Years of warnings, mounting deaths: Who’s responsible for Santa Cruz’s North Coast?

Quick Take At least 25 people have died along Santa Cruz County’s North Coast since 2021, including three women at Panther Beach this year. Meanwhile, 2026 witnessed steady growth for the local tourism industry. Kevin Norton writes that government officials warned of the dangers on the North Coast five years ago, and numerous agencies and organizations have worked through two separate groups to address coastal access and safety. Yet, people continue to die or find themselves in distress, and California State Parks says it still lacks the resources to keep pace with growing crowds. With so many agencies involved, Norton wonders, who's accountable for preventing the next tragedy? Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here . On Sunday night, 24-year-old Senah Park was swept into the ocean at Panther Beach . The Coast Guard was searching for her Monday. Three women have already died at the same beach this year. Ocean waters trapped eight people near Panther Beach on May 17 . Some couldn’t swim. Five escaped with help from rescuers, while three remained stranded, showing signs of hypothermia. A Coast Guard helicopter eventually lifted the three to safety, one by one, in a nighttime rescue . Less than three weeks later, a young man fell to his death from a cliff at nearby Bonny Doon Beach . Four days after that, two college students from Fremont were swept into the ocean near Panther Beach . In September, another woman died at the same beach . The deaths came despite years of warnings that growing crowds were overwhelming the North Coast’s limited infrastructure and public services. My review found at least 25 people have died along Santa Cruz County’s North Coast since 2021, including 14 fatalities involving beaches, the ocean or coastal cliffs and another 11 involving Highway 1. That count does not include Park, whose fate remained unknown Monday. Cal Fire records also document more than 70 emergencies involving dangerous surf, rising tides, inaccessible cliffs and difficult rescues. At the same time, public agencies and tourism organizations have worked to expand coastal access and draw more visitors to the North Coast’s rugged coastline. Unfortunately, the safety infrastructure has not kept pace. Five years ago, after a spate of incidents, public officials described the public-safety threats as urgent. But today, California State Parks says it still lacks the resources to address worsening safety concerns. Santa Cruz County has two separate multiagency groups working on coastal access and safety. Yet, years of coordination have yet to produce a clear answer to a basic question: Who is responsible for making the North Coast safer? More ways to reach the coast The public hungers for access to the coast, and access keeps expanding. The problem I’ve found is that safety infrastructure is not keeping pace with people. More than 22,000 acres of land with public access has been added to the North Coast since 2005, according to a state report . State parks officials say social media began drawing larger crowds to remote beaches in the late 2010s. The pandemic accelerated that trend, followed by better access and visitor facilities. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is building a 7.5-mile bicycle and pedestrian trail from Wilder Ranch State Park to Davenport, part of the larger Coastal Rail Trail network . The project includes new parking lots, restrooms and improved pedestrian access. It’s expected to be finished later this year. Panther Beach got a new parking lot and restrooms in April . Three people have died there since – and another remains missing. The federally managed Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument opened its first public trails in 2025 , adding another major destination north of Davenport . Gabriel McKenna, a State Parks lifeguard supervisor, told me new infrastructure was “kind of legitimizing areas which were once less visited.” The result, he explained, is more people reaching wild beaches that have no permanent lifeguard towers, where access is difficult and the ocean can be unforgiving. Safety is not keeping up. Despite growing visitation and repeated emergencies, State Parks says it has received no additional staff or equipment for the North Coast, according to Jordan Burgess, deputy district superintendent for the Santa Cruz District of California State Parks. The problem is not new. In September 2021, the California State Coastal Conservancy published a staff report warning that growing crowds were overwhelming the North Coast’s limited infrastructure and public services . The plan was intended to bring together approximately 20 agencies and organizations to address public access, visitor impacts, infrastructure, safety and natural-resource protection along the North Coast. It identified steep, rocky beach-access paths, emergency rescue calls, dangerous Highway 1 conditions and inadequate visitor facilities. A committee of roughly 20 agencies and organizations did convene to develop a management plan using a $100,000 grant from the California State Coastal Conservancy to Santa Cruz County. The final North Coast Facilities and Management Plan, completed in 2024 , acknowledged years of inadequate investment. Despite a lot of stakeholders, “visitor amenities, infrastructure, and law enforcement services are limited and do not always meet the public expectation for safe and enjoyable conditions,” the plan says. It continues, “Visitors are unaware of hazardous ocean conditions, which has resulted in ocean rescues and drowning incidents. Increase in visitation, and specifically the use of fireworks, presents increased fire risks. Congestion along Highway 1, particularly on weekends during the high season, has led to an increase in vehicle collisions and hazardous conditions for bicyclists and pedestrians.” The plan called for additional infrastructure on the stretch, but also for additional funding for emergency response, law enforcement and other public services needed to ensure a safe and rewarding visitor experience. What happened to the plan? How much was implemented or ignored? Government staff and elected leaders could not tell me. And there’s another layer of government coordination. County staff say a separate multiagency group facilitated by the City of Santa Cruz handles coastal safety issues, including emergency response and drowning prevention. That group includes the county’s Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience (OR3), State Parks, local fire agencies, coastal cities and other regional partners. Its work includes coordinating rescue and fatality data, updating the coastal incident response plan, improving public warnings and exploring funding opportunities. With so many agencies and organizations involved, who is responsible for making sure recurring dangers lead to lasting safety improvements? Far too many families already know the dangers of the North Coast. In July 2020, Anushri Nair, 19, drowned at Panther Beach after a large wave swept her and her friends from a rock. Her mother, Prithi Nair, later spoke publicly about the beach’s dangers , hoping to spare other families the same loss. “She was our only child,” she told KTVU. “She was the absolute love of our life.” Six years later, three more women died at the same beach. The records also document people swept into the ocean, stranded by tides and trapped on cliffs. Some required helicopter rescues or prolonged efforts to reach them. Responders face steep terrain, limited beach access, powerful surf and sometimes unreliable cell service. But for me, the records raise a question that goes beyond how quickly rescuers arrive: Why do so many emergencies happen at places where the dangers have long been recognized? Promoting paradise Here is one big problem I’ve found: Emergency agencies say they