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Explore, Enjoy and Protect the Planet  
Old Baldy, Canada | photo by Cameron Schaus

Sierra Club
New website allows public to focus on California coast | by Mark Massara


When local activist Ken Adelman sets his mind to something, expect results. A year or so ago Ken found himself wondering what he might do to assist in protecting California’s coast. Various things were kicked around, among them the lack of a detailed, accessible, aerial photographic survey of the California coastline. While the State of California has periodically taken such photos, they are usually at high altitude and lack specificity.

So Ken mulled it over a bit and then set out to photograph the entire coastline from a helicopter, using digital imagery and GPS identification. You can see for yourself the results of the project at www.californiacoastline.org. Very impressive.

A word of caution: the website is only useful if you have a high-speed modem. Because the photos provide such great detail, they are big and difficult to open unless you are on a DSL, cable line or T1 computer server.

Have you ever wondered what Trinidad Head looks like? Or Pt. St. George? How about all those miles of coast where access is limited or prohibited? It’s all there, in bright beautiful full color. You can check out your own house, or your neighbor’s house. Better yet, you can view coastal destruction, wetlands fill, or count the number of rocks on an unpermitted seawall. Thousands of photographs are now online. At press time over 350,000 visits had been recorded to this website.

> Check out the website: California Coastal Records Project
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