Refugio State Beach is a California state beach park on the Gaviota Coast, about 20 miles west of Santa Barbara, at a place the Chumash call Qasil, or “Beautiful.” One of three state parks along this coast, it has long human as well as natural significance. In 2015, a ruptured crude-oil pipeline north of the park sent oil through a culvert under U.S. 101 into the ocean, spreading across more than 7 miles of shoreline and closing Refugio and nearby El Capitán State Beach during cleanup. In 2024, planning began to update the 1979 General Plan to improve infrastructure, address climate change, and guide sustainable recreation.