Who Benefits?

The Carpinteria Bluffs Nature Preserve & Viola Fields provide unlimited public access to open space and to our coastal wonders for the citizens of the City of Carpinteria, the Carpinteria Valley and the greater South Coast area. Additionally, the Bluffs continue to attract tourists and school groups to its spectacular vistas and harbor seal overlook.  According to Carpinteria Seal Watch, volunteers in 2017, for example, counted approximately 27,126 people viewing the seals: “Visitors came from Russia, Mexico, Nevada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Minnesota, New York, Greece, Spain, Washington, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Rhode Island, Idaho, Louisiana, Oregon, Maine, Wyoming, Vermont, the Netherlands, Sweden. Austria, Hawaii, Utah, Texas, Massachusetts, Japan, Italy, Taiwan, just to name a few.”

The direct benefit to a community from public open space acquisition is often difficult to quantify. Many studies have shown that there is an overall economic benefit to having greenbelts and open spaces in urban areas. As pressures of population growth and urbanization continue to transform the California landscape, open spaces and greenbelts become increasingly important for us urban dwellers by protecting those special places where we can still breathe the open air and reconnect to the natural wonders of the land. The City of Carpinteria grew from a population of 6,754 in 1970 to a population of 14,600 in 1998, the year of the Bluffs public acquisition effort, with El Carro Park being the only substantial acquisition of additional parkland.  Now, with the Bluffs preserved in perpetuity, it has become more evident to the community that open space is as necessary for the health of a town as streets and sidewalks.