Zach Plopper – Baja's Keeper

Images courtesy of WiLDCOAST.

Part of my responsibilities at WiLDCOAST is annual site surveying to monitor for landscape changes and human impacts on properties we have protected in Baja.

These trips take me down long dirt roads, deep into Boojum Tree forests and to shorelines where the only other living things have wings, fins or flippers. I spend several dusty days transecting the enormous parcels of the central Baja Pacific Coast, dodging gale force afternoon winds and seeking flat ground to set up camp. Supplies usually begin to run short towards the end of my stays, after the ice melts, and meals get simpler and simpler.

My face begins to resemble the rugged landscape around me. Layer upon layer of dust, sunscreen and salt accumulate in every pore. I get excited about the little things – some cookies for desert; a really good wave witnessed by a random local fisherman; going to sleep at night. After a few days it’s all over. I finally cross the border, which hours before felt an eternity away, take a shower, put on some clean clothes and readjust to four walls and a roof.

A recent trip took me to a northern point in the region where WiLDCOAST has protected a miles and a half of shoreline. The area has a striking resemblance to the iconic Trestles shoreline with its points and wetland. If you look west in the evenings as the sun dips behind the headland you’d swear you just finished surfing Lowers and you were headed back to your car parked on El Camino Real.

Instead of housing developments and the Western White House that sit atop Cotton’s Point in San Clemente, this coastline is home to thousands of shorebirds, curious sea lions and a small fish camp that has been launching their pangas here for 30 years.

WiLDCOAST is working with the fishermen that reside in the camp to protect the land and resources around them. They understand the vulnerability of the precious coastline and are working hard to improve the sustainability of the settlement and their fishing practices.

For now I am back behind my desk in Imperial Beach, working to finalize several land transactions and carrying out the ongoing task of finding funding to continue protecting the Baja coast. But I know that I shouldn’t get too comfortable.

Sooner than later I’ll again be seeking flat ground to set up camp in the wild lands of Baja.

For more info on WiLDCOAST or to help support their efforts visit: http://www.wildcoast.net/