Fort Bragg Glass Beach
by David (editor)
Have you heard about Fort Bragg Glass Beach? Where is it? Can anyone collect sea glass there? Is there still beach glass at Fort Bragg?
Fort Bragg is a city on the coast of Mendocino County, California. It is north of San Francisco along Highway 1, which runs from near Tijuana, Mexico all the way up the coast. Fort Bragg was a fort for many years stemming from way back in the history of California. Now it's well known to many folks because the people in that town were so brown. Well, you know what I mean, they weren't green, eco conscious, environmentally aware. They dumped their trash over the bluffs onto the beach. Now, however, we like them a lot.
The land was owned by the Union Lumber Company, and locals called it "The Dumps." In 1967, green city leaders closed the area and various cleanup programs were brought on through the years to fix the damage. More eco friendly methods of disposing their trash were adopted. What happened to "The Dumps"?Over 30 years the pounding waves washed the trash up and down, back and forth, until it was worn down to nothing...except for the glass. What was left of the discarded glass became small, smooth, colored pieces that coat the beach today. Well, there still is an amazing amount left, as we have seen from comments to this site as well as a popular CNN article. A few years ago, it was taken over by the California States Park Department - and there were rumors that sea glass could no longer be taken.  A fine selection of precious glass shards at Glass Beach, Fort Bragg, July 5, 2009 Photo courtesy of soupstance
But is it illegal to take the glass? Or is it highly discouraged by the Parks Department? Well, a few months ago, on our N. California list of beaches, we added this blurb: "Fort Bragg, CA" Sea Glass Beach" (We previously posted that this beach now prohibited collecting sea glass. However, the only "official" State Park information we can find was a second-hand statement that it is "discouraged." One of our contributors also reported this information and we asked her to see if she could get a copy of exactly what IS the story. We are waiting for more definitive information, as we don't want to mislead anyone.) Also, there are beaches in the vicinity, that are really good and clearly open to collecting.. " In fact read the following notes we have received from others. If you have up to date information and/or would like to comment, scroll down and enter the info.
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