Deception, law breaking, dodging by California State Parks

January 31, 2026

Chief Deputy Director Liz McGuirk

OPINION by WILL HARRIS

Previous articles in CalCoastNews have detailed the fraud perpetrated by the San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District. A particularly noteworthy piece revealed that the APCD claimed without proof that the air above the Nipomo Mesa was filled with silica dust that came from Oceano Dunes.

They said publicly that it was carcinogenic, that it would cause “fibrotic lung disease.” Unsurprisingly, this created needless hysteria in the community and caused many to malign the state park.

I conducted the scientific work that exposed that lie and caused the APCD director to publicly admit that the air district’s silica claim was “a red herring.”

But that didn’t stop the air district. They just kept going, claiming that elevated particulate pollution detected on the Mesa is dust that comes from off-highway vehicle recreation at Oceano Dunes. That too is a lie.

I proved that claim to be false with the significant help of Dr. Lynn Russell, atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

In a peer-reviewed scientific journal article, we revealed that just 14% of the particulate pollution detected on the Mesa consists of mineral dust, and that because the OHV park is two miles from the Mesa, the amount of dust coming from the park is significantly less than 14%.

I did this work on behalf of California State Parks. And you would think that State Parks, armed with proof that the air district has lied repeatedly, would tell the air district to pound sand and perhaps sue the APCD into oblivion.

But no. Instead State Parks has followed the orders of the air district.

They have unnaturally covered and closed off from use more than 740 acres of the park’s recreational lands, and in so doing they have spent well over $25 million in public funds. And they have gone out of their way to suppress the Scripps 14% dust findings and its significance.

And it gets worse.

Each state park is overseen by a district superintendent who is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the park. They manage staff, budgets, and concessionaires. They approve events at the park, oversee emergencies, and attend and present at pertinent city or county meetings. Most basically, the district superintendent is the local face of the park, and the best district superintendent’s are members of and advocates for the community.

Oceano Dunes and the greater south-county community have been denied this local representation. Since 2017, State Parks executives have not hired a district superintendent at Oceano Dunes. Instead, for nine years straight, they have assigned existing personnel into an “acting” district superintendent role.

Assigning someone as “acting” district superintendent in the short term, say when the existing district superintendent retires, is understandable. It’s a temporary stopgap measure.

But any “acting” district superintendent lacks independence. They cannot be a true advocate of the park within the community because they take their cues from Sacramento, always hoping that maybe, if they walk the line just right, they’ll be officially assigned to the position in a permanent civil service capacity.

More broadly, when existing personnel are rotated into an “acting” district superintendent spot for nine years running, that sends a short, simple message from Sacramento to the community that says, we don’t care.

But I’d like the south-county and larger OHV community to know this: State Parks executives broke the law when they sent that message.

Compiled archived video I have included as part of this article shows how Chief Deputy Director Liz McGuirk and Deputy Director Sarah Miggins have violated civil service laws and the California Constitution by denying Oceano Dunes and the south county community a proper District Superintendent. Please review the video and help me get the word out: For the sake of our state parks, our tax dollars, and our communities we need a change in State Parks leadership.

Will Harris is a geologist. From 2005 to 2022, California State Parks contracted Harris to provide geological consulting services and serve as subject matter expert regarding geological processes. Most of Harris’s work for State Parks regarded Oceano Dunes.

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