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For nearly 20 years, Friends of the Dunes has had its eye on a blighted property just up the road from the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center in Manila. After failed purchase attempts and watching the 6.5-acre site deteriorate into an illegal dumping ground, the nonprofit has finally secured the funds needed to add the parcel to its 130-acre land trust.

The California State Coastal Conservancy last month approved $431,500 in grant funds to help Friends of the Dunes purchase and restore the long-neglected site, located at 150 Stamps Lane in Manila. The nonprofit is also exploring plans to expand its dune trail system and build a campground onsite to draw new visitors.

“This is a prime location for us,” Suzie Fortner, executive director of Friends of the Dunes, told the Outpost. “We have thousands and thousands of visitors every year — both local and from out of the area — who come to the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center to get information about exploring the coast, and right now, they’re driving past this boarded-up house and chain link fence just to get to our parking lot. It’s not the prettiest or most welcoming of views, so we’re really looking forward to improving the site.”

Friends of the Dunes first inquired about the parcel in the mid-2000s when it bought the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center property from the Stamps Family. At that time, the property’s owner wasn’t interested in selling. 

“Fast-forward to 2022: The property was foreclosed on, and everybody that lived on the property was evicted,” Fortner said. “It just sat there for a few years, and the property continued to get more and more degraded over time because it was [owned] by an out-of-state bank and there was nobody locally keeping an eye on it. … There were a bunch of outbuildings that got completely looted, and unfortunately, it became a neighborhood dumping ground.”

After “making a lot of noise about the condition of the site,” Fortner said the bank had the ransacked outbuildings removed and eventually sold the parcel to someone living in the Bay Area. 

“He had some plans for fixing the place up, but unfortunately, things changed with his life, and he couldn’t commit to that anymore,” she continued. “About a year later, he wanted to put it back on the market, and we had a conservation buyer purchase and hold onto it for us while we work towards getting grant funding for it.”

With the funding secured, Friends of the Dunes will soon begin a feasibility analysis to figure out next steps for the property and determine whether the remaining house and garage are worth saving for a potential on-site caretaker. The feasibility analysis will also explore the potential for a new campground.

“Something that the state Coastal Conservancy is really hoping to fund through their Explore the Coast Overnight Program is affordable overnight accommodations,” Fortner said. “For us, that would probably look like an affordable campground since we don’t really have a lot of places to stay out here in Manila. The closest campground is at the Samoa boat ramp, but that’s really just an asphalt lot where the off-road vehicle folks stay.”

Friends of the Dunes is also working with Caltrans to create a safer entrance to the Humboldt Coastal Nature Center, which is situated just off of Route 255. 

Fortner added that the nonprofit will be working with the Peninsula Community Collaborative as it works through the feasibility analysis to ensure the community is a part of the process. “They’ve been doing such a great job of improving the Samoa Peninsula in general,” she said.  “We’re really excited to work with them and the Manila Community Services District, as well as the Bureau of Land Management, which manages the Ma-le’l Dunes, and the Humboldt Bay Wildlife Refuge, which manages the Lanphere Dunes. 

Friends of the Dunes expects to close on the property early next year, probably in February or March. In the meantime, Forter asks visitors to respect those “no trespassing” signs.

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