Who We Are
We are Midcoast ECO!
Our name reflects our mission as a community-focused, educational and advocacy non-profit group dedicated to the conservation of the San Mateo County Midcoast. From the root Ecology, ECO represents the relationships of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings. Also, ECO expresses the concepts of:
• Environment • Community • Organization
Our logo includes the shape of the California State Route sign because Highway 1 and its limitations feature prominently in our focus on sensible planning for the Midcoast. We also include the symbols of water, sun and tree to represent the importance of conserving our coastal environment.
Our History
As residents of Unincorporated San Mateo County, we initially mobilized in early 2016 in response to an oversized housing project being proposed in the small town of Moss Beach. Having no local coastal decision-making governing body to represent our Midcoast community, we soon recognized the flawed process of coastal land use decisions that were being made on a case by case basis without consideration of the larger impact on our small community. Our focus expanded beyond the density stress of a single project to highlight the cumulative impacts of large development projects on our natural coastal environment and our limited infrastructure.
We are a small all-volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization with several local residents who volunteer their leadership efforts in support of research and community education. We interact with hundreds of Midcoast ECO subscribed supporters and donors.
We use fact-based research as an important tool for advocacy in support of our Local Coastal Program and the California Coastal Act. We raise awareness about the larger concerns of buildout in the unincorporated San Mateo County Midcoast, in the context of our limited and over-burdened infrastructure and in favor of protecting the natural environment. We often work in support of the efforts of organizations like Sierra Club and Green Foothills.
And we have had a lot of success in reaching and representing our community!
We have produced significant research-based reports, met with key decision-makers, educated and mobilized our community, and raised money to employ legal counsel and expert consulting for specific issues in our effort to conserve the Midcoast. Our grassroots focus on the big picture impact on the Midcoast is reflected in our name, Midcoast ECO!