Two Camps in Big Sur

BIG SUR, Calif. — For years, the phrase "Save Big Sur" meant preservation of the timeless forests and streams perched high above the Central California coast.

Now it means the people.

"A lot of people bemoan the loss of community," said Kirk Gafill, co-owner of the famed Nepenthe restaurant on Highway 1. "That's code for fear of the future of Big Sur."

Beset by sky-high real estate prices, rich absentee landowners, restrictions on development and a shrinking, aging population, many residents fear their community is losing its vitality. With the median price of homes in the region nearly tripling in five years to $1.65 million (one hillside home of 1,200 square feet is on the market for $7 million), and the average age of a Big Surite now above 45 years, longtime residents say they are having trouble finding people to man the hoses at the fire brigade or head committees at Captain Cooper Elementary School. Enrollment -- just 74 students -- was so low this fall that the school narrowly averted closure.

According to Census Bureau statistics, Big Sur's population, at just over 800 people and falling, is lower than it was in the 1880s, when there was no highway and the only jobs available consisted of scraping for gold and knocking down trees.

Today, much of the private property has been put off limits to development. According to Monterey County figures, 84% of the 255,000 acres included in what is called the Big Sur Planning Area is restricted. Just 45,000 acres along the coast remain in private hands, and some of them are owned by land trusts that also prohibit development.

Most of the land in public hands was included in the Los Padres National Forest and the Ventana Wilderness long before concerns arose over the public-private mix. Historic planning documents envisioned that 60% of the land along the Big Sur coast would remain in public hands, but today it's almost 70%, not including land-trust property.

"When I look out over Big Sur now, I don't just see beauty.... I see my community being dismantled, one parcel at a time," said Mike Caplin, a welder who represents a group called the Coastal Property Owners Assn.

Not everyone thinks things are as bad as Caplin's group does. Still, anxiety over the future of the Big Sur community is widespread enough that two citizens committees issued a report last year calling on the county to oppose new parks that would bring more tourists to the area, saying they would contribute to crowding and snarl traffic on California 1. The panels also said the community should have veto power over any new purchases of private property by land trusts.