California State Military
DepartmentCalifornia State Military
DepartmentThe site is on the central California coast, in Monterey County, 11 miles northeast of the city of Monterey and 3.5 miles southwest of the town of Castroville It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the northeast by the Salinas River.
On 15 September 1942, the Navy acquired
by condemnation from Martin Estate Company, et al. 269.68
fee acres, 154.89 acres of submerged land, and 3.82 easement acres
for a total of 428.39 acres. It was used as an amphibious training
site, a radio direction-finder station, and as Bombing Target
Number 8. Target Number 8 was established on 29 April 1944 as
a subordinate activity of Naval Auxiliary Air Station, Watsonville,
California. The Naval Radio Station was established in 1943. At
some unknown time the station was transferred to the Coast Guard.
In 1965, the Coast Guard transferred the total acreage to the
General Services Administration (GSA). GSA transferred the total
acreage to the Department of Interior, Bureau of Sport Fisheries
and Wildlife on 27 June 1973. The site became the Salinas National
Wildlife Refuge. The site is now managed by the California Department
of Fish and Game under a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service