SAN FRANCISCO — California's jagged coast has long been considered monumental. Now President Clinton has made it official.
With the Grand Canyon as backdrop on Tuesday, Clinton created the California Coastal National Monument along the state's winding shore.
The designation covers all the islands, rocks and exposed reefs the federal government already owns along the 840-mile coastline, within 12 miles of shore. Privately owned land is not included.
"It's not just one rock. It's the whole idea that what's out there needs to be protected," said Sara Wan, chairman of the California Coastal Commission.
Clinton also invoked the 1906 Antiquities Act in signing declarations for two new Arizona monuments and extending the Pinnacles National Monument south of San Jose, Calif. All will be guarded from development.
The Arizona designations included Augua Fria, 71,000 acres encompassing two mesas filled with Indian ruins, petroglyphs and other prehistoric treasures north of Phoenix.
The other, larger area in the state is the Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, which covers a million acres filled with vegetation, minerals, and Paleozoic rock.
While environmentalists praised the moves, some in Arizona met Clinton's designations with skepticism and wariness, saying he was polishing his legacy at the expense of ranching and timber interests.
"We think it is totally disrespectful of the local community," said Mohave County Supervisor Carol Anderson, whose district covers the new Grand Canyon monument area.
Clinton also was criticized by Utah officials in 1996 for creating the 1.7 million-acre Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument without consulting them.
By contrast, California officials on Tuesday said they liked the idea of safeguarding their sentinels of the sea.
"They are magnificent, they really are," said state Resources Secretary Mary Nichols. "Most people, when they first hear that we're protecting rocks, think this is maybe a little over the edge. But... when you look at the coast of California, it is dotted with these wonderful outcroppings of rocks."
Becoming a monument doesn't make much material difference to the largely inaccessible rocks, which already are protected by the state and the Bureau of Land Management and boast mainly bird guano.
But Nichols and Wan agreed the permanent nature of the designation permanence makes it important. Otherwise, they said, the untamed coast would be more vulnerable.
"People are wonderfully inventive in coming up with schemes to utilize our natural resources for economic purposes," Nichols said.