Jug Handle State Natural Reserve, established in 1976 on California’s Pacific coast, preserves a rare series of raised marine terraces that show ecological succession with unusual clarity. Formed by wave action, changing sea levels, and tectonic uplift, the terraces record distinct stages as each has stood above the ocean about 100,000 years longer than the one below. Prairie, redwood forest, and the famed pygmy forest appear in sequence, with the pygmy forest designated a National Natural Landmark in 1969. Threatened by logging and resort development in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the area was protected through conservation organizing, litigation, and later local fundraising.