User:Hartm113/sandbox

Excellent work! --Prof Remy
1. The article has well formatted links, and everything is satisfactory in relation to those links. 2. All footnotes are fine, although I'd like to see footnotes used more often if possible. I'm a big fan of footnotes but overall, good job on footnotes placement. 3. I like to think of Wikipedia as hard to read, but this was a gentle read that informed me of everything in the area. Overall, great job on the article. This is my sandbox.

Being bold is important on Wikipedia.

I am editing my sandbox for my FFC. In this class we are reading a book about Ted Steinberg called Down To Earth

Edward Abbey
Edward Abbey was a true champion of the earth, having authored various essays and novels informing the public about environmental issues that often go unrecognized. Abbey first experienced the beauty as he explored the American Southwest before his time spent in the military. Upon his return after the war where he served as a military police officer in Italy, Abbey attended college and married in New Mexico. Abbey filled a large portion of his life serving odd jobs including the post of being a seasonal ranger at the Arches National Monument in Utah, a site which is a United States National Park today. This job proved to be the most influential in jump starting his passion for nature and its preservation. By compiling a large amount of his own sketches and notes, Abbey built the platform for his first novel: Desert Solitaire.

Abbey went on to work in many other National Parks throughout the Southwest. Abbey composed nearly 25 novels, more than half of which were non-fiction works, along with a few letters, essays and anthologies. Edwards complicated personal life began to settle down when he was about 50 years old, where he began teaching at the University of Arizona. Though Abbey’s works were popular, some of his fiction novels even turned into films, they were often challenged and misinterpreted by the public. Abbey openly disapproved immigration into the United States by the citizens of Mexico because he feared their environmental impact. This standpoint was misconstrued and Abbey was labeled as a racist and a terrorist. So distraught by the public’s misunderstanding, he included an explanation in his last work published two years before his death in Tucson, Arizona in 1989.

Estero Bluffs State Park
The park is made up of a coastline that stretches over 4 miles and covers more than 300 acres of land. Though the shoreline is usually no more than 300 yards away from the highway, the intentional lack of development of the land has left it very similar to its natural state.

Estero Bluffs features a variety of scenic sites along its coast. Visitors can park and see San Geronimo Creek or Villa Creek, which are small lagoons that are present year round and filled by a constantly running creek. There are also multiple lookout points including Cayoucos Point, Estero Bay.

History
The Estero Bluffs area has been home to the Native American Chumash and Salinan people for over 10,000 years. They used various resources gathered from marine and terrestrial areas of the region in order to adapt to various environmental changes. In 1769, the area became home to various missions, the first of which was an expidition led by Don Gaspar De Portola. With the explorers came various European diseases that depleted large amounts of the indigenous people. Today, the culture of these peoples is still present in the area as they attempt to revive their culture and language. From 1771 to 1833 the area, which was mission land, was used for cattle grazing. In 1833 Mexico, with its new-found independence, granted a large amount of land, which includes much of the present day Estero Bluffs State Park, to Rafael José Serapio Villavicencio. The land continued to be passed down to various heirs until Abram Muscio planned to develop the land for a resort and residential areas. The people from surrounding local communities were not in favor of the construction, and pushed for the land to by purchased by The Trust for Public Lands in 2000. Ownership of the park was then deeded to the state of California in 2002. In order to preserve the area, the Trust gave the area a conservation easement that limits and prohibits certain activities on the land such as the construction of public restrooms or the use of running water.

Geology
The park's foundation is built from rocks of the Franciscan Assemblage which dates back to around 140 million years, placing its formation sometime during the late Jurassic Period. Due to a shifting of tectonic plates, the land was raised above sea level to create the seaside cliffs that can be observed today.

Plants and Wildlife
This area is home to several terrains, each of which has its own local plant life. The Costal Scrubs and Grasslands feature sagebrush and native flowers. The Rocky Outcrops are marked by wild grasses and seasonal wildflowers. The dunes and wetlands often overlap and yield vegetation and salt grass. Estero Bluffs has a very rich wildlife population both terrestrial and marine. In the ocean, harbor seals and sea otters, a threatened species, utilize the intertidal areas for resting and foraging. From December to March, migrating whales pass through the area, grey whales in particular. Many rodents call the grasslands and costal scrub of the park home including rabbits, ground squirrels and striped skunks. The grasslands also contain black-bellied slender salamanders, California king snakes, Pacific tree frogs, rattlesnakes and insects. The park hosts a variety of birds including the rare Western Snowy Plover.