Crystal Cove State Park

Construction is expected to resume by the end of the month at Crystal Cove State Park, where a long-planned RV park and campground has been on hold since January, when the state ran out of bond money to fund it. “We just got confirmation from the Department of Finance that the project is now fully funded,” District Park Supt. Ken Kramer said. “This was one of 5,000 projects that was halted and is one of the first to be restarted, after the successful sales of California bonds.

CRYSTAL COVE STATE PARK Crystal Cove State Park, 8471 Pacific Coast Highway, Laguna Beach, has 3.5 miles of beach and 2,000 acres of undeveloped woodland. $10 day-use parking fee. The park is open 6 a.m. to sunset daily. Docent-led backcountry hikes are scheduled for most Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m. Hikes are three to five miles and last about two hours. Note: All hikes meet at the El Moro Visitor Center (from Coast Highway, turn inland at light for School/State Park, follow park signs)

Parks officials are a little embarrassed by the figures they released last week projecting 100,000 additional weekend visitors to Crystal Cove State Park in 2010, when the new El Moro Campground will open. Oops, that figure should have been described as an annual one, Crystal Cove State Park Supt. Ken Kramer now says. The press statement was written in Sacramento, and something got lost in the translation to Orange County, apparently. The official projected weekend number of additional tourists to the area from the new overnight campground is now down to 2,000.

All good things come to an end. That old saying is becoming painfully true for residents of the mobile homes at El Morro Village, but it is a painful truth that is the best thing for users of Crystal Cove State Park, from both far and wide, and the park's neighbors in Laguna Beach. Residents of the homes in the beautiful beachfront setting last week suffered twin defeats in their attempts to stay put. First, a state appellate court ruled against their lawsuit that claimed state officials improperly filed environmental reports about a proposed campground for the area.

After years of legal battles and political wrangling, Crystal Cove State Park will finally have its crowning touch: a 60-space RV park atop the ocean-view site where a private mobile home park stood for many years. Just in time for the Fourth of July, this spectacular spot will be open to the public at affordable rates. There should be wonderful views of the Independence Day pyrotechnics along the coast. The opening of Moro Campground, said to be the last oceanfront park to be built in the state of California, will no doubt mean a burst of fresh economic activity for Laguna Beach and other local cities that will benefit from the added influx of vacationers.

CRYSTAL COVE STATE PARK Crystal Cove State Park, 8471 N. Coast Hwy., Laguna Beach, has 3.5 miles of beach and 2,000 acres of undeveloped woodland. $15 day-use parking fee. The park is open 6 a.m. to sunset daily. Docent-led backcountry hikes are scheduled for 9 a.m. most Saturdays and Sundays. Hikes are three to five miles long. For more information, call (949) 497-7647 or e-mail wbonnin@parks.ca.gov . Junior Rangers: 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday and Thursday. Park Rangers discuss the ecology of Crystal Cove State Park.

CRYSTAL COVE STATE PARK — As a child of the California Acjachemen tribe, Jacque Tahuka Nunez said she was an innate "keeper of the earth," or someone who appreciates, respects and makes it their duty to preserve Mother Earth. As an adult and educator of Native American studies for more than 30 years, Nunez makes it her duty to pass this role on to future generations. "My ancestors were the first ones to care for Mother Earth because our hearts told us we must," she said.