Editor’s note: Due to the popularity of the new preserve, parking at Estero Americano can be difficult. We recommend visiting during the week and carpooling if possible.
From a ridge overlooking Bodega Bay, a salty breeze ripples through carpets of purple Douglas irises and orange and yellow California poppies. Osprey and bald eagles cruise by, searching for fish below. On a clear spring day, one might spot gray whales passing close offshore as they migrate north.
This is the view from the 600-foot crest of the Ridge Trail at the newly open Estero Americano Coast Preserve, where Americano Creek meets the Pacific Ocean, forming a coastal estuary. Across gentle slopes, three interconnected trails spanning more than four miles offer sweeping views of the region’s diverse landscape, from the rolling farmlands east toward the tiny town of Valley Ford to Point Reyes National Seashore to the south and the windswept Sonoma Coast to the north. To the west, the creek widens enough to demarcate Marin and Sonoma counties before flowing into the sea.
Located both within the Pacific Flyway and the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, the estuary is home to an array of resident wildlife such as river otters and red-tailed hawks, while providing space for migrating songbirds and shorebirds to rest and refuel. The 547-acre preserve itself protects rare coastal prairie habitat, a unique ecosystem nourished by the fog that frequently engulfs the hillside. That includes purple needlegrass, which controls erosion, and California oatgrass, which helps mitigate fire risk. In the spring, wildflowers such as vibrant irises, poppies, and lupines bloom alongside diminutive early blue violets and delicate harlequin lotus.
From the Sonoma County Regional Parks’ Shorttail Gulch Trailhead, the 0.9-mile Access Trail leads to two longer trails that can be hiked out and back or looped together. The 1.9-mile moderate Ridge Trail will take you to the aforementioned views of the rugged coastline, while the 1.6-mile Bluff Trail drops down to the estero beach. There, black oystercatchers wrestle bivalves off the rocks and whimbrels probe the sand for various crabs and marine worms. Western, ring-billed, and glaucous-winged gulls take turns patrolling the sky and loafing on the shore. Amphibians including threatened California red-legged frogs inhabit the tidal marsh. Thriving in the intertidal brackish waters are nudibranchs, slipper snails, and limpets. The estuary offers prime habitat to threatened Central California Coast steelhead and tricolored blackbirds and endangered tidewater goby.
Before the preserve opened to the public, the estero beach was only accessible at low tide and with significant effort, by taking the Shorttail Gulch or Pinnacle Gulch trails—relatively narrow tracks that include terracing and stairs—and then walking south along the beach. “One of the most exciting things about opening this property is that this is the first time that the general public can really access the estero on a daily basis,” says Luke Farmer, the Sonoma Coast regional director for The Wildlands Conservancy. However, when the estero breaks through to the ocean, it shrinks the beach substantially, and the incoming and outgoing tide can be very swift.
Estero Americano Coast Preserve extends the impressive stretch of protected land and marine areas along the Sonoma coast. This includes the adjacent (and similarly named) 127-acre Estero Americano Preserve, managed by the Sonoma Land Trust, as well as Doran Regional Park and Bodega Head State Marine Reserve and Conservation Area.
The area was once home to the Coast Miwok people, including at least three known villages on the estuary, before they were forcibly removed in the mid-1800s. By the time The Wildlands Conservancy purchased the preserve property, it had been managed as a working farm since at least 1919. Sonoma Land Trust identified the ranch as a conservation priority and began assembling a team of stakeholders to contribute funding, including the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, the California State Coastal Conservancy, and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Sonoma Land Trust finalized the purchase of the Estero Ranch in December 2015, thanks to a public-private partnership, and transferred it to The Wildlands Conservancy.
Sonoma Ag + Open Space holds the preserve’s recreational covenant. “This ensures the property will be open to the public forever,” says Misti Arias, Sonoma Ag + Open Space general manager. The Wildlands Conservancy owns its preserves outright, giving it full autonomy to manage the lands. This insulates TWC’s conservation and stewardship from political and economic headwinds. “We have a lot of say over how we can operate on our own property,” explains Ryan Berger, Sonoma Coast preserves manager for The Wildlands Conservancy.
Over the past three decades, The Wildlands Conservancy has focused on providing free public access to its preserves, offering interpretive programs, and contributing to conservation. Founded in 1995, the conservancy is now the largest nonprofit nature preserve system in the state and one of the fastest-growing in the western U.S., with over 200,000 acres across California, Oregon, and Utah. In Northern California, its preserves also include the Jenner Headlands Preserve and several preserves on the Eel River.
Before opening the Estero Americano Coast Preserve to the public, Wildlands Conservancy staff spent several years attending to neighbors’ concerns and creating a robust management plan. With the farmland overgrazed, cattle were pulled off the slopes for three years to allow the land to rest. During that time, conservancy managers modeled soil conditions and average rainfall to determine how many cows could sustainably graze. “That first year, when we put cattle back on the land and they finally ate down that thatch of invasive species, we had one of the biggest blooms I’ve seen,” Farmer recalls. “The hillsides were just alive with color.”
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Today, hikers share the land with grazing cattle. Over time, visitors should notice improvements to the deep incisions and sudden drop-offs along the estero, as the slopes will be regraded to minimize erosion. In turn, less soil washing into the waterway will allow rehabilitation of the riparian ecosystem within the estuary, helping native plants and trees like willows to flourish once again.
Stakeholders hope the preserve will eventually add a crucial missing link to the California Coastal Trail, a network of trails spanning the state’s 1,200-mile coastline. Currently, privately held lands between Bodega Head and Dillon Beach, including ranchland along the northern headlands of Marin County, restrict access, forcing hikers to walk inland on Highway 1’s shoulder for up to 8.5 miles. This parcel brings the dream of a continuous, coast-hugging trail a little bit closer to completion. “The coast is a core part of our county’s identity,” says Arias. And after many years of waiting, the public can finally explore and enjoy this beautiful preserve.
EXPLORE
Estero Americano Coast Preserve
- The draw: Sweeping views, birding, beach access, and seasonal attractions such as whale-watching and wildflower blooms.
- Trails: About 4.5 miles of trails open to hikers and dogs on leash. No bikes or horses allowed.
- Facilities: Restrooms are located at the nearby Pinnacle Gulch parking lot. Portable toilets are also available next to the preserve’s ranger residence and near the beach access point.
- Getting there: The preserve is open daily, sunup to sundown, free of charge. Parking is free in a small lot at the nearby Pinnacle Gulch Trailhead or along Osprey Drive near the Shorttail Gulch Trailhead.
- When to go: The park has been thronged on weekends since opening, making parking difficult. Make a weekday trip if you can.
