Waves explode onto offshore rocks, spraying whitewater into the air. Sea lions bark as they “haul out” of the surf onto the rocks, and a whirlwind of birds fly above. These amazing rocks and small islands are part of the California Coastal National Monument, a spectacular interplay of land and sea.

Located off the 1,100 miles of California coastline, the California Coastal National Monument comprises more than 20,000 small islands, rocks, exposed reefs, and pinnacles between Mexico and Oregon. The scenic qualities and critical habitat of this public resource are protected as part of the National Landscape Conservation System, administered by the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Designed by Bureau of Land Management illustrator May Wakabayashi in 2000, the logo for the California Coastal National Monument (CCNM) is elegant in its form and simplicity.  The center of the logo appropriately depicts three offshore rocks or islets of varying sizes.  These three rocks show only the portion above mean high tide, symbolizing what the national monument designation is intended to protect, but it also places them in the larger landscape (or seascape).  The three rocks also symbolize the three dimensions--physical (abiotic), biological (biotic), and socio-cultural (cultural)--of the ecosystems of the California coast of which the CCNM is an integral part and helps to protect.  Two stylized seabirds fly above the rocks as a reminder that the rocks of the CCNM provide key habitat for seabirds, marine mammals (i.e., seals and sea lions), and a wide variety of intertidal species.  On the right side of the logo, three aligned mountain ranges come down to the coast and symbolize the three land-based core-managing partners--the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the California Department of Fish and Game, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (i.e., California State Parks)--who, through a memorandum of understanding, are collectively responsible for the oversight and long-term management of the entire CCNM.  And finally, the series of stylized waves that connect the sea and the land on the logo symbolize the numerous partners (i.e., other agencies and organizations) that are key to the CCNM success, both coast-wide as well as locally.