Año Nuevo Marine Education Center

Año Nuevo State Reserve is perhaps one of the most significant holdings of the California State Parks System. The Reserve is a designated Wildlife Protection Area that is home to the largest mainland breeding colony of northern elephant seals in the world. Once hunted to the brink of extinction during the 1800s, northern elephant seal populations have made a heroic come back thanks to focused conservation efforts and protection of natural resources. In 1977 only 16 elephant seal births were recorded on the mainland of the Reserve. Today more than 20,000 births have been recorded and those numbers continue to grow annually.

Approximately 200,000 people visit the Reserve annually, including 25,000 school children.  Following the successful completion of a five-year campaign to raise more than $3.2 million by California State Parks Foundation, the California Department of Parks and Recreation and, the San Mateo Coast Natural History Association, construction of the new Marine Education Center – a landmark historic preservation and interpretive project at the Reserve – has begun and is expected to be completed in March 2008.

The project has been made possible through the generous support of Steve Blank and Alison Elliott; California State Coastal Conservancy; David and Lucile Packard Foundation; Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund; Galiban Foundation; Silicon Valley Community Foundation; The David B. Gold Foundation; Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr.; Donald and Diane Cooley; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Giles W. and Elise G. Mead Foundation; the Mary A. Crocker Trust and citizens of California.

The New Facility
The new Marine Education Center will be the first educational and training facility of its kind along the San Mateo Coast. It will be housed within three nationally recognized historic structures from the historic Steele Dairy Ranch, which opened its doors in 1861 on Punta del Año Nuevo. By utilizing these historic structures, the Center will provide badly needed facilities without encroaching into the unique marine habitats that exist on this site. It will also restore and interpret three valuable nationally recognized historic structures.

Enhancing Educational Opportunities

The goal of the new facility is to bring Año Nuevo’s ecological wonders and rich cultural history to the public in innovative and interactive ways that will pique visitors’ curiosity and inspire them to take advantage of the tremendous learning opportunities both inside the Center and outside in the Reserve’s natural environment. The new facility will provide space for interpretive exhibits and presentations as well as expanded educational facilities. New classroom space will allow for science-based, hands-on lessons about the coast and its inhabitants. Use of webcam technology will bring previously inaccessible portions of the Reserve, such as Año Nuevo Island,
to visitors. 

Increased Training and Meeting Facilities

The Center will also serve as an on-site training center for the approximately 220 volunteer docents who lead interpretive tours out into the Reserve’s elephant seal colonies. The volunteer docent interpreters are the backbone for the Reserve’s world renowned eco-visitor interpretive program. The new Marine Education Center will enable the Reserve to increase its docent staff by 25% and offer more interpretive walks to thousands of additional school children each year without disturbing the Reserve’s delicate natural resources. Increased staffing and space will also allow the Reserve to hold night-time lectures for the community on a variety of coastal topics.