Nature
Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz, California, is a 65-acre coastal park known for its surviving mudstone sea arch and for the eucalyptus grove that shelters migrating monarch butterflies. Formed more than a million years ago by hardened sediment and wave erosion, the site once had three natural bridges, but only the middle arch remains after the others collapsed in 1905 or 1906 and on January 10, 1980. The area also preserves marshes, dunes, estuarine habitat, and tide pools around Moore Creek. Its history stretches from Ohlone use through Spanish colonization and later farming and development before California purchased the land in 1933.
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Santa Cruz, California · United States
