting and worthwhile as anything we’ve done in the field of conservation preserves,” said U.S. Environmental Protection Agency chief William Reilly at a dedication ceremony in Monterey.

“Sanctuary is a very significant word. It’s a word that indicates reverence, respect and permanence,” Reilly said.

Fashioned finally by the pressures of election year politics, the sanctuary has widespread support in this coastal region, where offshore oil drilling has long been anathema. Civic leaders said the designation will bring new stature to the Monterey area and could boost tourism along the central coast.

Under law, drilling for oil or gas is barred permanently in the sanctuary. Dumping of dredge spoils at new locations is prohibited, and towns along the coast will be required to provide secondary treatment for sewage discharged into the water.

At the same time, some sanctuary advocates said the fight has only begun on a variety of threats to the ocean, including the dumping of sewage and dredge spoils on the edge of the sanctuary, unregulated passage of oil tankers through the region and polluted runoff water from cities and farms on the coast.

“This is the beginning,” said Rep. Leon Panetta (D-Monterey), who pushed in Congress for the refuge. “This is not the end. This is just a tool for all of us to try to protect the area.”

The sanctuary spans some of California’s most scenic coastline: from San Simeon in the south past Big Sur to the Golden Gate and the Marin Headlands.

At the center is Monterey Bay, home to an unusual ecosystem created by a deep canyon that begins at the center of the bay just off Moss Landing. The cleft in the ocean floor, as deep as 10,000 feet, brings cold water to the surface of the bay, supporting a wide variety of deep-sea life forms very close to shore.

Among the marine life here are 22 endangered or threatened species, including seven types of whale, four kinds of sea turtle, the sea otter and the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander.

Giant kelp, which can grow as much as 10 inches a day, proliferate in great forests on the ocean floor. Life forms only recently discovered dwell in abundance in the cold canyon waters.

The diversity of sea life has quietly made Monterey Bay a leading national center of marine study, with 12 research institutes located on the bay. The Monterey Bay Aquarium on Cannery Row is the only institute of its kind devoted to the interpretation of a single aquatic region.

President Bush pleased many environmentalists earlier this year when he announced he would pick the largest of several potential boundaries for the refuge.

“When we started pushing this large boundary, everybody thought we were nuts,” said Dan Haifley, executive director of Save Our Shores. “We’re very mindful of the fact that if this were not an election year we would not have seen a sanctuary this size and strength. Thank God for elections.”

At 5,312 square miles, the Monterey Bay sanctuary is the eleventh in the federal system and adjoins two others to the north, the Gulf of the Farrallones National Marine Sanctuary and the Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary. Together, they create a continuous coastal preserve of more than 8,200 square miles from Cambria to Bodega Bay.

While pleased with the sanctuary designation, some environmentalists fear the boundaries are not large enough and that lax regulation will permit degradation of the preserve.

For example, a 71-square-mile notch was carved out of the sanctuary near San Francisco where the city’s sewage is dumped into the ocean and dredge spoils from San Francisco Bay are deposited. There are also fears that sediments from dumping on the periphery will drift within the sanctuary.

The danger of an oil spill resulting from the collision of tanker ships also has prompted calls for establishment of strict shipping lanes through the sanctuary.

The designation of the sanctuary prompted a flurry of activity by federal officials seeking to remind voters of President Bush’s role in protecting the environment. EPA administrator Reilly, Commerce Secretary Barbara Hackman Franklin and others traveled to the Monterey area to participate in various ceremonies.

In a statement delivered by Franklin, Bush declared, “My love for the environment is well known, so I take special pleasure in adding Monterey Bay to the National Marine Sanctuary System.”

Despite the sanctuary designation, few federal resources will be devoted to its management. At first, only one person will be in charge of overseeing the entire reserve. Enforcement of environmental laws will largely be carried out by beachgoers, surfers, fishermen and other citizens trained by Save Our Shores, a group that advocated creation of the sanctuary.

“We’re going to have to rely on people to help manage and enforce the refuge, to hold the Administration to their promise and keep it as beautiful as the politicians described it as being,” Haifley said.

New Marine Haven

The Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, the largest in the nation, was dedicated this week. Billed as deeper than the Grand Canyon and bigger than Yosemite, the sanctuary prohibits oil drilling and waste dumping along 350 miles of coast.