Letters to the Editor: Can the public access Hollister Ranch beaches without destroying them?

To the editor: The photos with Steve Lopez’s column on Hollister Ranch owners joining forces with the Pacific Legal Foundation to fight a state law on public access to beaches show a rugged, remote terrain, with no amenities or creature comforts.

I understand Lopez’s indignation at being denied access to this “little stretch of paradise.” I also appreciate his fury that some thoughtless, privileged residents treat the beach as their private drag strip.

If every potential visitor were as conscientious as Lopez about caring for this pristine area, I would have no qualms about increasing the public’s access to Hollister Ranch beaches. But when I look at the photos and consider the logistics of visiting this spectacular outpost, I have to ask myself, how many visitors have the knowledge or resources to follow that critical code of conduct, “pack it in, pack it out”?

What will the visitors leave behind besides footprints?

Catherine Cate, Irvine

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To the editor: So, the Pacific Legal Foundation defends landowners’ rights where threatened by government overreach.

Maybe the Texas landowners along the Rio Grande who will have their property taken for the border wall should hire the Pacific Legal Foundation to sue the Trump administration. Maybe taxpayers should hire the Pacific Legal Foundation to sue the Trump administration for damage the wall will do to Big Bend National Park. Perhaps we the people should hire them to sue the Trump administration for the wall restricting access to a part of our property in that national park.

Would be interesting.

Kay St. Peters, Orange