By Kurtis Alexander

Miles of pristine hills and valleys along California’s Central Coast have long been off-limits to the public to shield the state’s last remaining nuclear power plant. But not for much longer.

A nonprofit land trust has struck a deal to acquire 2,060 acres of wildlands above Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County and turn what has been part of a sprawling buffer for the oceanfront Diablo Canyon Power Plant into a nature preserve. The move shuts down a competing plan for high-end homes at the site and sets the stage for trails and campsites.

On Thursday, the state agreed to finance the endeavor, giving the San Bernardino County-based Wildlands Conservancy the $42 million needed to proceed with the purchase of the area known as Wild Cherry Canyon. The land is owned by a subsidiary of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., which operates the nearby nuclear facility. The acquisition money from the State Coastal Conservancy is one of the agency’s biggest-ever grants for conservation.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to establish public access here,” said Tim Duff, project manager at the Coastal Conservancy. “This scenic access is what we call absolutely world class.”

The Diablo Canyon Power Plant and its radioactive fuel have, for decades, been a subject of controversy. The debate has surged recently as Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature decided to extend the life of the nuclear facility beyond its scheduled 2025 closing, due to high electricity demands. The energy complex is now scheduled to run until 2030, though an additional extension is under consideration.

The lands next to the plant, which have been closed off, have also generated discussion. While developers have floated the idea of building housing there, county residents and local and state leaders have advocated for protecting the PG&E-controlled properties and opening them to visitors, a bid that has intensified as the nuclear facility approaches retirement.

As a condition for temporarily continuing nuclear operations, state officials established a requirement that PG&E help permanently protect the surrounding lands and eventually provide public access to them. Wild Cherry Canyon is poised to be the first of three major properties to meet these demands.

The three properties, taken together, would create an extraordinary 12,000-acre belt of preserved open space, extending from Montaña De Oro State Park in the north to Avila Beach in the south and running along 14 miles of coastline.

“This is a really exciting vision, and we don’t want it to slip by,” said Kaila Dettman, executive director of the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County, which has been rallying for decades to protect and win public access to the lands around the power plant. “It’s a special part of our county and, frankly, the state. It really gives you a sense of wild California, old California.”

Known collectively as the Diablo Canyon Lands, the properties span a stretch of the Irish Hills that includes rugged cliffs above sandy beaches and tide pools, peaks that rise sometimes 1,500 feet and undisturbed native grasslands and oak and pine woodlands. Few people have had the chance to see this expanse of the coast.

Wild Cherry Canyon sits at the southeastern corner of the Diablo Canyon Lands, between the communities of Avila Beach and Port San Luis. The area is currently home to cattle that graze the property and a road that leads to the power plant.

Frazier Haney, executive director of the Wildlands Conservancy, which operates two dozen preserves in California, Oregon and Utah, says his group’s priorities for Wild Cherry Canyon will be protecting Native American cultural sites, namely those of the yak tityu tityu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe, and providing opportunities for hiking and camping.

His organization envisions building a 5 to 6-mile loop trail at the site as well as the first segment of an eventual 20-mile coastal trail that will traverse the entire Diablo Canyon Lands. The preserve at Wild Cherry Canyon is expected to open to the public within five years. Guided tours could start as early as next year.

“Once you get up on these hills, this is as beautiful as the California coast gets anywhere,” Haney said. “You’ll be able to go for a hike, then end your hike by going out on the pier (in Port San Luis,) and getting something to eat and drink. It will just be a wonderful experience for people.”

The acquisition of Wild Cherry Canyon hasn’t come easy. Squabbles over price and other designs for the site have scuttled nearly two decades of attempts to conserve the property. Most recently, the owner of the land, PG&E’s Eureka Energy, had been fighting with a longtime leaseholder and housing developer, HomeFed Corp., over the terms and duration of the company’s lease, which held up any possible changes to ownership.

With the latest dispute recently settled, the Wildlands Conservancy saw an opportunity. Under the deal worked out, the organization will pay nearly all of the agreed-upon $42 million for the acquisition to buy out the lease, expected to be finalized later this year, while the balance will go to the purchase of the property, anticipated next year.

“The community has been dedicated to making this happen,” Haney said. “We just got thrown the ball in the fourth quarter of the game.”

As part of the arrangement, Eureka Energy will continue to hold about 250 acres of Wild Cherry Canyon that includes the road to the power plant and an existing home.

“The fact that this is finally coming together is the greatest news I can imagine,” said Kara Woodruff, a San Luis Obispo resident who helped form the advocacy group, Friends of the Diablo Canyon Lands, and the district director for the local state senator, John Laird. “I’ve been thinking about Wild Cherry Canyon for over 26 years.” 

Laird helped secure the funding for the land deal as well as negotiate the requirement that PG&E conserve the properties around the nuclear complex.

“There were plenty of times when it looked like it might not happen, but the Central Coast community never gave up,” Laird said in a statement Thursday. “Protecting Wild Cherry Canyon is a major step toward preserving the incredible lands surrounding Diablo Canyon for generations to come.”

Published in the San Francisco Chronicle.