About the town of Manchester
The Manchester area begins just south of the Bridgeport District at Mallo Pass Creek and extends to just south of the town of Manchester. It comprises the vacation house community of Irish Beach, long stretches of farmland, Manchester State Beach and the town of Manchester. The principal road through the area is Highway One. Mountain View Road, located just south of Manchester, leaves the area via 25 miles of slow mountain road to arrive in Boonville, part of the Anderson Valley. Manchester has a population of about 400 and has a post office and the largest grocery/hardware store on the Elk Coast. Manchester State Beach is the principle recreation area with large areas for public use.

About the Stornetta Lands National Monument
Extending along roughly three miles of coastline south of the Point Arena lighthouse and Manchester Beach, the area offers spectacular bluff-top views of the ocean and rugged features carved from landscape by wind and water over centuries. It also includes the Garcia River estuary and important wildlife habitat for several endangered species. The Stornetta lands will contribute to an uninterrupted, nearly 12-mile stretch of publicly accessible coastline and provide a link to the California Coastal Trail. A committee of local residents already has begun developing ideas for trails within the parcel. Their work presumably will help inform a three-year planning process with public input that is required for the monument. Point Arena, with a population of fewer than 500, already is one of five official “gateway communities” to the California Coastal National Monument, which is comprised of more than 20,000 seastacks, islands, pinnacles and exposed reefs between the borders of Mexico and Oregon.

About the town of Sea Ranch
Sea Ranch is located along the Pacific Coast, about 100 mi (160 km) north of San Francisco and 120 mi (190 km) west of Sacramento. The Sea Ranch is reached by way of State Route 1. About 4 mi (6 km) northwest of The Sea Ranch is Gualala, a small town which supports and is in turn supported by Sea Ranch. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 16.2 square miles (41.9 km²). The population is approximately 1300. Sea Ranch is noted for its distinctive architecture, which consists of simple timber-frame structures clad in wooden siding or shingles. The building typology of the Sea Ranch draws on the local agricultural buildings for inspiration, in the way that those buildings are designed to deal with prevailing weather and topography. Originally, the Sea Ranch had local lumber mills to draw on for the Douglas Fir and Redwood used in the homes. The majority of the 1800 or so homes currently finished are smaller second homes, though there is also a small contingent of about 300 full-time residents.