page_title: Big Sur land use
section_title: Public and private land ownership
hierarchical_section_title: Big Sur land use / Land use issues / Public and private land ownership
caption_attribution_description: San Carpoforo Creek marks the southern limit of Big Sur. Ragged Point is the south boundary of the bay.
context_page_description: The policies protecting land used in Big Sur are some of the most restrictive local-use standards in California, and are widely regarded as one of the most restrictive development protections anywhere. The program protects viewsheds from the highway and many vantage points, and severely restricts the density of development. About 60% of the coastal region is owned by governmental or private agencies which do not allow any development. The majority of the interior region is part of the Los Padres National Forest, Ventana Wilderness, Silver Peak Wilderness or Fort Hunter Liggett. The area is protected by the Big Sur Local Coastal Plan, which preserves it as "open space, a small residential community, and agricultural ranching." It's intention is "preserving the environment and visual access to it, the policies of the local coastal plan are to minimize, or limit, all destination activities."
context_section_description: There are approximately 1,100 parcels in private ownership on the Big Sur coast. About two-thirds of the coastal zone, totaling about 500,000 acres (200,000 ha), extending from Malpaso Creek in the north to San Carpóforo Canyon in the south, is owned by the California State Department of Parks and Recreation, U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Army, U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Navy. A smaller portion is privately owned by the Big Sur Land Trust and the University of California. These federal, state, local, and private lands are preserved against development.
  As of 2016, if public acquisitions now contemplated or in progress are completed, approximately 60% of the land west of the coastal ridge would be publicly owned, although not necessarily open to the public. For example, the Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve is owned and managed by the University of California Natural Reserve System and the University of California, Santa Cruz.  The reserve is only available for research or educational purposes except for a single day each year in May when it is open to the public. Reservations must be made in advance. The Big Sur Land Trust owns several parcels of land such as the Glen Deven Ranch and Notley's Landing that are closed to the public or only open to its members.
caption: The bay at the mouth of San Carpoforo Creek, considered the southern boundary of Big Sur
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