MONTHLY SPEAKERS

May 2025 - "ORMOND BEACH RESTORATION AND PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT"

Speaker: Sally Gee - project manager at the California State Coastal Conservancy

Date: May 13, 2025 at 7:00pm

The State Coastal Conservancy is working in partnership with the City of Oxnard and The Nature Conservancy to implement a first phase of the Ormond Beach Restoration and Public Access Project (OBRAP) and achieve a shared vision of a resilient coastal environment that inspires the enjoyment, use, and support of the local community and beyond.

The OBRAP has two main goals:

Preserve, enhance, and restore natural habitats and processes that support a dynamic and self-sustaining ecosystem at Ormond Beach.
Enhance opportunities for people to easily and safely visit Ormond Beach and enjoy the nature, educational opportunities, and recreation that are compatible with the restored Ormond Beach ecosystem.

The Project Partners are targeting construction of a first phase in late 2026. We will be hearing an update on the habitat restoration and public access designs planned for the OBRAP.

Speaker Bio: Sally Gee is a project manager at the California State Coastal Conservancy (Conservancy) working on the OBRAP. The Conservancy has targeted habitat restoration and enhancement at Ormond Beach since the early 1980s. During the 1990s, the Conservancy worked with the City, the community, and landowners at Ormond Beach to extinguish paper lots on the beach. In the early 2000s, the Conservancy acquired 260 acres of land at Ormond Beach from Southern California Edison and provided a grant to The Nature Conservancy to aid in the purchase of an additional 272 acres of adjacent land from the Metropolitan Water District. The Conservancy continues to support restoration planning and has provided a significant grant for implementation of the first phase of this project.