Wednesday October 19, 2022
Monterey Herald —
At first glance, it’s just a field. But to the Big Sur Land Trust, the 128-acre site at Palo Corona Regional Park represents more than 20 years of efforts to restore history.
Located east of Highway 1 and south of the Carmel River, the site was formerly known as the Odello (East) Fields, where the Odello family transformed the floodplain into an agricultural field to grow artichokes.
It was donated to the Big Sur Land Trust by Clint Eastwood and Margaret Eastwood and will serve as the construction site for the Carmel River Floodplain Restoration and Environmental Enhancement (Carmel River FREE) Project.
The Big Sur Land Trust is leading the project, in partnership with Monterey County.
“This project has been decades in the making,” explained Rachel Saunders, Big Sur Land Trust’s director of conservation.