The National Park Service is struggling with devastating funding cuts and the proposed plan to expand the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area to encompass the Rim of the Valley remains in limbo, but that isn’t stopping a new proposal to potentially designate the Los Angeles County beaches that are not part of the SMMNRA as a a new NPS park unit. The Los Angeles Coastal Special Resource Study is currently underway that will, “evaluate the area’s national significance, suitability, feasibility, and the need for direct National Park Service management,” according to an NPS press release.
The study area extends from Will Rogers State Beach to Torrance Beach and includes the Santa Monica Pier, Venice Beach, the Ballona Wetlands, and parts of the San Pedro coastline, but not the port of Los Angeles. Findings and any recommendations from the Secretary of the Interior will be submitted to Congress.
“Public participation is important to this study,” said Denise Louie, Natural Resources, Planning, and Compliance Program lead for the National Park Service’s Pacific West Region. “The LA coastline is exceptionally diverse, and feedback will help inform whether these places meet the criteria for inclusion in the National Park System and how they could be preserved for future generations.”
Resources in the study area for a potential new National Park Service park unit must meet four criteria:
1. National significance: Contains nationally significant natural and/or cultural resources.
2. Suitability: Represents a natural or cultural resource that is not already adequately represented in the National Park System.
3. Feasibility: Must be (1) of sufficient size and appropriate configuration to ensure long-term
protection of the resources and visitor enjoyment, and (2) capable of efficient administration by the National Park Service at a reasonable cost. Important feasibility factors include landownership, acquisition costs, maintenance costs, access, threats to the resource, and staff or development requirements.
4. Direct NPS management: Requires direct NPS management that is clearly superior to other
management approaches.
The NPS will host a virtual public meeting on March 11, from 6-7:30 pm to share information about the study process and answer questions: Meeting link: https://bit.ly/4t8oWXW or join by phone: 1-202-640-1187.
Conference ID: 362420885#
Comments and questions about the special resource study may also be submitted online via the project website or by postal mail to:
National Park Service
Denver Service Center
Attn: Los Angeles Coastal SRS
One Denver Federal Center, Building 50
Denver, CO 80225
Public comments will remain open through April 6, 2026.
More information about the study is available at https://parkplanning.nps.gov/LosAngelesCoastal.
