Connecting California.org-- The California Mega-Park Project...

A Guide to California's Newest Parks

2007-09-05T13:20:00.000-07:00

NOTE:
COMPLETE LISTS OF CALIFORNIA'S "NEW PARKS" ARE POSTED ABOVE

2008 and 2009 ADDITIONS TO THIS PAGE ARE POSTED AT: http://rare-earth-news.blogspot.com/2008/04/over-130000-acres-of-wildlife-habitat.html
AND
http://rare-earth-news.blogspot.com/2009/01/at-least-90000-acres-were-preserved-in.html
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CLICK ON ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, August 28, 2007

Contact: Rex Frankel, 310-572-6491, http://www.connectingcalifornia.org/

RECORD AMOUNT OF LAND HAS BEEN SAVED IN CALIFORNIA IN THE LAST 7 YEARS, REPORT FINDS

With Californians packing our beaches and state and national parks this summer, a new online guide to the millions of acres of new California parkland has just been posted at http://www.connectingcalifornia.org/.

Together, our State parkland and wildlife habitat agencies and the Federal government have bought and preserved a record amount, or more than 1.5 million acres of California natural lands and wildlife habitat between 1/1/2000 and August of 2007. This comes after a 12 year lull (1988 to 2000) between approval of California Parks bonds. Since the year 2000, voters have approved 5 bond issues to save land statewide.

To put this in context, the recently preserved land is 42% of the size of the land covered by urban sprawl in the state, based on a year 2000 State Housing Department study which found that around 3.5 million acres of California was then urban sprawl, equaling over 100 years of development. This newly preserved land equals over 4 times the acreage of the State’s largest city, Los Angeles. This 1.5 million acres is also double the size of Yosemite National Park.

Many of these purchases have been in partnership with local land trusts, which are non-profit charitable groups.

The just-released report is part of the California Conservation Lands Inventory, which has been assembled by http://www.connectingcalifornia.org/, the place on the web to find information about saving land in our state, connecting our parks together, and supporting the groups that are doing it. Included in the report are maps and photos of the new parklands and links to reports, background information and the local environmental groups that helped make the purchases happen.

What are taxpayers getting for their money?

Buying up the rivers that flow from the mountains to the sea in Ventura, L.A., Riverside and San Diego Counties;

Buying up a ring of parks and wildlife areas around the L.A. and San Francisco Bay areas;

Buying up thousands of acres of redwood forests on the Northern California coast;

Buying river park corridors in the Central Valley’s Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers;

Buying the old railroad checkerboard lands in the Mojave Desert.

THE LARGEST PUBLICLY FUNDED PURCHASES:

-California Desert-San Bernardino, Riverside and Imperial Counties—700,000 acres

-Hearst Ranch -San Luis Obispo County—82,000 acres

-Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area/Yolo Bypass-Yolo and Napa Counties—46,000 acres

-Mendocino County Coast timberlands—46,000 (an additional 50,000 acres has recently been saved with private funds)

-San Diego County—40,800 acres

-Diablo and Gabilan Range-Monterey, Santa Clara, San Benito and Fresno Counties—38,900 acres

-Lassen Foothills-Tehama County—34,000 acres

-Riverside County—34,000 acres

-Carrizo Plain-San Luis Obispo County—30,000 acres

-Mill Creek-Del Norte County—25,500 acres

-Sierra Valley—Sierra, Nevada and Plumas Counties—24,000 acres

-Mendocino National Forest Inholding-Glenn County—23,000 acres

-Merced County wetlands and vernal pools—21,000 acres

-Butte County—20,000 acres

-Kern County—19,000 acres

-Shasta County—16,000 acres

-Anza-Borrego Desert-San Diego County—11,000 acres

-Sacramento County—10,000 acres

-Big Sur-Monterey County—8,500 acres

-Santa Clara River-Ventura County—2000 acres

We conclude that, along with well-informed voters and strong local control of development decisions, “the best way to truly control urban sprawl is to buy that land and add it to our state’s great park system”.

The purchases by our State and Federal government are summarized below and are arranged geographically by county from south to north. The totals only include three State agencies: the Parks Department (http://parks.ca.gov/), the Coastal Conservancy (http://www.scc.ca.gov/) and the Wildlife Conservation Board (http://www.wcb.ca.gov/. We do not have totals yet for those years for other State agencies that save land on the local level, such as the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Calif. Tahoe Conservancy, Sierra Nevada Conservancy and others.

We also don't yet have totals for land saved by local governments or by private land trusts. One of the reasons for the difficulty in compiling this data is that sometimes several State agencies and local land trusts will take credit for saving the same property, so separating the overlapping totals has been very time-consuming.

This tally of new public parkland is a "living" document. We will update it as new information comes in.

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TOTALS ARRANGED BY COUNTY:

SAN DIEGO COUNTY:

BATIQUITOS LAGOON:

35.2 acres by CC-6-29-2006 adjacent to an ecological reserve on Batiquitos Lagoon. - disburse up to $50,000 to the Batiquitos Lagoon Foundation for pre-acquisition expenses associated with purchase of a portion of the Murphy Property and all of the Mitsuuchi Property in the City of Carlsbad in San Diego County

SAN DIEGO RIVER:

also see San Diego River Conservancy: http://sdrc.ca.gov/

100 acres by CC-2003--Over $7 million from the Conservancy was approved for purchase of a 100-acre property in Lakeside, the first on-the-ground step in the establishment of San Diego River Park . The park will eventually contain several properties in strategic locations to benefit communities and wildlife along the entire length of the river. CalMat property and San Diego River Park: Lakeside NCCP Program,

4400 acres by CC-12-2-04 -- disburse up to $9,700,000 to the Nature Conservancy to acquire Monte Vista ranch property within the San Diego River watershed in order to implement the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan (MSCP), as part of California's Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Program.

SAN DIEGUITO RIVER:

73 acres by CC--2004--contributed $1.5 million to the San Dieguito River Park Joint Powers Authority’s purchase of the 73-acre Boudreau property at San Dieguito Lagoon. The purchase allowed expansion of the San Dieguito River’s natural tidelands and protected a critical link between coastal and inland habitats. 5-27-04 Boudreau Property.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/111202notice.pdf
11 acre proposed San Pasqual Union School Addition to San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park, 11-12-2002. The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will hold a hearing on a proposal to purchase from willing sellers the San Pasqual Union School as an addition to San Pasqual Battlefield State Historic Park in northeast San Diego County. The proposed addition would provide protection of significant cultural resources.

OTAY RIVER:

730 and 560 acres by CC --12-11-2003 disburse up to $13,826,298 to the Department of Fish and Game to acquire properties within the Otay River watershed in order to implement the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan, as part of the state's Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Program.

2000 acres by CC and WCB--10-23-03 disburse $7,420,000 to the Department of Fish and Game to acquire properties within the Otay River watershed for 2000 acre Honey Springs parcel in Hollenbeck canyon in order to implement the San Diego Multiple Species Conservation Plan, approved by the Conservancy on June 25, 1998, as part of the state’s Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Program, and to implement the San Diego River Park: Lakeside NCCP Program, adopted by the Conservancy on June 25, 2001.

By CC 5-24-2001--$5,900,000 to the County of San Diego to undertake various planning, pre-project, habitat restoration, and pre-acquisition activities, and to acquire several parcels within the Otay River Valley for habitat and open space preservation.

By CC-4-26-2000-: $2.7 million for the purchase of wildlife habitat and parklands in the Otay River Valley.

SAN ELIJO LAGOON:

17 acres by CC-3-25-04—Authorization of $2 million for the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy to acquire the Rancho Santa Fe Foundation Property, under the San Elijo Lagoon Acquisition Program, approved by the Conservancy on June 25, 2001.

-2002--The Conservancy authorized acceptance of $850,000 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and disbursement of up to $650,000 of these funds to the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy for the San Elijo Lagoon Acquisition Program, San Diego County, approved by the Conservancy on June 25, 2001.

By CC 6-25-2001--$2,000,000 to the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy in San Diego County to acquire property to preserve and enhance wetland habitat consistent with the San Elijo Lagoon Enhancement Plan and Action Plan, approved by the Conservancy in May 1999.

By CC 10-25-2001--The Conservancy approved acquisition of the Manchester Property on San Elijo Lagoon using $1.5 million of previously authorized Conservancy funds.

CARMEL MOUNTAIN:

9.4 acres By CC and WCB-6-22-2000--$4.2 million for habitat at Torrey Surf/Carmel Mountain in San Diego County.

ANZA-BORREGO:

Map of Lands Added to Anza-Borrego State Park Between 1998-and 2003
(click on map to enlarge)

2117 and 842 acres by SP-http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/080602notice.pdf

8-2002. For map of anza-borrego additions http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/080602map.pdf
The California Department of Parks and Recreation to purchase two properties in east San Diego County as additions to the State Park System. The 2,117- acre Tulloch/Cuyamaca Ranch, currently owned by The Nature Conservancy, would be an addition to Anza-Borrego Desert & Cuyamaca Rancho State Parks. The 842-acre Mason Valley Ranch, currently optioned by the Anza-Borrego Foundation from the private landowner, would be an addition to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Both properties would provide protection of significant wildlife habitat/corridors and cultural resources.

4000 acres by SP--2-27-04 parks comm. minutes: The Vallecitos Ranch acquisition is a 4,000-acre addition to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park. Director Coleman described this parcel as a terrific historic corridor with many archeological sites.

TOTAL LAND SAVED BY WCB NOT COUNTED IN ABOVE TOTALS:

-San Diego County: at least 40,810 acres were bought in the path of urbanization at Ramona Grasslands, Iron Mountain, San Miguel, San Dieguito River, La Posta, Oak Grove, Sycuan Peak, Buena Vista Creek, Hollenbeck Canyon, Crestridge, Del Mar Mesa vernal pools, Lakeside Linkages, Carmel Mountain/Torrey Surf, Lucky-5 Ranch, East Elliot Preserve/Dennery Canyon, Montana Mirador Preserve, Santa Ysabel Valley, Camp Pendleton/Cleveland Forest connector, Edwards Ranch, Rancho Jamul, Oceanside Linkages, San Felipe Valley, Holly Springs Ranch, Procter Valley and the Mountain Wildlife Area

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IMPERIAL COUNTY:

Desert Cahuilla --4000 acres by SP--
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/0101306freemanpropertyescrowcloses.pdf 10-2006--escrow has closed on the Freeman Property and that State Parks is now the official owner of the property, also known as Truckhaven and Desert Cahuilla. The Freeman property is located west of the Salton Sea, bordering both Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Ocotillo Wells State Vehicle Recreational Area. The Freeman property consists of approximately 4,000 acres

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SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY:

BY WCB:

-San Bernardino County: 574 acres bought at Camp Cady, San Bernardino Mountains & Deep Creek and the Colton Dunes;

-375 acres were added to Chino Hills State Park (Because the park is also in Riverside and Orange Counties, we have counted the addition only here, although it may actually be in one or both of the other Counties.)

MOJAVE DESERT:

731,000 acres in the Mojave Desert were bought from the Catellus Corp. by the U.S. Government; some is in Riverside and Imperial Counties. See http://www.wildlandsconservancy.org/projects_cal.html for more details.

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RIVERSIDE COUNTY:

BY WCB:

At least 34,857 acres were bought and 1454 acres more were saved through conservation easements in the path of urbanization at North Peak, Santa Rosa Plateau, Wilson Creek, Alberhill, Coachella Valley, Oak Valley, Potrero Canyon, lower Colorado River, Sky Valley, North Warm Springs Creek, French Valley, San Jacinto, Triple Creeks, Peninsular Bighorn Sheep Preserve, Chuckwalla Bench and San Timoteo Canyon.

2640 acres by SP (not certain if property purchased) 3-2004-Lockheed-Laborde--proposed to be ORV park. The purpose of this hearing will be to discuss the possible acquisition of lands that include and surround the Lockheed-Laborde property. The purpose of these property acquisitions is to: • Protect and manage habitat linkages in the Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) Badlands sub region as mitigation, and • Provide for public access to, and staging areas for, the Lockheed-Laborde property for its use as a possible OHV Park. For map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/022504map.pdf

-3500 acres in Wildwood Canyon by SP 10-1-2001: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/2001%20Wildwood%20Canyon%20Hearing.pdfSTATE PARKS SETS HEARING ON WILDWOOD CANYON PURCHASE NEAR YUCAIPA – The California Department of Parks and Recreation will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 9, to solicit comments on the proposed acquisition of up to 3,500 acres of mostly undeveloped land in the Wildwood Canyon area of San Bernardino County.

-1147 acres bought by SP in San Timoteo Canyon

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ORANGE COUNTY:

LAGUNA COAST:

137 acres by CC-2007• provided $3,760,000 to the City of Laguna Beach for its purchase of three properties totaling 137 acres for addition to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. The properties are among several acquisitions funded by the Conservancy since 2002 to create a new network of trails and protect scenic wildlife habitat. (January and March) 3-8-07-- disburse up to $2,458,000 to the City of Laguna Beach for acquisition of the 58.40-acre Chao property and the 50.37-acre Stonefield property located adjacent to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in Orange County. 1-18-07 -disburse up to $1,302,000 to the City of Laguna Beach for acquisition of the 27.92 acre Jaysu Property for addition to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park, Orange County.

20 acres by CC-2006• provided the City of Laguna Beach with $761,000 for its acquisition of two properties totaling about 20 acres for addition to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. The properties contain coastal sage scrub and chaparral habitats and offer trail and greenbelt connections to the coast and existing parklands. (March 2 and June 29) 6-29-06-- disburse up to $590,000 to the City of Laguna Beach for acquisition of the 9.4 acre Haun Property adjacent to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in Orange County. 3-2-06-- disburse up to $171,300 to the City of Laguna Beach for the acquisition of the approximately 11.4-acre Decker/Bossard property for inclusion in the South Coast Wilderness system of parks and preserves in Orange County.

70 acres by CC-2004-- granted $900,000 to help the City of Laguna Beach purchase a 70-acre addition to Laguna Coast Wilderness Park. The acquisition protected spectacular scenic land and wildlife habitat and will make it much easier for visitors to enter the park. 3-25-04-- disburse (1) up to $800,000 to the City of Laguna Beach for acquisition of the 36-acre Trinity property and the 34-acre Wainwright property located adjacent to the Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in Orange County, and (2) up to $100,000 to the Laguna Canyon Foundation for acquisition expenses associated with future projects.

10 acres by CC-5-23-2002--$2.75 million to the City of Laguna Woods to acquire approximately 10 acres Rossmoor parcel to enlarge Laguna Coast Wilderness Park.

By CC 3-22-2001-$2,000,000 to the California Department of Parks and Recreation to acquire (and retire) Development rights to Crystal Cove Historic District, a portion of Crystal Cove State Park, in order to maximize public access to the District and the adjoining state beach, to maximize public open space, and to preserve coastal natural resources.

2-19-04 Consideration and possible adoption of findings regarding Laguna Coast Wilderness Park in Orange County, pursuant to Section 5096.3075 of the Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2000 (Proposition 12).

HUNTINGTON BEACH:

45 acres by CC--4-24-2003--The Huntington Beach Wetlands Conservancy used $1.2 million provided by the Coastal Conservancy to purchase the Piccarelli property, 45 acres of wetlands along the shore of Huntington Beach . The property is now part of over 100 acres of wildlife habitat that provide sanctuary for endangered species in a densely populated urban area.

COAL CANYON: 649 acres by SP and WCB--
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr070201.pdf and parks comm.. minutes 10-25-2000 7-2001-- State officials and local supporters Tuesday will announce the purchase of a key piece of property linking Chino Hills State Park with the 649-acre Coal Canyon property that became part of the state park system last year. The latest acquisition will preserve one of the last remaining viable wildlife corridors in all of Southern California. It is probably the most significant acquisition that the department has completed in the last ten years and it represents one of the most expensive acquisitions for the department. This acquisition is also unique in that it is the first time the department has purchased an expensive piece of property in an urban area, primarily to link existing preserved areas in order to preserve the biological diversity of Chino Hills State Park and a number of other park areas in the Puente/Whittier Hills area. The department would not be acquiring this property were it not for its value in linking the surrounding large masses of habitat in order to preserve the species diversity within this large urban area. The Coal Canyon property was purchased from the St. Claire Company. The parcel comprises 650 acres and the acquisition cost was $40 million. The per acre cost was driven up by the fact that the Coal Canyon property had received approval from the city of Anaheim for the development of 1,500 housing units. This acquisition is significant not only because of its close proximity to urban areas, but also because this particular area of the state has been identified by conservation biologists as one of the eighteen “hot spots” in the world where biodiversity is most threatened. Furthermore, a blue ribbon panel of conservation biologists put together by the department was queried and they described the Coal Canyon acquisition property as being of global significance, that would result, if not acquired to preserve this corridor, into substantial species extinction. Chief Rayburn explained that the department had three studies completed prior to making this acquisition. The first study was the assembling of a blue-ribbon panel referred to above. The department asked the blue-ribbon panel to (1) determine if the freeway underpass could function as a viable corridor, and (2) to verify the assertion that there would be substantial species losses in Chino Hills State Park and other areas located to the north if the area was fragmented and the corridor was not preserved. The blue-ribbon panel confirmed that the underpass was a viable corridor and that significant species losses would occur without the corridor. The second study conducted by the department examined if the Coal Canyon area was the only place in which the linkage between these two large landscape masses could occur, and that was confirmed. The third study looked at the public’s investment in open space and natural resources north of the 91 Freeway. Between city, county, and state agencies, $150 million has been invested in open space, with more to come. This assisted the department in approving this acquisition because it was felt that spending $40 million to protect the biological diversity of a $150 million investment made sense.

BY WCB AND NOT COUNTED IN ABOVE TOTALS:

-Orange County: 5873 acres total saved: 5750 acres bought at Cleveland National Forest, 118 acres bought at Bolsa Chica Mesa, and 5 acres at Upper Newport Bay

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L.A. COUNTY:

LOS CERRITOS WETLANDS:

66 acres by CC---2006• provided $7 million for the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority’s purchase of 66 acres of the Bryant property at Los Cerritos Wetlands near the mouth of the San Gabriel River in Long Beach. The sale, primarily negotiated by the Trust for Public Land, came after more than two decades of effort by the conservation community to acquire properties that contain the wetlands. The Conservancy earlier joined with the cities of Seal Beach and Long Beach and the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservancy to establish the Authority for the purpose of acquiring and restoring the wetlands, which are degraded but still valuable habitat for many species of birds and other wildlife. Los Cerritos Wetlands Acquisition Project.

5 acres by CC--1-18-07 offer to dedicate fee title (OTD) by SCE at Los Cerritos Wetlands; designation of the Los Cerritos Wetlands Authority (LCWA) to accept the OTD; and consideration and possible authorization to disburse up to $30,000 to the LCWA to prepare a feasibility analysis of the use of the five-acre parcel for natural resource restoration purposes under the Los Cerritos Wetlands resource enhancement program, located in the City of Long Beach. Los Cerritos Wetlands

L.A. STORMWATER:

By CC 3-8-2007• granted $50,000 to Community Conservancy International to complete its Green Solutions Report, which will identify projects to treat urban storm water through the creation of parks, open space, and habitat areas. The report focuses on converting pavement to pervious surfaces that would allow soil and plants to filter water and pollutants. The planning area covers all Los Angeles county watersheds that drain to the coast. The report will identify projects that could treat urban storm water through the creation of a network of parks, open space and habitat areas in Los Angeles County

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS:

Soka:

588 acres-by CC, WCB and SP--2005• CC contributed $10.5 million toward the Mountain Recreation Authority’s acquisition of the 564-acre SOKA Property in the upper watershed of Malibu Creek. The purchase protected critical wildlife habitat and offers outstanding recreational opportunities in the heart of the Santa Monica Mountains. SOKA Property within the coastal zone of the Malibu Creek watershed to protect critical habitat, open space and watershed lands and to implement the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Plan, approved by the Conservancy on August 2, 2001. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/041605.pdf

With this deal completed on Friday, April 16, 2005, with the close of escrow on the 588 acre purchase, it is a partnership between State Parks and nine other agencies to preserve a property many have called the “Crown Jewel” of the Santa Monica Mountains. “One cannot overstate the significance of acquiring this magnificent natural landscape,” said Ruth Coleman, Director of California State Parks. “We have been trying to acquire this wonderful parcel since the mid-1970’s. We now own a portion and all the partners in this endeavor are to be applauded for preserving this ecological jewel.” The Soka property being added to Malibu Creek State Park is almost exclusively oak woodland, chaparral, and annual grassland. It is in native condition, with the exception of a few access roads and a small building at the edge of the property. The entire 588 acres of the Soka University property is seen as a critical habitat linkage for wildlife such a mountain lions, bobcats, badgers, and other animals within the Santa Monica Mountains. The partnership funding for the acquisition is as follows: (Most of the funding comes from Propositions 40 and 50, bond acts passed by voters for land conservation.) • Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, $10 million • California State Parks, $7.15 million • State Coastal Conservancy Board, $5.5 million • State Wildlife Conservation Board, $5 million • Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission, $2.5 million • National Park Service, $2.5 million • County of Los Angeles, Prop. A, $2 million • Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, $1.23 million • Calabasas, $250,000 • Agoura Hills, $250,000.

417 acres by CC.-1-24-2002--$1,600,000 to the Mountains Restoration Trust for the acquisition of approximately 417 acres known as the "DeJoria Tuna Canyon S.E.A. Property" in Los Angeles County north of Highway 1 between Malibu and Topanga Canyon Boulevards. In conjunction with the grant, the Conservancy adopted the Tuna Canyon Significant Ecological Area Enhancement Plan.

1416 acres by CC-1-24-2002--$1,000,000 to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for the acquisition of approximately 1,416 acres known as the Mann Property in Los Angeles County north of Highway 1 between Malibu and Topanga Canyon Boulevards, pursuant to the Tuna Canyon Significant Ecological Area Enhancement Plan.

71.5 acres by CC-6-25-2001--$$719,000 to the Mountains Restoration Trust for acquisition of eight parcels encompassing approximately 71.5 acres including portions of the riparian wetland habitat of Cold Creek in Los Angeles County. In conjunction with this grant, the Conservancy adopted the Cold Creek Enhancement Plan.

37 acres by CC-8-2-2001--$$70,000 to the Mountains Recreation & Conservation Authority for acquisition of the approximately 37-acre Brown property in Los Angeles County, in accordance with the Upper Ramirez and Escondido Canyons Resource Enhancement Plan.

120 acres by CC-5-24-2001--$250,000 to the Mountains Restoration Trust for acquisition of three parcels encompassing approximately 120 acres of land including critical habitat for western pond turtles in accordance with the Zuniga Creek and Wetland Resource Enhancement Plan.

Around ½ acre by CC 9-28-2000-disburse up to $10,000,000 for acquisition of the Lechuza Beach property in Malibu, Los Angeles County, near Matador State Beach, located on Sea Level Drive

Less than an acre by CC--12-11-2003 Consideration and possible Conservancy adoption of the Carbon-La Costa Beach Acquisition Mitigated Negative Declaration and Monitoring Program and authorization to disburse up to $1,250,000 for acquisition of a vacant parcel located at 21724 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu for scenic visual and passive public access. The lot is adjacent to a property already owned by the Conservancy, and together the properties offer the only opportunity for the public to reach the beach and the only view of Santa Monica Bay from Pacific Coast Highway within a three-mile length of the coast

368 acres by SP-Avatar parcel, http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/091302notice.pdf, http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/091202map.pdf avatar property map The hearing is designed to receive public testimony on a proposal to acquire approximately 368 acres of land for Topanga State Park in Woodland Hills, County of Los Angeles.

1659 acres by SP-Lower Topanga http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr062901b.pdf 6-2001 Lower Topanga map http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/topanga.pdf In March of this year, the American Land Conservancy, a private, non-profit organization that facilitates the preservation of parkland and water resources throughout the nation, announced that it would purchase the property from LAACO, Ltd., the Los Angeles Athletic Club. The intent of ALC has been to purchase the 1,659-acre property and hold it for transfer to the California Department of Parks and Recreation when park bond money became available. The money for acquiring lower Topanga Canyon will come from the Proposition 12 Parks Bond Act of 2000. Of the $48 million allocated, $43 million will be used to purchase the property and the remaining $5 million will be used to relocate the tenants and begin the restoration of the site.

PALOS VERDES PENINSULA:

463 acres by CC and WCB--2005• to acquire the Portuguese Bend and Agua Amarga Canyon properties, a total of about 463 acres, to protect wildlife habitat on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The properties are adjacent to other protected habitat areas and will contain portions of a 20-mile trail network linked to the California Coastal Trail. 10-27-05--disburse up to $1,550,000 to the City of Rancho Palos Verdes for the acquisition of two properties necessary for implementation of the Rancho Palos Verdes Natural Communities Conservation Planning (NCCP) Subarea Plan on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southwestern Los Angeles County.

BALLONA:

483 acres by WCB and CC--9-25-2003--The Conservancy contributed $10 million to the State's $140 million acquisition of over 480 acres of the Ballona wetlands , and is leading the State's planning effort for restoration of the property. The restoration will be aimed at re-creating scarce habitat for a variety of wildlife while providing opportunities for people to visit and enjoy the area. For documents relating to the purchase, see http://resources.ca.gov/ballona_wetlands.html
for the State's restoration website, http://www.ballonarestoration.org/, and for other Ballona Wetlands updates, http://www.saveallofballona.org/

1.2 acres by CC--7-16-07 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse an amount not to exceed $100,000 to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) for project planning and design of a proposed 1.2-acre park at the recently acquired Milton St parcel along the Ballona Creek within Culver City, Los Angeles County.

6-30-04 Consideration and authorization to disburse up to $142,320 to the City of Culver City for the Ballona Creek Water Quality Improvement Project, and up to $381,700 to the Ballona Wetlands Foundation to develop final plans and environmental review for Phase I of the Ballona Outdoor Learning and Discovery (BOLD) project, to implement the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Plan approved by the Coastal Conservancy on August 2, 2001.

BALDWIN HILLS:

38 acres by SP--http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/112202.pdf
11-2002 LOS ANGELES – California State Parks and the Baldwin Hills Conservancy today announced the expansion of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area with the acquisition of the first in a series of parcels along the Stocker Corridor in the Baldwin Hills. The preservation of the 38-acre open space corridor is part of the ongoing effort to expand Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area into a two-square mile natural park, open space and recreation oasis in the heart of southwest Los Angeles. This new acquisition will ultimately provide a critical link between the Crenshaw Community and the existing Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area. Proposition 12 funds have been earmarked for the Stocker Corridor project via legislation by Sen. Kevin Murray and supported by Speaker Herb Wesson and the Davis Administration. The Stocker Corridor is a mile-long series of parcels that has remained as natural open space through the efforts of community members. The purchase of this first parcel along the corridor for $675,000 has been the culmination of community, local and state agency efforts to preserve the corridor and retain the natural characteristics of the Baldwin Hills area. 6-2002 http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/061802notice.pdfMap of stocker corridor http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/061802map.pdf

L.A. RIVER:

Taylor Yard 57.8 acres and the Cornfields, 32 acres by SP
--http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/121203.pdf 12-2003-California State Parks announced today that it has acquired its first park property which directly fronts along the Los Angeles River at Taylor Yard near downtown Los Angeles. The 17.8-acre parcel G that has been a part of the Union Pacific Taylor Yard properties runs for about a half-mile along the river just east of the Highway 2 Glendale Freeway bridge over the Los Angeles River. It is one of the few remaining natural habitat zones left along the river and is seen as essential for the long-term restoration of the Los Angeles River. State Parks has reached an agreement with Union Pacific to purchase the17.808-acres for $10,472,000.00 and with Public Works Board approval today, escrow on the property is expected to close next week. The acquisition funding comes from Proposition 12. In December 2001, State Parks purchased the 40-acre Taylor Yard property known as parcel D along San Fernando Road. However, it is separated from the river by the Metrolink rail line. It was likewise purchased with Proposition 12 bond funding. It is now being developed jointly by California State Parks and the City of Los Angeles as a seamless park that includes both natural and recreational areas. The 17.8 acre parcel is just upstream and State Parks intends to develop it as a natural riverfront area and connect it to Taylor Yard, thereby connecting the Taylor Yard property to the Los Angeles River parkland corridor. Many believe parcels D and G are the linchpin properties for moving ahead and acquiring more of the riverfront by State Parks and other agencies to eventually create a Los Angeles River Parkway. State Parks also owns the Cornfield property, located downstream of Taylor Yard. It does not directly touch the river, but has links for bike paths and trails to the river, thereby making it one of the connecting properties to Taylor Yard and another major part of the future Los Angeles River Parkway. The northernmost 17.8-acre parcel is contiguous to the 6-mile stretch of soft-bottomed channel of the Los Angeles River known as the “Glendale Narrows”. This is one the few remaining natural habitat zones where one can get a glimpse of what the Los Angeles River may have looked like prior to channelization. Parks comm.. minutes 8-22-03–an agreement has been reached to form a partnership with the City of Los Angeles in which the state would lease about half of the 40-acre Taylor Yard site to the City of Los Angeles, which would then construct sports fields at the city’s expense. State Parks would develop the other half of the site as a “traditional” state park, which would retain the link to the parcel that is immediately adjacent to the Los Angeles River. The objective being to have a park that seamlessly transitions from active recreation to more passive recreation to a riparian environment. State Parks hopes that this will eventually lead to the “greening” of the Los Angeles River in this area.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110101a.pdf 11-2001-Taylor yard parcels map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110101amap.pdf For more on the original plan to purchase up to 127 acres of land locally referred to as Taylor Yard

Cornfields http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr061401.pdf 6-2001-Cornfields map http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr061401b.pdf Photos: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr061401d.pdf The 32-acre parcel is within an abandoned Union Pacific R.R. railyard located between North Broadway and North Spring streets as they run between the Chinatown area and the Los Angeles River. The L.A.- Pasadena Blue Line light rail right-of-way forms the parcel’s western and northern boundaries, with an intermodal station under construction one block south of the property in Chinatown. In March of this year, the Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national non-profit land protection organization, stepped in and negotiated an option to buy the property from Union Pacific Railroad Company via the current option holder, Majestic Realty Company. An appropriation of $40,000,000, most of which will come from the Proposition 12 Parks Bond Act of 2000, is expected to be approved by the Governor when he signs the budget this summer. TPL will then transfer the property to State Parks.

By CC 6-25-2001--$$1,494,000 to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority for acquisition of the AmeriPride property adjacent to the Arroyo Seco in the City of Los Angeles. In conjunction with this grant, the Conservancy authorized entry into a joint powers agreement with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

By CC 6-25-2001--$1,693,000 to the City of Maywood, Los Angeles County, for the acquisition of two properties for Maywood River Park, adjacent to the Los Angeles River, and for preparation of environmental documents. Added in 12-24-02 by CC- L.A. Junction railroad property

By CC 2-24-2000--disburse up to $400,000 to the City of Paramount to acquire the Fitzpatrick property for public access along the Los Angeles River to the coast.

By CC -3-25-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $400,000 to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works to prepare a preliminary design and conduct environmental review for wetland creation along the Los Angeles River as recommended in the DeForest Nature Center and Sixth Street Sites Wetland Feasibility Study and the Dominguez Gap Wetlands/Recreation Study.

NORTH L.A. COUNTY:

5 acres added to Antelope Valley California Poppy Preserve by State Parks

15 acres added to Hungry Valley State Vehicular Recreation Area by State Parks

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PURCHASES BY WCB NOT COUNTED IN ABOVE TOTALS:

1733 acres at Santa Susana Mountains, 1694 acres in the San Gabriel Mountains foothills, 30 acres in the Santa Monica Mountains in La Sierra Canyon and 151 acres at Simi Hills

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VENTURA COUNTY:

ORMOND BEACH:

276 acres by CC and WCB-2005• funded The Nature Conservancy’s $13 million acquisition of 276 acres at Ormond Beach from the Metropolitan Water District and the City of Oxnard for restoration of wetlands and other wildlife habitat. The property is adjacent to 265 acres that the Conservancy purchased for restoration in 2002 and other neighboring properties that are being considered for restoration. 1-27-05 -- disburse up to $12,972,000 to the Nature Conservancy for the acquisition of approximately 276 acres at Ormond Beach in Ventura County for restoration of wetlands and related habitat.

265 acres by CC- 5-23-2002--The Conservancy authorized disbursement of up to $9,700,000 for the acquisition of approximately 265 acres of property at Ormond Beach, Ventura County, to implement a portion of the Wetland Resources Enhancement Plan for Southern California Edison Coastal Properties approved by the Conservancy on February 24, 2000.

-10-23-2003--The Conservancy approved use of $600,000 to plan for restoration of wetlands and dunes at its 265-acre property at Ormond Beach, and reserved $23 million for purchase of an adjacent 500 acres in 2004 owned by the MWD, Oxnard and Southland Sod at Ormond Beach. Together, the properties will provide the setting for a large-scale environmental restoration that will greatly benefit a variety of wildlife, particularly resident and migratory birds.

-2000-- $17 million for Southern California Edison properties at Ormond Beach in Ventura County and elsewhere

OJAI/VENTURA:

14 acres in fee and 16 acres in conservation easement by CC--2004--funded the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy’s $450,000 purchase of the 14-acre Confluence property on the Ventura River. The acquisition is a key element of a broader plan to preserve and protect habitat for fish and wildlife and to expand recreational opportunities along the river’s mid-section. 2-19-04 --part of the Ventura River Parkway in Ventura County.

1416 acres by CC-1-23-2003--A $3.1 million grant from the Coastal Conservancy enabled the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy to purchase a 1,416-acre property on the Ventura River . The purchase is critical to plans for recovery of the river's endangered southern steelhead trout, and will allow people to experience the beauty of the county's natural lands that remain along the river. 5-27-04-- disburse up to $55,000 to the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy to augment funds, authorized by the Conservancy on January 23, 2003, to preserve, restore, and provide public access to Farmont Ranch, on the Ventura River adjacent to the City of Ojai, Ventura County, specifically for the restoration of trail corridors for habitat and erosion control.

9-15-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $200,000 to the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy (VHC) to prepare acquisition planning and feasibility studies for the Ventura Hillsides.

SANTA CLARA RIVER:

700 acres by CC-2003--The Conservancy provided $3 million for purchase of about 700 acres along two miles of the Santa Clara River . The properties will add to the Santa Clara River Parkway, created by the Coastal Conservancy and the Nature Conservancy to protect farmland, manage floodwaters, and restore the natural environment along Southern California's largest river.

120 acres by CC-2002--The Conservancy authorized acquisition by The Nature Conservancy of two additional properties, totaling 120 acres, to implement the Santa Clara River Parkway Conceptual Enhancement Plan pursuant to the Conservancy resolution of June 2001.

1100 acres by CC-2001--$1,300,000 to the Nature Conservancy for the acquisition of properties totaling approximately 1,100 acres as part of the Santa Clara River Parkway, Ventura County.

147 acres by CC-5-24-2001--$100,000 grant to the Nature Conservancy for the acquisition of several parcels encompassing 147 acres and one mile of the Santa Clara River as implementation of the Santa Clara River Parkway

By CC 10-26-2000-- $4.8 million from CC to initiate the Santa Clara River Parkway program in Ventura County to buy the Camp property

S.M. MOUNTAINS:

2983 acres by CC and WCB--9-25-2003--The Conservancy contributed $10 million to the State's purchase of the 2,983-acre Ahmanson Ranch , enabling the protection of valuable wildlife habitat and the availability of natural park lands in a rapidly developing area. The ranch is in the upper watershed of Malibu Creek, and the purchase complements extensive restoration work being conducted downstream by the Conservancy and its partners.

58.8 acres in Thousand Oaks-by WCB -- received the Joel McCrea Ranch donation.

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SANTA BARBARA COUNTY:

0.67 acres by CC--2005• granted the County $300,000 for the acquisition of three vacant blufftop parcels on Del Playa Drive in Isla Vista for a park that will offer spectacular panoramic views of the ocean. The Conservancy also provided the County with $150,000 to reconstruct three public beach accessways in the City that have frequently washed out during major storms. 6-16-05 Isla Vista. 1-27-05 Isla Vista.

30 acres at Carpinteria Bluffs by WCB

GAVIOTA COAST:

137 acres by CC and WCB-2004--provided the City of Goleta with $4 million for its purchase of the 137-acre Ellwood Mesa property. The purchase will protect scenic wildlife habitat and offer opportunities for recreation in the most urban area of the Gaviota Coast. 6-30-04-- Ellwood Mesa property

2500 acres by CC and SP-4-25-2002--$3,050,000 to California State Parks, including redirection of a $1,600,000 grant to The Trust for Public Land authorized in June 2001, to acquire a 2,500-acre portion of the El Capitan Ranch property on Santa Barbara County’s Gaviota Coast, for the purposes of providing public access and preserving coastal wildlife habitat. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/031902.pdf

For map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/031902map.pdf

750.6 acres by CC- 4-25-2002--$200,000 to the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County to acquire conservation easements over two properties owned by the Hvölboll family, including the 745-acre La Paloma Ranch and an additional 5.6-acre property, on the Gaviota Coast.

800 acres by CC and WCB-10-26-2000-- $4 million to buy the Arroyo Hondo/J.J. Hollister 800-acre ranch on the Gaviota Coast in Santa Barbara County, see http://www.sblandtrust.org/

SANTA INEZ VALLEY:

By WCB: conservation easements purchased at the 887 acre El Chorro Ranch, 594 acre Purisima Hills, 1007 acre Rancho la Purisima and the 1406 acre Rancho de Vistas

El Chorro Ranch-- saved with a conservation easement

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SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY:

HEARST/CAMBRIA COAST:

20 acres by CC-2005• provided the Trust for Public Land with $190,000 for its option to purchase the 20-acre Piedras Blancas resort property and its management of public access to two sandy beaches, trails, and a parking area at the site. The property contains one-half mile of shoreline in the midst of the extensive Hearst Ranch properties that the State acquired in 2004. Piedras Blancas Resort in northern San Luis Obispo County.

Hearst Ranch, 1467 acres bought and 80,000 acre conservation easement by CC, WCB and SP--2004—CC contributed $34,500,000 for the acquisition and protection of interests in the 82,000-acre Hearst Ranch. Additional public funds included $34.5 million from the WCB, $23 million from CalTrans, $3 million from State Parks, and Hearst will get a $15 million tax credit. The purchase will open an 18-mile stretch of coastline to the public and protect over 80,000 acres of farmland and natural lands east of Highway 1 while allowing continued use of most of the ranch for farming and ranching and 27 homesites and 15 employee housing units on the inland part of the ranch. Also includes acquisition of interests in the 906-acre Junge Ranch east and west of Highway 1 by a nonprofit organization and the State, through use of tax credits or otherwise. Of the land sold to the State, 949 acres goes to State Parks and 518 acres to Caltrans for a project relocating Highway 1. 7-16-04 parks comm.--Hearst Conservation Plan-- State Parks would not be investing in the purchase but would accept fee title and management responsibility for the 13 miles of coastline. 9-17-04 parks comm --State Parks had been concerned that the agreement originally included stipulations that limited access to the coastal trail, but that negotiations with the landowner resulted in a lifting of all restrictions.

106 acres by CC 4-24-2003-- disburse up to $250,000 to the Nature Conservancy to assist in the acquisition of two parcels comprising 106 acres, known as the Williams property in the community of Cambria, San Luis Obispo County, for purposes of natural resource protection and viewshed preservation.

746 acres by CC/WCB/SP-2-27-2003--The Conservancy provided over $6.6 million for the State's purchase of the 746-acre Sea West Ranch on Estero Bay between Cambria and Cayucos along the Harmony coast. The purchase ensures protection of one of the largest coastal prairie grasslands in the State, and provides a site for a three-mile addition to the California Coastal Trail.

400 acres by CC 3-23-2000, provided $3.5 million for East-West Ranch in Cambria,
also 2001--$$200,000 to the Cambria Community Services District for the preparation of a Public Access Management Plan for the East-West Ranch property located in the community of Cambria, San Luis Obispo County.

1.6 acres by CC--10-23-03-- disburse an amount not to exceed $200,000 to the Cambria Community Services District for the acquisition of a 1.6-acre parcel in the community of Cambria, San Luis Obispo County.

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CARRIZO PLAIN:

30,309 acres bought by the WCB to link the Carrizo Plain National Monument to Los Padres National Forest

Carrizo Plain National Monument and State Additions

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SOUTH SLO COUNTY:

13 acres by CC—5-18-2005• provided the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County with $645,000 for its acquisition and restoration of the 13-acre Rossi property in lower Black Lake Canyon at the edge of the Guadalupe-Nipomo Dunes. The purchase protected freshwater marshland and other wildlife habitat from development. Black Lake Canyon Enhancement Plan.

18 acres by CC—12-18-2005• provided $400,000 to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County for its acquisition and restoration of an 18-acre portion of the Argano Ranch along San Luis Obispo Creek. The property contains steelhead trout habitat, 15 acres of farmland, and a link in the planned City to the Sea Trail. Argano Ranch

270 acres by CC-2004--provided $400,000 to assist the City of San Luis Obispo in its purchase of 270 acres of the Ahearn Ranch along the headwaters of San Luis Obispo Creek and Highway 101. The acquisition protects a variety of wildlife habitats and offers opportunities for public recreation. 5-27-04 disburse up to $400,000 to the City of San Luis Obispo for acquisition of the Ahearn Ranch in the San Luis Obispo Creek watershed.

1860 acres conservation easement by CC-8-14-2003--A $1.5-million grant from the Conservancy enabled the Bay Foundation of Morro Bay to purchase a conservation easement on the 1,860-acre Maino Ranch , preventing its subdivision and development. The easement will help protect the natural and scenic resources of the Chorro Valley and Morro Bay National Estuary while enabling the Maino family to continue its ranching operation.

42 acres by CC/WCB-10-23-2003--The Conservancy contributed $1.25 million for a 42-acre addition to Montana de Oro State Park near the south end of Morro Bay. The purchase prevents commercial development of the site, protecting stunning coastal views and sensitive dune habitats. 10-23-03 acquisition of a 42-acre property.

580 acres by CC/WCB-1-24-2002--The Conservancy approved the Hammons Conceptual Resource Enhancement Plan, and authorized (1) acceptance of $550,000 in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant funds; (2) disbursement of up to $1,200,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Board for acquisition of the 580-acre Hammons property, San Luis Obispo County; and (3) disbursement of up to $100,000 to the Bay Foundation for restoration planning.

80 acres by CC-2002--$750,000 to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County to purchase an 80-acre property and restore steelhead habitat along San Luis Obispo Creek.

540 acre conservation easement by CC-10-31-2002--$225,000 grant to the Bay Foundation for the acquisition of a conservation easement over the 540-acre Buckingham Ranch located in the Morro Bay Watershed.

By CC 4-26-2001--The Conservancy authorized acceptance of public access and open space easements on property leased by Unocal Corp. along the Santa Maria River in southern San Luis Obispo County, and to transfer these easements to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

By CC 2-22-2001--$$665,000 to the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County for the acquisition, management, restoration, and disposition of real property pursuant to the Black Lake Canyon Enhancement Plan.

18 acres by CC-12-5-2001--$1,175,000 to the Bay Foundation to acquire approximately 18 acres on the south shore of Morro Bay, San Luis Obispo County.

1 acre by CC 9-28-2000-- disburse up to $50,000 to the City of Pismo Beach for acquisition of a one-acre property to provide public access to the Pismo Marsh Ecological Reserve. http://www.coastalrcd.org/PismoLake.html

Irish hills potential purchase by state parks—not certain if any purchases yet http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/011002a.pdf 1-2002-- proposed acquisition of approximately 33,000 acres of land in the Irish Hills area of San Luis Obispo County. The property would expand Montana de Oro State Park. The acreage is bounded on the west by Montana de Oro State Park, on the east by Highway 101, on the south by the Pacific Ocean and on the north by the City of San Luis Obispo and the Los Osos Valley. A $13 million state budget allotment from the “Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air, and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2000” (Proposition 12) is currently available for initial acquisitions. Map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/Map.pdf

7 acres added to Oceano Dunes State vehicular recreation area by State Parks

OTHER LANDS SAVED BY WCB AND NOT COUNTED IN ABOVE TOTALS : 82 acres at Morro Bay and Dunes, 42 acres at Montana de Oro, 395 acres at the Irish Hills, 106 acres at Santa Rosa Creek, 205 acres at Bayview, 17.8 acres at Los Osos dunes/wetlands and the 20.75 acre Mid-State Bank donation

Los Osos Dunes

Morro Dunes

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INYO AND MONO COUNTIES:

BY WCB:

Inyo County: 218 acres bought at Cartago Springs

Mono County: 7520.2 acres saved: 1160 acres bought at Burcham and Wheeler Flat, and through conservation easements, 6350 acres saved at Bridgeport Valley, plus 10.2 acres at Wheeler Ridge.

BRIDGEPORT VALLEY CONSERVATION EASEMENT--BOUGHT 8/22/2002

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SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY SUMMARY:

-Fresno County by WCB: 1424 acres bought at the San Joaquin River, Black Mountain Preserve, Spano, Finch, Glaspey, plus a conservation easement on the 17,000 acre Varian Ranch that is also in Monterey County

-Kern County:

by WCB: 9535 acres bought at Lokern, Canebrake Canyon, Scodie Canyon, Walker Basin, Red Rock Canyon, and Allensworth State Park, plus a 9576 acre conservation easement at Parker Ranch

By State Parks: 442 acres added to Fort Tejon state historic park;

80 acres added to Tomo-Kahni state historic park near Tehachapi. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/090502notice.pdf 9-2002--The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) proposes to purchase lands from willing sellers as an addition to the Tomo-Kahni Project in Kern County. The proposed lands are within a DPR area of acquisition interest north and northeast of the Town of Tehachapi and State Highway 58. These lands are within the traditional homeland of the Nuooah American Indians and are critical for the protection and interpretation of related archeological sites and cultural history. Map of properties: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/090502map.pdf

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/052605.pdf
May 26, 2005 Site Located for State Vehicular Recreation Area
BAKERSFIELD – The City of Bakersfield and the State of California, announced today their partnership to acquire land on behalf of California State Parks Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Division, for the development of a State Vehicular Recreation Area (SVRA). The property is less than 30 minutes drive north from downtown Bakersfield. The City of Bakersfield, on behalf of the State, has obtained an assignable option using grant funds from the Off-Highway Vehicle Trust Fund, to purchase the prospective site, which totals approximately 11,000 acres. (NOTE: PROJECT IS STALLED DUE TO VARIOUS ISSUES)

-Madera County by WCB: 4093.5 acres saved (1345 acres bought, 2748.5 acres saved through conservation easements) at the San Joaquin River, Finegold Creek, Ledger Island, Cobb-Procter-Broadwell, River Vista Partners, Millerton Preserve and the Madera Farmlands Security Perimeter

26.6 acres added by State Parks to Wassama Roundhouse SHP

-Merced County by WCB: 21,616 acres saved (4359 acres bought, 17,256.9 acres saved through conservation easements) at Volta, the Merced grasslands and vernal pools, Merced River/Robinson Ranch

-San Joaquin County by WCB: 3515 acres saved through conservation easements at the Cosumnes River and in the east Delta.

Additions to State Parks: 97 acres added to Carnegie state vehicular recreation area

-Stanislaus County by WCB: 47 acres saved at Basso Bridge, and around 570 acres saved with a conservation easement at the Grasslands (the rest of the 1710 acre saved parcel is in Merced County)

-Tulare County by WCB: 3220 acres saved: 1540 acres at Dillonwood Grove inside Sequoia National Park, the 725 acre Wilderness Ranch, 138 acres at Allensworth State Park, 95 acres at Stone Corral and 722 acres saved with a conservation easement at Tule River/Negus Ranch,

712 acres by State Parks added to Allensworth http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/080202a.pdf%208-2002 - proposed additions to Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park The park is located off State Route 43, approximately seven miles west of the town of Earlimart via County Road J22. The proposal would acquire up to 712 acres of vacant land from willing sellers. The proposed properties are bounded by the park and private lands to the south, the A.T. & S.F. Railroad tracks and State Highway 43 to the east, County Road J22 to the north, and private lands to the west. Funds for the acquisition are currently available. For map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/080102map.pdf

SIERRA NEVADA REGION SUMMARY

-Calaveras County by WCB: 3009 acres saved through a conservation easement at Eagle Ridge

-El Dorado County by WCB: over 2400 acres saved: 1335 acres bought at the South Fork American River, Pine Hill, Ponderosa 50, and Leek Springs Valley, plus 1178 acres saved through conservation easements at Upper Cosumnes River

Land added to State Parks: 43.75 acres added to Folsom Lake SP; 2324 acres at Z'berg-Sugarpine Point SP; 68 acres at Emerald Bay SP

-Lassen by WCB: 1022 acres saved at Hallelujah Junction, and 278 acres bought and 265 acres saved with a conservation easement at Bass Hill

-Mariposa County by WCB: 6881 acres saved through conservation easements at Long Ranch, Portuguese Ridge and the East Merced vernal pool grasslands

-Modoc County by WCB: 2080 acres bought at Fitzhugh Creek

-Nevada County by WCB: 494 acres bought at Spenceville, and the 3139 acre Truckee River Canyon (1/2 is in Sierra County, ½ is in Nevada County)

-Placer County by WCB: 155 acres bought by Donner Memorial State Park, 1481 acres at Martis Valley (around 640 acres are in Placer Co., and around 840 acres are in Nevada County), and at Big Hill, 320 acres bought and 313 saved with a conservation easement.

2000 acres added by State Parks at Donner Lake http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/072403.pdf 7-2003-The California State Park that pays homage to the Donner Party has now nearly tripled in size with a land acquisition of nearly 2,000 acres. Added to the historic park is a place called Shallenberger Ridge, the scenic backdrop to Donner Lake that is seen by tens of thousands of travelers as they pass Donner Lake along the Interstate 80 corridor.

-Plumas County by WCB: 20,975.5 acres saved, including 275 acres bought at Chilcoot, 20,697 acres saved through a conservation easement at Sierra Valley, and 3.5 acres at Hamilton Branch

-Sierra County by WCB: 3169 acres saved at Hallelujah Junction and 2300 acres in conservation easement in Sierra Valley.

A view of the Sierra Valley and Hallelujah Junction purchases

a closeup of the Martis Valley purchase

-Tuolumne County by WCB: 160 acres bought at Sands Meadow and 333 acres at Andrew Creek

4.19 acres added by State Parks to Railtown 1897 state historic park.

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SACRAMENTO RIVER VALLEY:

-Butte County by WCB: over 20,000 acres saved (5478 acres bought, 15,123 acres saved through conservation easements) at Musty Buck Ridge, Big Chico Creek, Llano Seco, Daugherty Hill, Honcut Creek, Orne, Hughes Ranch, Cherokee Farms and the Sacramento River

85.3 acres added by State Parks to Bidwell-Sacramento River SP

North Table Mountain Preserve, Butte County

-Colusa County by WCB: 20,497 acres saved (557 acres bought, 19,940 acres saved through conservation easements) at the Sacramento River, Cache Creek, Bear Valley, Traynham Ranch and Eagle Ridge

-Glenn County by WCB: 1084 acres at the Sacramento River and Valley, and a 23,000 acre former Louisiana Pacific timber inholding in Mendocino National Forest known as “Commander South”.

-Sacramento County by WCB: 10,345 acres saved (4819 acres bought and 5526 acres saved through conservation easements) at the Cosumnes River, the east county hills, and the Sacramento Prairie vernal pools

1913 acres added by SP—east of Sacramento http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/082102.pdf 8-2002-Because of its location 20 miles east of downtown Sacramento and its proximity to a burgeoning suburban area, the 836-acre Prairie City SVRA is destined to become the model for future urban OHV parks across the U.S. In addition to the BMX facilities, the State Park eventually will provide a mix of both motorized and non-motorized forms of off-road recreation, world-class motocross tracks, a skateboard park, outdoor rock climbing wall and mountain bike trails.

31 acres by SP--Lake Natoma, Sacramento County http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/022003.pdf 2-2003- at the corner of Twin Lakes Ave. and Snipes Blvd. in Orangevale, Snipes-Pershing Ravine, a 31-acre parcel of land overlooking Lake Natoma is a significant acquisition for State Parks and it is considered one of the crown jewels of the American River Parkway. The acquisition protects and preserves significant open space containing watershed and oak woodland habitat in the Orangevale area.

Under 1 acre each was added by State Parks to Heilbron Mansion SP and to Old Sacramento SHP.

-Shasta County by WCB: over 16,551 acres saved: 348 acres at Ball’s Ferry, 20 acres at lower Clear Creek, and saved with conservation easements, 2007 acres at the Lassen Foothills, 4600 acres at the McCloud River forest, 6640 acres at Cow Creek and 1467 acres at Fall River Valley (along with 1469 acres bought),

27.8 acres by SP-Shasta County--Ahjumawi Lava Springs http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/080202.pdf 8-2002- proposed acquisition of 27.8 acres of land for Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park in northeastern Shasta County. The proposal would acquire land located at the north end of Fall River Valley connected to the west side of Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. Acquisition of the property will allow administrative and potential public access by land to Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. This has been a goal of the department since the state first acquired the Horr Ranch in 1975. The landscape is gently sloped, rocky land with sparse mixed hardwood-conifer forest with some wetland and grassland. Lava Creek Lodge, a general partnership, owns the property. Once acquired by California State Parks, the property would become part of Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park. For map http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/Lava%20Ck%20map.pdf

-Sutter County by WCB: 140 acres saved (10 acres bought at Feather River and 130 acres saved through conservation easement at Rudd Farms)

Sutter Buttes

1785 acres by SP-- Sutter Buttes/Peace Valley Acquisition – Parks comm.. minutes 8-22-03 and 2-27-04; The mountains known as the Sutter Buttes in the northern Sacramento Valley are the world’s smallest mountain range and an extremely significant California natural feature that includes the heart of the Pacific Flyway. This place has been targetted as a potential state park as early as 1902 or 1903.

-Tehama County by WCB: 34,774 acres saved through conservation easements at Lassen Foothills and 7.5 acres at Thomes Creek

LASSEN FOOTHILLS

-Yolo County by WCB: 34,899 acres: 21,872 acres including the Bobcat Ranch at the Blueridge-Berryessa Natural Area (6983 acres of this total is a conservation easement); and 13,027 acres bought at the Yolo Bypass wetlands complex

-Yuba County by WCB: 4061.31 acres bought or saved through a conservation easement at Daugherty Hill and 6 acres bought at the Feather River

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SAN BENITO COUNTY:

-San Benito County by WCB: around 7000 acres of Gabilan Ranch saved through conservation easement

3260 acres by State Parks at Hollister Hills http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/ohv0319nr.pdf The Commissioners, in a 5 -1 vote with one abstention, amended the Hollister Hills SVRA General Plan for the development of two parcels, the 1,570-acre Hudner property, and the 1,690-acre Renz properties and their subsequent development for off-highway vehicle use. Commissioners also approved a final Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on the project, required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Commissioners also approved the realignment of the 500-foot buffer between the SVRA and adjoining properties where no OHV recreation may take place. The vote was 6-1 with Commissioner Galvan voting no. While the land acquisitions total 3,260 acres, only about 53 acres are impacted by OHV recreation.

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MONTEREY COUNTY:

BIG SUR/CARMEL COASTLINE:

8 acres by CC-2007• provided $3.5 million to the Big Sur Land Trust for its purchase of two properties totaling about eight acres for the Carmel River Parkway. The properties contain buildings that could be converted to educational centers plus other facilities and sites for visitor services. Long-term plans for the Parkway call for protection and restoration of lands within the river’s ecosystem, development of educational facilities, and installation of a trail network connected to neighboring public lands. (January) 1-18-07 Carmel River Parkway in Monterey County.

7128 acres total saved by WCB and CC. 680 acres by CC-2-27-2003--$12.25 million from the Coastal Conservancy was made available to the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District for purchase of a 680-acre portion of Palo Corona Ranch , known as the “Gateway to Big Sur” just south of Carmel. The purchase will help open thousands of acres of spectacularly scenic land to the public and unite several parklands adjoining the ranch.

289 acres by CC and WCB: 2-22-2001--$5,000,000 to the Trust for Public Land for the first of two phased acquisitions of the Bixby Ocean Ranch in northern Big Sur, Monterey County. The Conservancy approved the transfer of the Bixby Ocean Ranch property from the Trust for Public Land to the United States Forest Service

By CC 4-26-2001--$$400,000 to the Big Sur Land Trust toward acquisition of Notley’s Landing in Big Sur,

By CC 12-5-2001--$963,000 to California State Parks to obtain the property known as Hatton Canyon in Monterey County.

460 acres by CC--5-24-07 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $250,000 to the Trust for Public Land for acquisition of the Rancho Calera property in Big Sur, Monterey County

5-24-07 Closed session to confer with staff negotiators with regard to possible acquisition of interests in real property around the San Clemente Dam on the Carmel River in Monterey County. Also, to disburse up to $500,000 for engineering and technical studies for the San Clemente Dam Removal Project in Monterey County.

1000 acres added by State Parks to Julia Pfeiffer Burns state park

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163 acre conservation easement by CC-2004--contributed $1 million toward the Monterey County Agricultural and Historical Land Conservancy’s purchase of a conservation easement over the Dolan Ranch on Moro Cojo Slough near Castroville. The easement will protect wildlife habitat and provide for restoration of wetlands along the slough while allowing the ranch to continue operation as a working farm. 9-15-04 Moro Cojo Slough.

183 acres by CC-8-14-2003--A $273,000 grant from the Conservancy helped the Elkhorn Slough Foundation acquire a 183-acre portion of the Tottino Ranch along Moro Cojo Slough in the Elkhorn Slough watershed , for protection of wetlands and other sensitive wildlife habitats. The Conservancy also provided $110,000 for environmental education and training programs in the watershed. The grants extend the Conservancy's long history of working with the local community to protect and improve the watershed's environmental, recreational, and agricultural resources

51.26 acres by CC and WCB-4-26-2001--$2,000,000 to the Big Sur Land Trust for the acquisition of the 51.26-acre Granite Rock Dunes property located in the City of Marina, Monterey County.

By CC 12-7-2000—Monterey Window on the Bay project, authorization to disburse up to an additional $1,000,000 to the City of Monterey for the acquisition of a waterfront parcel;

125 acres by CC 5-25-2000--adoption of the Martin Dunes Resource Enhancement Plan and authorization to disburse up to $500,000 to the Big Sur Land Trust for the acquisition of an undivided property interest in a 125-acre parcel located near the mouth of the Salinas River in unincorporated Monterey County.

22.6 acres by CC 1-26-2000-- disburse funds to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for the acquisition of a 22.6-acre parcel located in Moss Landing, Monterey County.

LAND SAVED BY WCB AND NOT COUNTED IN ABOVE TOTALS:

151.5 acres at Elkhorn Slough and 38,905 acres saved through conservation easements in the Diablo Range at Bear Valley, the Varian Ranch and at Gabilan Ranch, and 4330 acres at Dorrance Ranch and 1674 acres at Arroyo Seco on the inland side of Big Sur.

LAND SAVED BY STATE PARKS NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS:

1082 acres added to Point Lobos/Castle Rock state parks

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SANTA CRUZ COUNTY:

Approximately 192 acres by CC--2005• provided the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission with a no-interest loan of $10 million for its acquisition of 32 miles of railroad right-of-way known as the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line. The right-of-way is slated for use as a public pedestrian and bicycle trail and as a segment of the California Coastal Trail. 12-8-05 Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line

94 acres by CC--2005• provided the nonprofit organization Agri-Culture with $2 million for its acquisition of the 94-acre agricultural portion of the Sand Hill Bluff property on the North County coast. Agri-Culture will lease and eventually sell the property as farmland. As part of the transaction, the coastal portions of the property became part of California State Parks. 3-10-05 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $2,000,000 to Agri-Culture toward its acquisition of the 94-acre agricultural portion of the 154-acre Sand Hill Bluff property in northern Santa Cruz County.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/051205.pdf

289 acres by CC and WCB plus 18 acre conservation easement--2004--CC contributed $1,160,000 toward the State’s purchase of the 289-acre Buena Vista property in the Watsonville Slough watershed. The property is home to several rare and endangered animals and plants. 2-19-04-- Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $1,160,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Board for acquisition of the ±289-acre Buena Vista Property in the Watsonville Slough watershed, Santa Cruz County.

2002- by CC-A $3,000,000 grant to the City of Santa Cruz for property purchases and improvements to the Santa Cruz Depot site.

By CC 1-24-2002--$3,000,000 to the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County to acquire portions of LCP Area C in Watsonville. In conjunction with the grant, the Conservancy adopted the Watsonville Coastal Restoration Plan. http://www.landtrustsantacruz.org/

5-27-04 Authorization to amend the August 14, 2003 Conservancy resolution to eliminate one acceptance of an offer to dedicate a public access easement by the County of Santa Cruz from the conditions of the 26th Avenue Stairway construction project.

2-19-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $300,000 to the County of Santa Cruz to conduct site studies and environmental analysis, and to prepare applications to the State Water Resources Control Board for permits to appropriate water from streams on Coast Dairies property in Santa Cruz County for the irrigation of farmland.

By CC 3-22-2001-acceptance of an offer to dedicate a public access easement to and along the shoreline of Antonelli’s Pond in the City of Santa Cruz.

1482 acres by SP--San Lorenzo River http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/032502a.pdf 3-2002- The 1,482 acres of land in Santa Cruz County known as San Lorenzo River Redwoods is adjacent to the south side of Castle Rock State Park in the San Lorenzo River watershed. It is steep, forested land with second- or third-growth redwoods, mixed conifers, and hardwoods. Except for some roads, trails, a power line and a cabin, it is undeveloped. Road access is via State Highway 9, which passes through the property near Waterman Gap. The Sempervirens Fund, a non-profit land conservation organization, now owns all but about 100 acres of the land within this acquisition proposal. Until recently the San Lorenzo Valley Water District held 1,340 acres of this land. For map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/032502map.pdf

LAND SAVED BY BY WCB AND NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS:

167 acres at Glenwood Meadows, 8 acres at Soquel Forest and 55 acres at Larkin Valley

LAND SAVED BY STATE PARKS THAT IS NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS:

1 acre at Rancho San Andreas; .14 acres added to Seacliff state beach; 90 acres added to Wilder Ranch state park; 1310 acres added to Castle Rock state beach (may overlap with additions counted in Monterey County)

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SAN MATEO COUNTY:

ON THE PACIFIC COAST:

2.2 acres by CC--2005• provided the City of Pacifica with $250,000 for its purchase of a 2.2-acre blufftop property on Esplanade Drive for open space, natural resource protection, and public access, plus $350,000 to design and construct beach and blufftop trails and a park on a nearby property. 9-8-05 disburse up to $250,000 to the City of Pacifica for acquisition of a 2.17-acre blufftop property for open space, natural resource protection and public access at 400 Esplanade Drive, Pacifica, in San Mateo County.

267 acres by CC-2005• contributed $2.2 million toward the Peninsula Open Space Trust’s costs of acquiring the San Gregorio Farms property south of Half Moon Bay. The property contains habitat for several threatened and endangered species and may one day become part of the State Parks system. 9-25-2001—CC gave $1,500,000 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust toward the acquisition of the San Gregorio Farms property in coastal San Mateo County. 5-18-05 disburse up to $2,225,000 ($2,000,000 reimbursable) to the Peninsula Open Space Trust towards its costs of acquiring the San Gregorio Farms Property in San Mateo County.

119 acres by CC -2004-- the Conservancy provided the Peninsula Open Space Trust with $1 million for its purchase of 119 acres on Pillar Point Bluff just west of the Half Moon Bay Airport. The purchase protects sensitive wildlife habitat and will allow an extension of the California Coastal Trail. 6-30-04 disburse up to $1,085,000 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) towards its acquisition of the Strickler Property at Pillar Point Bluff, and to fund the planning and design of a 0.7-mile portion of the Coastal Trail in San Mateo County.

1293 acres by CC 8-14-03-- disburse up to $6,000,000 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust to acquire the 1,293-acre Wool Ranch, a portion of the 3,681-acre Driscoll Ranch, San Mateo County.

1719 acres bought and 1411 saved with a conservation easement by CC and WCB: 8-14-2003- disburse up to $5,000,000 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) towards its acquisition of the Bolsa Point Ranches in San Mateo County.

4262 acres by CC and WCB--2-27-2003--disburse up to $9,000,000 to the Peninsula Open Space Trust toward its acquisition of 4,262 acres of open space land known as the Rancho Corral de Tierra for future inclusion in Golden Gate National Recreation District.

-2003--The Conservancy provided $20 million to support Peninsula Open Space Trust acquisitions totaling over 8,000 acres of parklands, wildlife habitat, and farmland. The acquired properties include 4262 acre Rancho Corral de Tierra near El Granada, the Driscoll Ranch near La Honda, and the Bolsa Point ranches near the Pigeon Point Lighthouse. The Conservancy and POST are long-time partners in land protection.

15 acres by CC-2-27-2003--The Conservancy provided a big boost to longstanding local efforts to protect the 15-acre Mirada Surf property, near Half Moon Bay, with a $1.5 million grant for its acquisition by San Mateo County. Plans are underway to develop picnic areas and beach access facilities, including a new link in the Coastal Trail.

-2002-The Conservancy approved a disposition plan for sale of the Cascade Ranch Farm in San Mateo County to the farm’s agricultural tenant for its appraised fair market value, with an alternate plan for sale of the farm at public auction, and adopted a CEQA Negative Declaration for the farm’s sale.

80 acres by CC-4-25-2002--$360,000 to Save-the-Redwoods League for the acquisition of 80 acres owned by the University of California in the Butano Creek watershed in San Mateo County.

1.5 acres by CC- 6-25-2001--$$1,100,000 to the Pacifica Land Trust for acquisition of approximately 1.5 acres known as the Mahoney Property at the mouth of San Pedro Creek in the City of Pacifica, San Mateo County, for habitat restoration.

110 acres by CC-12-7-2000-- $1 million for Mori Point in Pacifica. 5-27-04 Authorization to disburse up to $74,000 to the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to determine the alignment of the Coastal Trail on property recently acquired by the National Park Service at Mori Point in Pacifica, San Mateo County, and to prepare plans and construction documents necessary for development of the trail.

By CC 12-7-2000-- accept $2,000,000 in federal Transportation Enhancement Activities (“TEA”) Program grant funds, and to disburse up to $3,000,000 in Coastal Conservancy funds to the American Land Conservancy for acquisition of conservation and trail easements on Purisima Farms in San Mateo County.

ON SAN FRANCISCO BAY:

2 acres by CC-2004--provided $62,000 for the City of Brisbane’s purchase of two properties on the scenic upper slopes of San Bruno Mountain. The properties are home to endangered butterflies and are now part of a 23-acre natural area being restored by the city and its partners. 5-27-04 Authorization to disburse up to $61,500 to the City of Brisbane to acquire two parcels within Brisbane Acres, an unrecorded subdivision located on the upper slopes of San Bruno Mountain in the City of Brisbane.

By CC 6-25-2001--$65,000 to the City of Brisbane to acquire three parcels of Brisbane Acres, on the upper slopes of San Bruno Mountain in the City of Brisbane, for habitat preservation.

676 acres by CC-10-31-2002--$2,050,000 grant to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to acquire 676 acres from the Peninsula Open Space Trust and add them to the Mills Creek Open Space Preserve in San Mateo County.

48 more acres saved by WCB at San Bruno Mountain park

ADDITIONAL LANDS SAVED BY STATE PARKS AND NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS:

63.5 acres saved at Pigeon Point Lighthouse Station; 35 acres added to Big Basin Redwoods SP; 511 acres added to Butano SP

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SANTA CLARA COUNTY:

238 acres by CC-2006• provided $500,000 to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for its acquisition of the historic 238-acre Stevens Canyon Ranch for addition to the Saratoga Gap Open Space Preserve. The ranch lies at the heart of more than 6,700 acres of publicly owned natural lands in the upper Stevens Creek watershed and provides excellent opportunities for visitors to access regional trails. (March 2) 3-2-06 --disburse up to $500,000 to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for the acquisition of the 238-acre Stevens Canyon Ranch, in Santa Clara County.

13 acres by CC-2005• provided Palo Alto with $1 million for its purchase of the 13-acre Arastradero Preserve Gateway Parcel for the protection and restoration of wildlife habitat and to improve public access within the Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve and adjacent Foothills Park. 5-18-05 --disburse up to $1,000,000 to the City of Palo Alto for the acquisition of the 13 acre Arastradero Preserve Gateway Parcel for the protection and restoration of natural resources and to enhance public access within the Enid Pearson-Arastradero Preserve and adjacent Foothills Park.

198 acres by CC-4-24-2003--$1.8 million contribution from the Conservancy will enable the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District to add 198 acres to the Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Reserve in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The addition contains 100-year-old redwood forests and will become a site for miles of new trails only 20 minutes by car from downtown San Jose. Deal also includes 30 acres of timber harvest rights. Partially located in Santa Cruz County.

67 acres by CC 10-31-2002--A $100,000 grant to the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority, plus use of $150,000 in Conservancy funds previously granted to the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council, for the Authority's acquisition of the Aoki property in Santa Clara County.

By CC 2-22-2001--$2,000,000 to The Nature Conservancy for the acquisition of a conservation easement over Isabel Valley Ranch in Santa Clara County.

1388 acre conservation easement, by CC 3-22-2001--$$400,000 to The Nature Conservancy for the purchase of a conservation easement over the Silacci Ranch in Santa Clara County.

534 acres by CC 1-26-2000--disburse $500,000 to (1) the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority to acquire the 534 acre Kirk Property adjacent to Alum Rock Park in the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County; and (2) the Land Trust of Santa Clara County for fundraising and administration to complete the acquisition. See http://www.openspaceauthority.org/

6-29-06 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $50,000 to the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority to plan a segment of the San Francisco Bay Area Ridge Trail in the Milpitas-Berryessa area connecting Santa Clara County Open Space Authority lands to City of San Jose parklands in northeastern Santa Clara County.

136.5 acres by SP--Cottle Ranch http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/102803a.pdf 10-2003-In a remarkable commitment to preserve the County’s rich agricultural history, Walter Cottle Lester of the Cottle Ranch family has entered into an agreement with the County of Santa Clara and California State Parks to enable them to preserve and develop 290 acres of land into a historic agricultural park. Lester gifted the County with 153.3 acres and, in a separate transaction, sold State Parks 136.5 acres at a significant discount. The County of Santa Clara will develop and manage the entire property as the Martial Cottle Park. The park’s name is significant because Martial Cottle, Mr. Lester’s grandfather, originally settled the property in the 1860s. Under the State Parks agreement with Lester, the State will pay $5 million to acquire the former estate property of Edith E. Lester, Walter Lester’s sister, who is deceased

-2695 acres added to Henry Coe State Park

LAND SAVED BY THE WCB (NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS): 805 acres at Bear Creek redwoods, 4405 acres at Canada de Los Osos and 2899 acres at San Antonio Valley located near Mount Hamilton/Henry Coe State Park

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ALAMEDA COUNTY:

16,500 acres Cargill co. salt ponds purchased by WCB; (also in Napa, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties); see http://southbayrestoration.org/Maps.html for more info

-2007• CC granted $35,000 to the nonprofit organization Urban Ecology to plan and prepare engineering drawings for a 12-mile section between Oakland and Hayward of the East Bay Greenway, a proposed public access and recreational corridor running along the BART right-of-way. The grant follows $115,000 provided by the Conservancy for the project in 2006. Plans call for the Greenway eventually to run for 30 miles between Oakland and Fremont. (March)

106 acres by CC-2005• granted $400,000 to the East Bay Regional Park District for its purchase of 106 acres for addition to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park. The purchase protects scenic views and wildlife habitat and sets the stage for greatly improved access to parklands in the Pleasanton/Dublin area. 9-8-05 disburse up to $400,000 to the East Bay Regional Park District for acquisition of 3 parcels adjacent to Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park in Alameda County.

16 acres by CC-6-4-2003--The Conservancy contributed $2 million to the East Bay Regional Park District’s purchase of a 16-acre property in Berkeley for addition to the newly formed Eastshore State Park, which stretches along San Francisco Bay from Oakland to Richmond. Instead of being developed for commercial uses, the property will greatly benefit the park’s critical need for recreational land.

-2002—CC granted $20,000 to Ecocity Builders to assess the feasibility of daylighting Strawberry Creek between downtown Berkeley and San Francisco Bay

Alameda and Contra Costa 6-27-2002—CC granted $438,750 to the East Bay Regional Park District for acquisition of the Mueller property adjacent to Las Trampas Regional Preserve in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties.

By CC 5-25-2000-- disburse up to $415,000 to the Port of Oakland to acquire a waterfront parcel known as the Cryer property, and to disburse up to $330,000 to the Spanish Speaking Unity Council to complete construction drawings for Phase 1 of Union Point Park in the City of Oakland.

320 acres by CC 12-7-2000-- disburse up to $300,000 to the East Bay Regional Park District for acquisition of 320 acres of the Bosley/Weaver property (Phase 3), Brushy Peak Preserve, Alameda County.

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CONTRA COSTA COUNTY:

MT. DIABLO:

208 acres by CC-2006• provided Save Mount Diablo with $900,000 for its acquisition of a 208-acre portion of the historic Mangini Ranch on the southern boundary of Concord. The property contains a variety of wildlife habitats and offers an opportunity to extend trails from the neighboring Lime Ridge Open Space. Mangini Ranch in Contra Costa County.

702 acres by CC and WCB-2005• granted $1.1 million to the Muir Heritage Land Trust for its purchase and restoration of the 702-acre Fernandez Ranch, plus $58,000 to the Bay Area Ridge Trail Council to plan for trails on the property. The purchase protects several types of natural lands and offers significant recreational opportunities that include a 2½-mile route for the Ridge Trail. Fernandez Ranch

673 acres by CC-2004--contributed $2.2-million to the East Bay Regional Park District’s purchase of the 673-acre Gleason Ranch for addition to Las Trampas Regional Reserve. The purchase protected valuable wildlife habitat and a highly scenic ridgeline while expanding hiking and biking opportunities in the reserve. Gleason property.

158 acres and 36 acre conservation easement by CC and WCB-2003--The Conservancy contributed $500,000 to the purchase of 158 acres on Franklin Ridge near Briones Regional Park, and $250,000 for a conservation easement to protect 36 acres near the Northgate Road entrance to Mt. Diablo State Park. The grants continued the Conservancy’s long-term partnerships with private organizations and public agencies to protect the wildlife habitat and scenic open space of central Contra Costa County and to open more of these lands to the public. Dutra Ranch in Contra Costa County.

3870 acres by CC, SP and WCB- Cowell Ranch-- 5-23-2002--$2,100,000 to the Trust for Public Land to increase the Conservancy's August 2, 2001, authorization for the acquisition of approximately 3,870-acres of the Cowell Ranch property in eastern Contra Costa County. 8-2--2001--$$3,000,000 to the Trust for Public Land toward the acquisition of an approximately 3,870-acre portion of the Cowell Ranch property in eastern Contra Costa County. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/061002notice.pdf
Project investigation: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/061002notice2.pdf
Map of land: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/cowell6-4-02.pdf

The land is part of a large holding known as Cowell Ranch.. Cowell Ranch is owned by S. H. Cowell Foundation, a foundation for charitable giving with headquarters in San Francisco. DPR, State Coastal Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Board, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and Caltrans will be the proposal’s major funding partners. Trust for Public Land, a national non-profit land conservation organization, is securing the property. Once acquired by DPR, the property would become part of the State Park System.

76 acres by CC-12-5-2001--$590,000 to Save Mount Diablo for acquisition of the 76-acre Wright Ranch in Contra Costa County.

435 acres by CC 1-26-2000- disburse $400,000 to Save Mount Diablo in connection with the acquisition of the 435-acre Silva Ranch on Mount Diablo, Contra Costa County.

By CC 9-28-2000-- disburse up to $296,250 to the East Bay Regional Park District for acquisition of the third phase of the Clayton Ranch property in Contra Costa County. Total park size is around 600 acres. http://www.ebparks.org/parks

80 acres by CC 1-26-2000- disburse funds to the Muir Heritage Land Trust to acquire the 80 acre Gustin Property at Franklin Ridge, Contra Costa County. http://www.muirheritagelandtrust.org/

3427 acres added to Mount Diablo State Park by Parks Dept.

BAYSIDE:

By CC 2-27-2003- Authorization to disburse up to $100,000 to the Muir Heritage Land Trust to study the feasibility of establishing an open space area on the San Pablo Peninsula in Richmond, Contra Costa County.

5.59 acres by CC-10-31-2002--A $350,000 grant and a $350,000 no-interest loan to the Trust for Public Land for the acquisition of a 5.59-acre property in Richmond, Contra Costa County, to be used as the site for the Eco Village Farm Center.

1.64 acres by CC-9-26-2002--$350,000 to the City of El Cerrito for the acquisition of a 1.64-acre property along Baxter Creek in Contra Costa County.

WETLANDS:

1200 acres by CC and CALFED Program-2004--continued its work with the City of Oakley, other State agencies, and the general public on plans for restoring natural lands and creating a 55-acre park on the 1,200-acre Dutch Slough property purchased by the State in 2003. Improvements to the site will greatly benefit fish and wildlife while creating much-needed recreational opportunities on the shore of the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta. –On 10-3102002, the Conservancy authorized Acceptance of a grant from the CALFED Bay Delta Program of up to $25,050,000 for acquisition and planning of the Dutch Slough Restoration Project in Contra Costa County; disbursement of $23,000,000 of the CALFED grant funds and up to $5,000,000 of Conservancy funds to the Department of Water Resources to acquire the Dutch Slough property; Dutch Slough Project in Contra Costa County. Also see http://www.dutchslough.org/

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SOLANO COUNTY:

3900 acres by CC-3-22-2001--$ $2,000,000 to the Solano County Farmlands and Open Space Foundation for acquisition of portions of the King and Swett Ranches in Solano County.

-2005• provided the Solano Land Trust with $50,000 to plan for a two-mile segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail and four miles of community connector trails on the Vallejo Swett Ranch. The Conservancy was earlier a major contributor to the Land Trust’s acquisition of the 3,900-acre King and Swett ranches near Vallejo, Fairfield, and Benicia.

2300 acres by CC-2004--provided the Solano Land Trust with $775,000 to purchase over 2,300 acres of the Eastern and Vallejo Swett Ranches, completing a long-term effort to preserve over 3,800 acres bounded by Vallejo, Fairfield, and Benicia. The highly scenic property contains valuable wildlife habitat and offers significant recreational opportunities, including major additions to the Bay Area Ridge Trail.

1408 acres by CC--5-27-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $575,000 to the Solano Land Trust toward the acquisition of the 1408-acre Eastern Swett Ranch in Solano County. 12-2-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $200,000 to the Solano Land Trust toward its acquisition of the 905-acre Vallejo Swett Ranch in Solano County, in connection with acquisition of the adjacent Eastern Swett Ranch, as authorized by the Conservancy on May 27, 2004 and for possible extension of the Bay Area Ridge Trail. 5-18-05 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $50,000 to the Solano Land Trust to plan a two-mile segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail and approximately four miles of community connector trails on the Vallejo Swett Ranch in Solano County.

668 acres by CC-2004--contributed $300,000 to the State’s purchase of the 668-acre Meins Landing property in Suisun Marsh. The property offers excellent opportunities to restore wetlands and other wildlife habitat. 5-27-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $300,000 to the California Department of Water Resources for the acquisition of the 668-acre Meins Landing property in the Suisun Marsh in Solano County, California.

367 acres by CC-8-2-2001--$$701,500 to the Solano County Farmlands and Open Space Foundation to acquire a conservation easement over an approximately 367-acre portion of the Hoskins Ranch in northwestern Solano County and for related transaction costs, and $15,000 to conduct a baseline survey of the property.

LAND SAVED BY WCB (NOT COUNTED ABOVE):

3459 acres at the Jepson Prairie, 1742 acres at Sky Valley/Cordelia Hills and 535 acres saved through conservation easements at Pleasant Valley

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NAPA COUNTY:

BLUERIDGE/BERRYESSA NATURAL AREA:

Connecting Open Space Corridor from Mendocino National Forest to Bay Area Open Spaces
http://www.brbna.org/

Map of Recent Parks Purchases

59 acres by CC-2006• provided $46,000 to the University of California for its purchase of 59 acres for addition to Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve above the southeast shores of Lake Berryessa. The acquisition will protect a variety of plant and wildlife habitats and greatly improve public access along the Blue Ridge Loop Trail, the most popular hiking trail in the 785,000-acre Blue Ridge-Berryessa Natural Area. (June 29) 6-29-06 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $46,000 to the Regents of the University of California for the acquisition of approximately 59 acres for inclusion in the Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, above the southeast shores of Lake Berryessa in Napa and Solano Counties.

3045 acres by CC-2006• contributed $2 million toward the Land Trust of Napa County’s purchase of the 3,000-acre Wildlake Ranch in the hills east of the Napa Valley near Angwin. The ranch is a highly scenic and biologically rich property that stretches nearly four miles north-to-south and two miles east-to-west. It contains large areas of unspoiled natural land, abundant wildlife, and several potential sites for public trails. (April 27) 4-27-06 --the 3,045-acre Wildlake Ranch in Napa County.

75 acres by CC--3-25-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $150,000 to the University of California Natural Reserve System to acquire the Aikawa and Escobido Properties, 40 and 35 acres respectively, in Napa County for addition of 75 acres to the McLaughlin Reserve north of Lake Berryessa. The purchase allowed UC to consolidate reserve properties in the area used for teaching and research programs related to natural lands management.

12,575 acres by CC and WCB-12/2004--contributed $1.5 million toward the State’s purchase of the 12,575-acre Lauffs Ranch (also known as the Napa Ranch) on the Yolo County line north of Lake Berryessa, following a ten-year effort -by conservation organizations. The purchase will protect a variety of wildlife habitats and offers opportunities for public recreation. 12-2-04 Lauff Ranch in Napa County.

339 acres by CC-2-22-2001-- The Conservancy authorized (1) redirection of $215,500 in funds previously authorized for Quail Ridge Reserve Phase I, and disbursement of an additional $52,892 to the Land Trust of Napa County for acquisition of five sites totaling 339 acres on the Quail Ridge peninsula of Napa County; and (2) disbursement of $22,500 to the University of California Natural Reserve System for a public environmental education program.

By CC 1-26-2000-- disburse funds to the Napa County Land Trust for acquisition of one site within the Quail Ridge Reserve in Napa County, and to the Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy to enable a change in the use of another site adjacent to the Reserve by eliminating the acquisition debt. http://www.napalandtrust.org/

1-18-07 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $150,000 to Berryessa Trails and Conservation to design approximately 135 miles of the proposed Lake Berryessa Shoreline Trail in the Lake District of eastern Napa County.

Napa County Land Trust 2007 Map of Preserved Lands

Map of Napa County Wetlands Acquired in 2003 Cargill Salt Ponds Deal

NAPA RIVER/WETLANDS:

-2007• made $187,000 available for the development of design documents and permit applications for restoration of five ponds totaling 1,870 acres in the Napa River Salt Marsh. This will be the second phase in the restoration of the 10,000-acre marshlands purchased by the State in 1994. (March)

242 acres by CC and WCB-2004--provided $280,000 to support the efforts of landowners to restore fish habitat and reduce erosion along a 4½-mile length of the Napa River near Rutherford. The Conservancy also contributed $160,000 for the State’s purchase of 242 acres along the river south of the Highway 29 bridge, protecting this scenic entrance to the Napa Valley and offering a tremendous opportunity for marsh restoration. 2-19-04 disburse up to $160,000 to the California Wildlife Conservation Board for the acquisition of the 242-acre Stanly Ranch Wetlands Property along the Napa River in Napa County

-2002--The Conservancy modified its June 22, 2000, authorization to the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for acquisition of real property within the Napa River Enhancement Plan area, to substitute parcels.

417 acres by CC 6-22-2000-- disburse up to $1,683,000 to the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District for acquisition of one or more of six parcels within the Napa River Enhancement Plan area for purposes of wetland enhancement and flood reduction.

335 acres at Napa Marsh, and 242 acres bought and a 17 acre conservation easement by WCB along the Napa River

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160 acre conservation easement by CC 1-23-2003--disburse an amount not to exceed $100,000 to Napa County Land Trust to acquire an agricultural conservation easement on 160 acres of the Creston Station Ranch in Napa County.

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MARIN COUNTY:

ON THE PACIFIC COAST:

178 acre conservation easement by CC---2006• provided the Marin Agricultural Land Trust with $500,000 toward its acquisition of an agricultural conservation easement over 178 acres of the Tomales Farm and Dairy next to the village of Tomales. The easement will prevent the property’s subdivision and enable its owners to return its use to agriculture as part of a dairy operation. (October 5) 10-5-06 Tomales Farm and Dairy in the town of Tomales, west Marin County.

1125 acre conservation easement by CC-2005• continued its longstanding support for the Marin Agricultural Land Trust with a contribution of $450,000 for MALT’s purchase of an agricultural conservation easement on the 1,125-acre Pozzi Ranch on Tomales Bay. The easement will permanently protect the ranch’s scenic and natural resources while allowing its continued operation as a working farm. The Conservancy previously awarded $1 million for this easement, and over the last 20 years has provided MALT with over $6 million to protect 8,200 acres of farmland. Pozzi Ranch in the Walker Creek watershed in west Marin County. Pozzi Ranch

714 acre conservation easement by CC-2004-- The easements will permanently protect the ranch’s scenic and natural resource values while allowing their continued operation as working farms. 6-30-04 disburse up to $750,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to acquire an agricultural conservation easement over the 714-acre Giacomini Ranch located on Tomales Bay in Marin County.

-2000-- $600,000 from CC for an addition to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area in Marin County.

3 acres by CC-6-4-2003--The Coastal Conservancy contributed $150,000 to the National Parks Service for its acquisition of the three-acre Whitton property near Marshall on the east shore of Tomales Bay. The purchase will protect the property’s scenic open space and wildlife habitat and allow extension of the Coastal Trail northward from Millerton Point State Park.

308 acres by CC-12-4-2002--$350,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to acquire a conservation easement over the 308-acre the Zimmerman Ranch on Tomales Bay in western Marin County.

By CC 9-25-2001--$$395,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to acquire a conservation easement over the Ielmorini/ Moody Dairy property in western Marin County.

172.5 acres added by State Parks, CC and WCB at Tomales Bay. 69.67 acres by SP at Tomales Bay, 11-2001--The land is located on the east side of Tomales Bay between Marshall and Point Reyes Station. Two separate properties are included in the proposal: Marconi Cove, 6.45 acres of shoreline property just south of the Marconi Conference Center; and the Varlow property, 91.12 acres of ranch land bordering the Millerton Point area of Tomales Bay State Park. Mr. Varlow intends to present his property as a gift to State Parks through the California State Parks Foundation http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/042302notice.pdf
4-2002- The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will hold a public
hearing to discuss the proposed acquisition of 69.67± acres of open space land in Marin
County. For map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/042302map.pdf
Project investigation: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/042302investigation.pdf
97.57 acres by SP at Tomales Bay http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110201a.pdf
Map of tomales bay parcel http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110201amap.pdf
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110201map.pdf
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/110201bmap.pdf

ON THE BAYSIDE:

18 acres from Navy to CC-2007• accepted, at no cost, an 18-acre property from the Navy for inclusion in the Hamilton Wetlands restoration project at the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato. The wetlands adjoin the Conservancy’s Bel Marin Keys property, and their combined restoration will result in over 2,500 acres of high-quality tidal marsh and seasonal wetlands habitats for wildlife. The Conservancy and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are the principal partners in the restoration. 3-8-07 --the Hamilton Wetland Restoration Project, Marin County.

630 acres from Army to CC-8-14-2003--The U.S. Army transferred 630 acres at the former Hamilton Army Airfield in Novato to the Conservancy for restoration of the site’s former wetlands. The Conservancy is leading the effort to restore about 2,500 acres of wetlands at the former airfield and neighboring sites.

2.5 acres by CC-4-24-2003--A $2.2 million Conservancy grant enabled the City of Sausalito to purchase a 2.5-acre addition to Dunphy Park , more than doubling its size . The acquisition connects the park to a segment of the San Francisco Bay Trail that is the most heavily used bicycle and pedestrian trail in Marin County. The acquired property had been the only privately owned, undeveloped land remaining on the Sausalito waterfront.

355 acres bought and 290 acres saved with a conservation easement by CC 1-24-2002--$5,750,000 to the Marin Audubon Society to acquire the Bahia property in the City of Novato, Marin County.

By CC 6-25-2001--$$8,444,000 to the Marin Audubon Society for land acquisition and related planning and design for the restoration of wetlands on the Bel Marin Keys property in Marin County.

By CC 9-28-2000—$16 million for purchase of the Bel Marin Keys property in Novato.

By CC 12-5-2001--$100,000 to the Marin Audubon Society, and redirection of $202,000 previously granted to the Marin Open Space District for the Rush Creek Enhancement Plan, for the acquisition of the Simmons Slough property in Marin County.

-2000-- CC gave $340,000 to expand Deer Island Preserve in Marin County,

84 acres by CC 10-26-2000-- disburse up to $340,000 to the Marin Audubon Society for acquisition of the Atherton Avenue property in Novato, Marin County. http://www.marinaudubon.org/

INLAND:

870 acre conservation easement by CC 8-14-2003--The Conservancy contributed $585,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to assist in its purchase of a conservation easement over the 870-acre Grossi Ranch just west of Novato near Stafford Lake. The easement will allow continued agricultural use of the property while protecting scenic open space and wildlife habitat.

1310 acre conservation easement by CC 4-25-2002--$905,000 to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to acquire a conservation easement over 1,310 acres that make up the Barboni Ranch in the Hick’s Valley, about seven miles from Petaluma and Novato.

By CC 1-26-2000-- disburse funds to the Marin County Open Space District toward the purchase of the Keig property in Marin County.

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SONOMA COUNTY:

ON THE PACIFIC OCEAN:

-2007• granted $23,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust to develop a conservation plan for a nine-square-mile area north of Cazadero known as the Cedars and for costs to negotiate the possible purchase of a 520-acre property within the area. The Cedars contains a unique landscape characterized by large expanses of serpentine rock that supports an unusual variety of plants and wildlife. In preparing the plan, the Land Trust will consult with conservation organizations, scientists, and local landowners. (March) 3-8-07 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $23,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust to develop a conservation plan for “the Cedars” including research, planning, and landowner outreach, and negotiation for the possible acquisition of the 520-acre “Raiche-McCrory Property” within this 9 square mile area in western Sonoma County.GOOD MAPS

335 acres by SP--Carrington Coastal Ranch
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/021606.pdf
2-2006 The Sonoma Coast State Beach Citizens Advisory Committee and California State Parks will host a meeting to share planning information and solicit public input regarding future public use of the Carrington Coastal Ranch property, at the junction of Highway 1 and Coleman Valley Road, north of Bodega Bay. This 335-acre former ranchland, with spectacular views of the coastline, was purchased by the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District and will be transferred to State Parks for inclusion into Sonoma Coast State Beach. The property is currently open to the public only during guided tours offered by the non-profit group, Landpaths.

3373 acres and 515 acre conservation easement by CC, SP and WCB-2004--contributed $4.2 million toward California State Parks’ purchase of the 3,373-acre Willow Creek property for addition to Sonoma Coast State Beach. The quality of the property’s forests and rivers, along with its potential for recreational uses, made this a high-priority acquisition for the Conservancy for many years. Willow Creek , also see http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/051005.pdf.
5-2005-The Trust for Public Land, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open
Space District, and California State Parks announced today the purchase and permanent public protection of 3,373 acres as a part of Sonoma Coast State Beach. An additional 515 acres are protected through two conservation easements preserving a total of nearly 3,900 acres of the Willow Creek property, just south of the Russian River in Sonoma County. The land being protected through this purchase was formerly owned by Mendocino Redwood Co., LLC. Sonoma Coast State Beach is the third busiest facility within the entire State Parks system. The purchase of the Willow Creek property creates 13,500 acres of protected landscape in western Sonoma County by linking together both public and privately conserved lands that extend from the Pacific Ocean to the coastal hills, including redwood forests and inland grasslands. There are plans to create a 15-mile loop trail through the Willow Creek property that will connect the towns of Occidental and Camp Meeker to the Coastal Trail near Jenner.
The Trust for Public Land (TPL) negotiated the purchase of the Willow Creek property and easements, and MRC agreed to protect the nearly 3,900 acres in this transaction for a cash consideration of $20,785,000. TPL worked together with several agencies to secure funding for this public purchase. The Sonoma Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District contributed $10,225,000, the California Wildlife Conservation Board contributed $4,187,000, the California State Coastal Conservancy contributed $4,187,000, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation contributed $2,186,000. The funds from these state agencies came from voter-approved park bond measures, Propositions 50 and 40. “This purchase protects almost all of the Willow Creek and Freezeout Creek watersheds critical to the health and vitality of the Russian River. There are nearly 3-miles of fish bearing creeks and streams on the property, which offer an excellent opportunity for the successful reintroduction of coho salmon and steelhead trout,” said Al Wright, Executive Director of the California Wildlife Conservation Board.

ON THE BAYSIDE:

1737 acres by CC and WCB-2005• provided $2 million to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District for purchase of the 1,740-acre Tolay Lake Ranch near the cities of Sonoma and Petaluma. The purchase, expected in early 2006, will protect a large area of natural lands and archaeological sites threatened by development and offer significant recreational opportunities. Tolay Lake Ranch, Tolay Lake Ranch in southern Sonoma County.

1679 acres by CC and WCB-2004--provided $525,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust for its purchase of the 1,679-acre North Point Joint Venture property on San Pablo Bay. The purchase will protect and allow restoration of wetlands habitats that are home to a wide variety of wildlife and offers an opportunity to construct a significant addition to the San Francisco Bay Trail. 12-2-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to: 1) accept $989,477 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of the United States Department of Commerce for the acquisition of historic tidelands and watershed lands draining to the San Pablo Bay, 2) disburse up to $500,000 available under the NOAA grant to the Sonoma Land Trust (SLT) to acquire the 1,679-acre North Point Joint Venture property in Sonoma County for wetland restoration, open space preservation, and public access, and 3) disburse up to $25,000 of Conservancy funds to SLT, for acquisition related expenses.

336 acres by CC- 10-31-2002--A $2,000,000 grant to the City of Petaluma to acquire 336 acres along the Petaluma River in Sonoma County; to plan, design, construct, and restore on-site habitat and public access improvements; to design marsh restoration; and to conduct a study and prepare a design for dispersal and treatment of stormwater flows.

3-25-04 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $240,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust to plan for the acquisition and restoration of wetland properties in the San Pablo Bay watershed to implement the Baylands Restoration Program.

INLAND:

960 acres by CC-2004--contributed $1.2 million toward the purchase and management of 960 acres on Bear Mountain, northeast of Santa Rosa, by the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District. The purchase protects valuable fish and wildlife habitat and scenic natural lands and provides an excellent opportunity for public recreation. Bear Mountain property

152 acres by CC-2004--provided $1.25 million for the Open Space District’s purchase of the Montini property on the City of Sonoma’s northern border, preventing the property’s development. An oak-covered hillside on the property serves as a scenic backdrop to the city’s downtown plaza and the entire 152-acre property offers significant recreational opportunities. Montini property

5-18-05 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $110,000 to the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District for trail planning for approximately five miles of a new segment of the Bay Area Ridge Trail on the North Slope of Sonoma Mountain in unincorporated Sonoma County.

28 acres by CC 6-22-2000-- disburse up to $500,000 to LandPaths to acquire the 28 acre Van Alstyne Redwood Grove, located near the town of Occidental, Sonoma County. http://www.landpaths.org/also see http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/090502a.pdf

40 acres by CC 10-26-2000--disburse up to $100,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust for the acquisition of the 40-acre Dewar Property along the Estero Americano in Sonoma County.

600 acres by SP-9-2002-Jack London State Historic Park, a scenic and favorite visitor destination in the heart of California's beautiful wine country, will nearly double in size following the transfer of about 600 acres adjacent to the existing park from the state Department of Developmental Services to California State Parks, officials announced today. The newly acquired land includes golden hills and a mixed forest of oak, madrone, California buckeye, Douglas fir and a giant redwood, referred by some as "the grandmother tree," that is estimated to be between 1,800 and 2,000 years old. The parcel also includes an orchard that remains from an era when the sprawling Sonoma Developmental Center was expected to be self-sufficient and harvest its own crop of apples, pears, apricots and prunes that still grow on the trees today.

ADDITIONAL LAND SAVED BY WCB:
33 acre Pitkin Marsh and 165 acre Van Hoosear conservation easement

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LAKE COUNTY:

269 acres in the Black Forest and at Hart Ranch by WCB, plus a very small portion of the Commander South purchase which is mostly in Glenn County

22 acres by SP-Clearlake
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/nr082001a.pdf
8-2001- proposal by the California Department of Parks and Recreation to acquire a 22-acre parcel of land to be added to Clear Lake State Park, the undeveloped property is at the corner of Soda Bay Road and Clark Drive sough of Clear Lake in Lake County.

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MENDOCINO COUNTY:

BIG RIVER/SALMON CREEK/GARCIA RIVER:

16,000 acres by CC and WCB-2006, bought from Hawthorne Timber• contributed $7¼ million toward The Conservation Fund’s purchase of two forested properties totaling more than 16,000 acres in the watersheds of Big River and Salmon Creek. TCF will manage the properties as working forests but will harvest timber at sustainable levels for improved forest structure, water quality, and wildlife habitat. (June 29) 6-29-06 Big River and Salmon Creek, Mendocino County

23,780 acres by CC and WCB, bought from Coastal Timberlands--2003--A $10 million award from the Conservancy provided a huge boost to The Conservation Fund's purchase of over 23,500 acres of forested land in the Garcia River watershed . TCF will manage the property to protect important habitat for salmon and steelhead trout and provide an innovative demonstration project for sustainable forestry in the North Coast. 12-11-2003-- Coastal Forestlands, Ltd. properties in the Garcia River watershed. [Additional Letters of Support]

7334 acres by CC, SP and WCB-- 12-5-2001, bought from Hawthorne Timber--$$6,500,000 to the Mendocino Land Trust, including a $1,000,000 grant to the Conservancy from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to acquire the 7,300-acre Big River property in Mendocino County. -2001--$1,532,500 to the Mendocino Land Trust toward acquisition of the Big River Property in Mendocino County. http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/093002.pdf
9-2002 MENDOCINO – A coalition of state, federal and private interests joined forces to acquire 7,334 acres of land along the Big River in Mendocino County – encompassing the longest undeveloped, unprotected estuary in Northern California – to become the newest addition to the California State Park System. The acquisition by State Parks was officially recognized at a dedication ceremony Saturday, Sept. 28, at Big River Beach, east of the Big River Bridge immediately south of the village of Mendocino. The $25.6-million acquisition was accomplished with about $16.1 million in state funds, including money from Proposition 12, the parks bond act approved by voters in 2000; about $7.3 million in private donations secured by Mendocino Land Trust, Inc., a local non-profit organization; and about $2.2 million in federal funds, including $1 million in transportation funds administered by the California Department of Transportation. The seller was the Hawthorne Timber Company.
http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/103001.pdf
Big river map: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/big_river_cons_map.pdf
The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) will hold a hearing to hear comments on its proposal to acquire up to ± 7,400 acres of land in the Big River drainage of Mendocino County. DPR intends to add the land to the State Park System. This acquisition would place the entire 8.3-mile tidal reach of Big River and the forested area around it within public ownership. To the north the property borders on Jackson State Forest, Mendocino Woodlands State Park, and private lands, to the east by lands of Hawthorne Timber Company, to the south by private lands along Comptche-Ukiah Road, and to the west by Mendocino Headlands State Park. Second-growth redwood forest covers most of the upland property, with some wetlands and pockets of hardwoods interspersed. The 8.3-mile long estuary of Big River is scenically and biologically outstanding, and it provides recreation opportunities for hikers, mountain bikers, paddleboaters, wildlife watchers and others. Despite heavy logging, the Big River system supports spawning runs of coho salmon and/or steelhead throughout its basin. Juvenile fish use the extensive estuary as crucial rearing habitat, and a higher-than-average return rate of spawning adult fish in the Big River system has been the result. No one resides on the property, but there is a working aggregate quarry along the river that can be seen from the Highway 1 bridge. Operators of the quarry will cease operation by close of escrow and begin reclaiming the property under conditions of their permits. Two local private land trusts, Trust for Wildland Communities and Mendocino Land Trust, have taken the lead on acquiring the property and have raised substantial funds from private sources. Public agencies including the Coastal Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Board, DPR, and others will also contribute major sums. The Hawthorne Timber Company, a division of Campbell Timberland Management, currently owns the property. Parks Comission Minutes 10-12-2002 --Acquisitions – Several new acquisitions were made possible by Proposition 12 and Proposition 40 bond funds. State Parks recently completed an acquisition of more than 7,000 acres at Big River in Mendocino County. These 7,000 acres encompass the largest undeveloped, unprotected estuary in Northern California. This was a $25.6 million purchase made possible with funds from a variety of sources, including private monies and funds from other departments, and $1 million in federal funds.

Mendocino County Industrial Timberland Holdings

OTHER AREAS:

125 acres by CC-2006• provided $30,000 to the Sonoma Land Trust for pre-acquisition planning, including a beach access and trail study, for the Cuffey's Cove Property just north of Elk. The 125-acre property contains four miles of coastline, several sandy beaches, the site of a former logging town, and a potential route for the Coastal Trail. (November 9)

35 acres by CC-2005• provided Fort Bragg with $4.2 million to acquire 35 acres of waterfront headlands on the former Georgia-Pacific mill site. The Conservancy has been working with the City on plans for restoration and reuse of the site, which G-P closed in 2002. The site is located in the heart of the City and contains about one-third of its total area and nearly all of its coastal waterfront. 5-18-05 disburse up to $4,165,000 to the City of Fort Bragg .

1240 acres by CC and WCB-2005-provided $500,000 to Save-the-Redwoods League to acquire and transfer to California State Parks 1,240 acres for expansion of Montgomery Woods State Reserve and to provide watershed protection and restoration opportunities for two salmon-bearing tributaries of the South Fork Big River. 10-27-05 Montgomery Woods State Reserve

-2005• provided $140,000 for construction of a beach stairway and other access improvements at the Westport Headlands, about 25 miles north of Fort Bragg. The Conservancy had earlier granted the Westport Village Society over $700,000 for the property’s purchase.

2 acres by CC-2004--provided $250,000 for a two-acre addition to the Hearn Gulch Headlands south of Point Arena. The addition will greatly assist public access to the neighboring beach and headlands purchased by the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy in 2001. 6-30-04 Hearn Gulch Headlands

1210 acres and 560 acre conservation easement by CC and WCB-6-4-2003--The Conservancy contributed $4.5 million to the federal Bureau of Land Management's efforts to acquire fee and conservation-easement interests in over 1,700 acres of the Stornetta Brothers Coastal Ranch adjacent to Manchester State Park. The acquisition will protect the natural environment and prime farmland, preserve the scenic corridor along State Highway 1, and expand public access opportunities. The owner will retain a portion of the ranch and have use of almost 600 acres protected by a conservation easement, allowing the ranch's continued operation.

-2003--The Conservancy provided over $800,000 to the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District for projects in the watershed of the Navarro River designed to improve habitat for salmon and steelhead trout, replace invasive plants with native species, and involve private landowners in efforts to restore the river’s habitat.

38 acres by CC-9-28- and 10-31-2002--Disbursement of $325,000 in Conservancy funds and $2,500,000 in Caltrans funds to California State Parks for acquisition of approximately 38 acres known as Glass Beach in the City of Fort Bragg, Mendocino County.

by CC 6-27-2002--$20,000 to the Pacific Forest Trust for an appraisal of a proposed conservation easement on the McMullin Trust property, Mendocino County.

by CC 10-25-2001--$ $274,000 to the City of Fort Bragg for acquisition of two public access easements appurtenant to the City's South Noyo Bluffs property in Mendocino County for public access and open space.

83 acres by CC 10-25-2001-- approval of the Albion Headlands Conceptual Enhancement Plan, and authorization to disburse up to $5,211,000 to the Trust For Public Land to acquire the 83-acre Albion Headlands property in Mendocino County.

6.5 acres by CC-8-2-2001--$180,000 to the Coastal Land Trust for the acquisition of approximately 6.5 acres adjacent to Seaside Beach in Mendocino County. 2-19-04 Seaside Beach and Meadow

15,5 acres by CC-6-25-2001--$$432,000 in Conservancy funds, along with $1,031,000 in Caltrans TEA funds, to the City of Fort Bragg for acquisition of approximately 15.5 acres known as the Noyo Bluffs in Mendocino County, for public access and recreation.

3.5 acres by CC- 6-25-2001--$$320,000 to the Redwood Coast Land Conservancy for acquisition of approximately three and one-half acres known as the Hearn Gulch Beach and Headlands in Mendocino County for public access, recreation, and open space and scenic protection purposes, and for initial planning and management tasks. In conjunction with this award, the Conservancy authorized acceptance of federal Transportation Enhancement Activities (TEA) Program grant funds.

-2001--The Conservancy authorized transfer of its possession and control of the Point Cabrillo Light Station on the Mendocino County coast to the California Department of Parks and Recreation pursuant to a Property Disposition Plan, Memorandum of Understanding and Public Use Guidelines previously approved by the Conservancy.

4 acres by CC-4-26-2001--$$550,000 to the City of Fort Bragg to acquire the four-acre South Noyo Bluffs property near Fort Bragg, Mendocino County, and to develop a management plan for this and the adjacent 19-acre property.

71 acres by CC 5/25 & 8/2/2000-- $1.5 million for the Caspar Headlands near Fort Bragg, http://www.mendocinolandtrust.org/

9 acres by CC 5-25-2000-- disburse up to $727,700 to the Westport Village Society for acquisition and initial management of approximately nine acres known as the Westport Headlands, Mendocino County.

5-18-05 Consideration and possible Conservancy approval of the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park Road Restoration negative declaration, and authorization to disburse up to $655,000 to the Mendocino County Resources Conservation District to complete the decommissioning of 44 miles of abandoned roads in the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park.

2-19-04 Authorization to expand the scope of Conservancy-funded enhancement activities in the Mattole River watershed, in southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino Counties, to include implementation of upslope habitat-improvement projects.

1700 acre Ridgewood Ranch conservation easement bought by WCB

ADDITIONAL LAND SAVED BY STATE PARKS (NOT COUNTED ABOVE):

8 acres added to Jug Handle state reserve; 45 acres added to McKerricher SP; and 210 acres added to Sinkyone Wilderness SP

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HUMBOLDT COUNTY:

ARCATA/EUREKA:

68 acres by CC-2006• provided $921,000 to the City of Arcata for its purchase of 68 acres and restoration of 82 acres of the Arcata Baylands. The funding supports the City’s long-term efforts to protect and restore natural lands on the northern shores of Humboldt Bay. The Conservancy’s funding was available from a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service National Coastal Wetlands Conservation grant. (June 29) 6-29-06 Arcata Baylands, Humboldt County.

175 acres by CC and WCB-2006• provided $358,000 to the City of Arcata for its acquisition of the 175-acre Sunny Brae property on the City’s southeast border. The forested land contains spawning habitat for coho salmon and steelhead and cutthroat trout and offers sites for hiking trails and other recreational opportunities. (March 2) 3-2-06 Sunny Brae property

92 acres by CC-2006• granted $525,000 to the Friends of the Dunes Land Trust and $300,000 to the Manila Community Services District to acquire two properties totaling 92 acres on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay. The oceanfront properties contain a variety of natural habitats and offer opportunities for new public trails. Friends of the Dunes plans to convert an existing residence to a visitors center on one of the properties. (June 29)

54 acres by CC-2005• provided $255,000 to the Northcoast Regional Land Trust for its purchase of the 54-acre Freshwater Farms property between Eureka and Arcata. The Land Trust will restore most of the seasonally flooded property to tidal wetlands for the benefit of salmon, steelhead, and cutthroat trout. 1-27-05 Freshwater Farms

6 acres by CC and WCB-2005• contributed $500,000 toward the Bureau of Land Management’s acquisition of the six-acre Lighthouse Ranch at the south end of Humboldt Bay. The purchase protected a highly scenic property and provides a central hub for visitor services and management of more than 9,000 acres of public lands in the area. 3-10-05 Lighthouse Ranch

322 acres by CC and WCB-2004--provided the City of Arcata with $750,000 for its purchase of the 322-acre Bayview Ranch in the Jacoby Creek/Gannon Slough Enhancement Area on Humboldt Bay. The city and its partners will improve the property’s habitat for fish and other wildlife, while allowing livestock grazing to continue on a portion of the property. 6-30-04 Bayview Ranch

206 acres by CC- 4-25-2002--The Conservancy authorized acceptance of $399,000 from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and disbursement of $841,000 to the Center for Natural Lands Management for acquisition of the 206-acre Buggy Club Properties on Humboldt Bay’s North Spit, for the purposes of restoration and public access.

74 acres by CC-2-22-2001--$$657,500 to the McKinleyville Land Trust for acquisition and initial management of approximately 74 acres known as the Hiller West Property on the North Spit in Humboldt County.

173 acres by CC-1-27-05 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse funds to the Friends of the Dunes Land Trust for the acquisition of interests in the 173-acre Poovey property on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay, and up to $15,000 to prepare a management plan for public access on the property.

38 acres by CC-6-29-06 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse an amount up to $525,000 to the Friends of the Dunes Land Trust to conduct pre-acquisition activities and to acquire a portion of the Stamps property on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay

54 acres by CC-6-29-06 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse up to $300,000 to the Manila Community Services District to acquire the Celestre property on the North Spit of Humboldt Bay.

LOST COAST/MATTOLE WATERSHED:

1500 acre conservation easement by CC-2006• provided the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection with $1 million toward its purchase of a conservation easement on the 1,500-acre Valley View Ranch in Petrolia on the north fork of the Mattole River. The easement will allow grazing and timber production to continue on the property, subject to restrictions that will protect wildlife habitat and allow for sustainable timber harvests. 11-9-2006 Valley View Ranch.

319 acres by CC-4-25-2002--$1,231,250 to the Northcoast Regional Land Trust to acquire 319 acres of forested land, the 3Vs Vista Ridge Grove Corridor property, along Baker Creek in the Mattole River watershed on the Humboldt/Mendocino county border

225 acres by CC-4-26-2001--$$1,008,000 to The Conservation Fund to acquire the 225-acre Lost Coast Ranch on the Humboldt County Coast.

180 acres by CC and WCB-12-5-2001--$962,000 to The Conservation Fund to acquire the180-acre Barri Ranch on the Lost Coast Headlands in Humboldt County.

EEL RIVER:

444 acres by CC and WCB-5-24-07 Consideration and possible authorization to disburse up to $250,000 to the Western Rivers Conservancy to acquire the Ambrosini Dairy Property (Riverside Ranch) along the Salt River and Eel River Estuary in Humboldt County. CC-2007• provided $300,000 to Humboldt County to prepare an enhancement plan for the watershed of the Salt River, a tributary to the Eel River Estuary. Primary goals of the plan are to reduce erosion in the river’s upper watershed, reduce and better manage flooding in the estuary, and improve habitat for trout and salmon throughout the watershed. The plan will consider strategic use of the 450-acre Riverside Ranch, located within the estuary and planned for purchase by the Department of Fish and Game.

1280 acre conservation easement by CC and WCB-2005• provided $1 million for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s acquisition of a conservation easement on the 1,280-acre Price Creek Ranch west of Rio Dell. The easement will protect the property’s natural habitats while allowing sustainable grazing and timber harvesting. Price Creek Ranch Price Creek Ranch Price Creek Ranch GREAT MAPS

3640 acre conservation easement by CC and WCB-6-27-2002--$1,151,750 to The Pacific Forest Trust to help acquire a conservation easement on the 3,640-acre Howe Creek Ranch, in the Eel River Watershed, Humboldt County.

REDWOOD NATIONAL PARK AREA:

108 acres by CC--2004--contributed $627,000 for the Northcoast Regional Land Trust’s purchase of the 108-acre McNamara Ranch in Orick. The purchase will protect and allow for the improvement of wildlife habitat along lower Redwood Creek while preserving grazing land that will be leased to local farmers. -6-30-04 McNamara Ranch

39 acres by CC-7-16-07 Consideration and possible Conservancy authorization to disburse an amount not to exceed $275,000 to the Save-the-Redwoods League for acquisition of the 39-acre Broussard property adjacent to Freshwater Lagoon in Humboldt County

95 acres by SP--2-2002-Map of Barnum trust sale to Humboldt redwoods state park: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/srlhelenb.pdf

160 acres by SP--Map of Humboldt lagoons state park additions: http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/srlcook.pdf

5-12-06 parks comm.—Possible Big Lagoon Casino Compact – The Director called the Commission’s attention to photos of the Big Lagoon area they had before them. She described the property’s location in northern Humboldt County, the area’s vast natural resources and pristine condition, and the extensive investment that had already been made to establish public ownership of land in this area. The Director then explained that a casino development had been proposed by a federally-recognized Indian tribe that owns a 20-acre parcel within the area. Director Coleman noted that the local Indian tribe had for some time wished to construct a casino on the Big Lagoon site, but that they had faced strong opposition from the State of California. The Director explained that this opposition eventually led to a court of law and the conclusion that the state had no legal right to oppose the project. She further explained that during the Davis administration a compact had been developed that would allow the Big Lagoon tribe to instead construct a casino in Barstow, California, where there is no federally-recognized tribe, in conjunction with another compact that had been developed for a second tribe that also wished to build a casino but had no practical location for doing so. Director Coleman noted that the Schwarzenegger administration had continued to develop and support these compacts, which must be ratified by the legislature prior to adoption and implementation. Director Coleman noted that state Senator Wesley Chesbro had introduced legislation to ratify the compacts. She added that the compacts represented a creative solution on the part of both the Schwarzenegger and Davis administrations, and that the effort to adopt the compacts deserved the commissioners’ support. Commissioner Cotchett asked about the current status of the proposed legislation. Director Coleman replied that sufficient votes to the support the bill did not necessarily exist in the Senate, and that the bill had therefore been amended in the Assembly in the hope of gaining support there. Commissioner Cotchett asked if the Big Lagoon tribe would retain rights to the property at Big Lagoon if a casino was built elsewhere. The Director explained that the compact contained an agreement by the tribe to relinquish future development rights at Big Lagoon, though they would retain the existing residences on the site. She added that the tribe has a legal right to construct a hotel and a Class 2 casino on the Big Lagoon site, but that the tribe’s expressed preference is to develop a hotel and a Class 3 casino elsewhere.

ADDITIONAL LANDS SAVED BY STATE PARKS:

167 acres added to Benbow Lake SRA; 36.5 acres added to Grizzly Creek Redwoods SP; 215 acres added to Humboldt Redwoods SP; 1165 acres added to John DeWitt Redwoods SP; 51 acres added to Richardson Grove SP; 281 acres added to Humboldt Lagoons SP (possible overlap with above); 12 acres added to Patrick's Point SP;

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/712/files/052303.pdf
5/5/2003--State Parks Completes Acquisition Of Redway Parcel in Humboldt County
REDWAY, Humboldt County – California State Parks today announced its acquisition of a heavily-wooded, 581-acre parcel overlooking the community of Redway and the south fork of the Eel River. Purchase of the parcel from the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO) adds to State Parks’ existing forested holdings in the area, as well as addresses efforts by local residents to preserve the property. The property is adjacent to State Parks’ John B. Dewitt Redwoods State Reserve, and contains stands of Douglas fir and redwood, including some old growth redwood. The new land will be managed in the same manner as surrounding state property. Steve Horvitz, Eel River Sector Superintendent will have management responsibility. The acquisition was made with the assistance of the Save-the-Redwoods League. The purchase price was $2.5 million, paid for with Proposition 40 parks bond funds. Escrow was closed on the property Thursday.

LANDS SAVED BY WCB (NOT IN ABOVE TOTALS):

5538 acres bought in the Redwoods Park to the Sea corridor in the Mattole watershed, Jacoby Creek/Gannon Slough, Grizzly Creek, Humboldt Bay, Mad River, Eel River, plus another 4757 acres preserved as conservation easements at Carrington/Iaqua Ranch and Jacoby Creek/Gannon Slough

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DEL NORTE COUNTY:

LAKE EARL/PACIFIC SHORES:

-827.32 acres plus an 8.5 acre conservation easement at Lake Earl bought by the WCB

-2004--CC contributed $353,000 toward resolving development conflicts of the Pacific Shores subdivision near Lake Earl. The subdivision, consisting largely of dunes and wetlands, contains over 1,500 undeveloped lots sold in the 1960s. The Conservancy’s funding is being used to identify and negotiate with owners for possible purchase and retirement of the lots, and follows a $150,000 Conservancy grant awarded in 2003.

6-4-2003--The Conservancy contributed $150,000 to resolving development conflicts of the Pacific Shores subdivision near Lake Earl. Pacific Shores is a 1,535-lot subdivision, consisting largely of dunes and wetlands, that was subdivided and sold to individual buyers in the 1960s but never developed. The Conservancy’s funding is being used to identify and negotiate with lot owners for possible purchase and retirement of the lots.

by CC 6-27- 2002--$1,000,000 to the Wildlife Conservation Board to assist with the acquisition of Lake Earl properties in Del Norte County.

5-27-04 Authorization to disburse up to $353,400 to the Smith River Alliance to undertake Phase II of the feasibility analysis and preacquisition activities for the Pacific Shores subdivision, Del Norte County.

CRESCENT CITY:

2007-07-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

NOTE: OUR NEWS PAGE HAS MOVED TO AN EASILY SEARCHABLE NEW SITE:
HTTP://RARE-EARTH-NEWS.BLOGSPOT.COM

Rare Earth's News Page-(please click on images to enlarge)

CONTENTS:

--Read Our New Report (8-28-07):

HOW MUCH LAND HAS BEEN SAVED IN CALIFORNIA SINCE 1/1/2000?

-Legal Battle Brewing Over Tejon Ranch Trails (7/07)

-Negotiations for Huge addition to L.A.'s Baldwin Hills State Park are Underway; If Bought By Regional Conservation Authority, 2/3rds of Planned Park would be Public-Owned (6/28/07)

-2 Big Deals: Land Trusts Seek $$ to Save the "Cornerstone property" in Martis Valley, Near Lake Tahoe; 7 Miles of Truckee River Saved

-Over 50,000 acres of Redwood Forest Next to Sinkyone State Park and the King Range is Saved from Development (6/15/2007)

-Fox gets more room to safely roam on Carrizo Plain (5/31/07)

-Ambitious $8.9-billion, 75-year plan to save the Salton Sea was handed to state lawmakers Friday (5-26-07)

-L.A. County Funds Major Land Purchases in Santa Monica Mountains
5/18/07

-Residents of Diamond Bar Assail Shell/Exxon Oil Co. Development on Pinch-point for East L.A. County Wildlife Corridor (5/17/07)

-Judge assails Cleanup of Site in Simi Hills which is Pinch-point Between Important Western L.A. Wilderness Areas (5/3/07)

-New Addition to Redwood National Park lands; BLM's new Lacks Creek property a hidden treasure (5/11/2007)

-L.A. Growth Slows ((5/2/2007)

-Deal Reached to Clean up Huge Toxic Site in Center of Santa Clarita Valley (5/3/2007)

-23,000 Acres of Land in California are Being Saved This Month--Parks Agencies are Buying More Land in May 2007 meetings (posted 4/30/07)

-Park Agencies to Take Possession of SOKA University Site in Center of Santa Monica Mountains in June

-Connector Parcel between east and west L.A. County Open Spaces is Donated to State Parks agency (3/7/07) http://mrca.ca.gov/pdf/attachment598_Staff%20Report.pdf

-L.A. County Supervisers Reject Triangle Ranch Project that Would Have Wrecked the Santa Monica Mountains' Zuma Ridge Trail System (3/29/2007)

-50,000 Home Sprawl Project Proposed in the Middle of Nowhere on Central Valley Farmland (3/26/2007)

-Assembly Bill Targets Toll Road Planned for State Park on Orange County/San Diego County Line (3/23/2007)

-Pacific Lumber-the North Coast's Worst Tree Clearcutter goes bankrupt (1/20/2007)

-Experts Critique Plan for Polluted San Joaquin Valley Agricultural Runoff (1/18/2007)

-San Diego Water Board Toughens Urban Runoff Rules (1/5 and 25/2007)

-California Supertrain Progress is Slow (2/1/2007)

-Ventura County Says Whoa! to Development Expectations of Urban Planners (1/8/2007)

-Another Lawsuit Over South Orange County Tollroad (1/18/2007)

-Canal project to Bring More Water to San Diego Put on Hold by Federal appeals Court (2/5/2007)

-Two of "The West’s top 10 environmental success stories" are in California

-Land protected by California land trusts rose by 39%, to 1.7 million acres between 2000 and 2005. (12/1/2006)

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460 acres of Big Sur coastal property bought for open space
San Jose Mercury News
08/02/2007

About 460 new acres of open space, part of a land purchase by the U.S. Forest Service and the Trust for Public Land, will help create a 10-mile open space corridor along the Big Sur coast.

The acquisition of four Rancho Calero parcels in Monterey County and will link national forest lands between the Monterey Peninsula Park District's Mill Creek Preserve and the Ventana Wilderness, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

"The Big Sur coastline is recognized around the world for its sweeping panoramic vistas," Sen. Diane Feinstein, said. "The acquisition of the Rancho Calera property is in line with conservation efforts in the region - and has the support of local environmental groups, as well as State and federal agencies. I believe it's an important step forward to ensure the lasting protection of this California jewel."

"It's always a good thing when land as beautiful and important as our Big Sur coast can be set aside for future generations," state Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, said. "Owners of the Rancho Calera land chose to place its future in the hands of the public, and I support that decision. I'm pleased that his beautiful coastline will continue to be treasured for many generations to come."

The money for the purchase came from the Land and Water Conservation Fund and was supported by Feinstein and Farr.

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LEGAL BATTLE BREWING OVER TEJON RANCH TRAILS?

BY DEAN WALLRAFF

Sierra Club Angeles Chapter Conservation Legal Committee and Tejon Ranch Task Force,
July 2007

http://www.savetejonranch.org/

Among the peaks listed by the Hundred Peaks Section in the Tehachapi Mountains, just north of Los Angeles County, is Liebre Twins. The HPS list says “Original List, Delisted 1969 (private property),” which implies the landowner objected to our continuing to hike there in 1969. The landowner in question is the Tejon Ranch Company (TRC), whose proposed mega-developments, Centennial and Tejon Mountain Village, the Sierra Club is fighting.

We would like to be able to resume our hikes to that peak, partly because it’s a beautiful hike reasonably close to home, but also because it would allow us to see
more of Tejon Ranch. TRC is very secretive. Biologists believe there are endangered species on the property that we can’t document, since TRC requires scientists to sign non-disclosure agreements before giving them access.

The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations are proposing that the 270,000 acre property (the largest contiguous privately-owned land holding in California) become a state or national park. It would be an amazing resource-— a park a third the size of Yosemite only two hours away from Los Angeles. It would contain a long section of the Pacific Crest Trail running along the top of the Tehachapis (the PCT through this area currently takes a much more boring route across the flatlands, in order to avoid Tejon Ranch property). It has huge groves of ancient oaks and cedars, and a variety of ecosystems. It contains vital wildlife corridors as well as a great deal of critical habit for the California Condor. It would also be a California heritage park highlighting native American settlements and early cattle ranching.

We would like to have access to Tejon Ranch in order to better make our case for the Tejon-Tehachapi Park we propose. Right now we have to hire airplanes to photograph the land, and we can’t see anything up close. TRC keeps us out. Trail access to Liebre Twins would help us document our case for a park. But how can we get access to private land against the wishes of the property owner?

In 1970, in its decision on a case named Gion-Dietz, the California Supreme Court held that five years of continuous use by the public of a privately-owned road or beach constituted an implied public dedication of the property, provided that the property owner knew of the use and made no significant effort to stop it during that period. This applies to trails as well and meant that private landowners weren’t allowed to block hikers’ access to trails we’d been using for over five years.

The law is based on the concept of prescription, part of the English common law that was imported in various degrees into U.S. state and federal law early in our country’s history. Prescriptive easements are most frequently obtained by private parties, for example by the long term use of a shared driveway, but the concept applies to public use as well. Gion-Dietz, resulted in the public’s acquisition of prescriptive easements over the private property in question.

Even though it was based on well established legal principles, this decision was something of a bomb shell among property-rights advocates. Their lobbying resulted in the California Legislature’s passing a law declaring that, starting with the statute’s effective date (March 4, 1972), public use of private land would no longer create prescriptive rights for the public. However, the law does not apply retroactively. This has been confirmed by subsequent cases, which have been successful when they proved five years of continuous use of a trail by the public prior to 1972.

One recent case was Save the Altadena Trails v. Traylor, involving a driveway connecting two fire roads near Millard Canyon and the Arroyo Seco. The property owner caused a gate to be installed in 1999 to block pedestrian access. Local residents sued to establish a permanent public easement and to prevent the property owners from interfering with public access. They won at trial court and upon appeal. The ruling was issued by the California Court of Appeal in December, 2006.

Can we do the same thing with Liebre Twins? The biggest challenge is that it’s been 35 years since 1972, as Joe Young, Chair of our Chapter’s Trail Access Committee, recently pointed out to me. A lot of the participants on our hikes prior to 1972 have passed away or moved away or become inactive. And Liebre Twins is a bit remote, so we didn’t go there as often as we go to local peaks.

I spent a morning recently in our Chapter office spot-checking Schedules of Activities for the period between 1950 and 1972. We have a complete set going back to 1905.

The format of the early Schedules was much smaller — about 3” X 5”— but the contents were remarkably similar to what’s in our current Schedules: the front matter with most of the same committees and sections (the Ice Skating Section was very active in the 1950’s), the listing of activities in date order, the leader listings at the end.

In my spot check I found two trips to “Tehachapi Mt. (6743 ft), Liebre Twins (6100 ft)” on May 5 & 6, 1951 and May 24 & 25, 1952, both led by Howard- Hill, with John Nienhuis and Floyd Henney as assistant Leaders and Muriel Pope and Clara Brock listed for “transportation.” Does any one reading this article know any of these people? Have any of you been on hikes to Liebre Twins? Do you know of other hiking organizations that might have run trips there in the 1950’s and 1960’s? To make our case we need at least 3 witnesses who can testify to regular use of the trail or road by hikers over a 5-year period before 1972. Please contact me at Dean@EnviroDefenders.org if you can help.

Now that we understand the law in this area, the template can be applied to other trail-access situations. The Trail Access Committee has a list of several other trails in Los Angeles County whose access has been blocked by private land owners.

If you know of others in L.A. or Orange Counties, please contact Joe Young or me. We need to move on this before attrition thins the ranks of potential witnesses any further.

I’ve focused on inland trails in this article, but the 1972 statute (which became California Civil Code section 1009) set forth different rules starting in 1972 for coastal property, which it defined as within 1000 yards of the mean high-tide line, or between that line and the nearest public road or highway, whichever is less. For coastal property, use by the public after 1972 can still create an implied public dedication.

To avoid this, the property owner must post signs, publish an ad, or record a notice with the county recorder giving the public permission, or enter into an agreement with a government agency giving such permission. If the public is using the beach or road or other coastal property, and the owner has not taken one of these actions, there may be a case for a permanent public easement.

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Negotiations for Huge addition to Baldwin Hills State Park are Underway; If Bought By Regional Conservation Authority, 2/3rds of Planned Park would be Public-Owned

(Please click on map to enlarge)

The dark green area in the map on the left shows a 296-acre oil field that may be acquired soon by the Baldwin Hills Regional Conservation Authority. Not much info is available except that the Authority discussed the sale at its June 28, 2007 meeting. The sagebrush covered parcel would extend the State park so that the public would have hiking trails with views of both downtown L.A. and the Pacific Ocean. For more information, see http://smmc.ca.gov/BHRCA.html or http://www.bhc.ca.gov/

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2 Big Deals: Land Trusts Seek $$ to Save the "Cornerstone property" in Martis Valley, Near Lake Tahoe; 7 Miles of Truckee River Saved

http://www.tdlandtrust.org/inthenews.html
and for map of Truckee Donner Land Trust saved lands click here:

Photo: Dry Lake at Waddle Ranch in Fall 2006.

Shortly after the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved the Martis Valley Community Plan in late 2004, the Truckee Donner Land Trust, in partnership with The Trust for Public Land, began negotiations to acquire 1,462 acres in the heart of Martis Valley known as Waddle Ranch. The property is now under contract for $23.5 million, easily the most expensive acquisition the Land Trust has pursued, with a closing date of October 31, 2007. The fate of Waddle Ranch will be decided over the next eight months as the Land Trust and TPL work to assemble a funding package necessary to purchase and permanently protect the property.

The stakes are huge. “If we are not successful, another resort development in the Martis Valley is inevitable,” said David Brown, Land Trust Board member and Chair of the Lands Committee. During the past decade, other former working ranches in Martis Valley have been transformed into high-end luxury resort subdivisions. Waddle Ranch was a working cattle ranch until the early 1960’s.

The Land Trust and TPL are assembling the funding from multiple private and public partners. Funding has already been secured from four sources including the Truckee Tahoe Airport District, the State of California’s Sierra Nevada Cascade Grant Program and Placer County. The State Wildlife Conservation Board, will consider a $6.5 million grant at its May Board meeting. The property scored exceptionally high during its review by the WCB staff, a prerequisite step before submission to the Board.

The sum of funding from these sources is close to the contract price, but to close the gap, TPL and the Land Trust must raise $2.5 million from private individuals and have launched a capital campaign to meet this goal. Early and significant support from the thousands of California residents that pass through Martis Valley annually will ensure that this important property is protected in its natural state for the enjoyment of future generations.

“This opportunity is the culmination of six years of work by a coalition of public and private partners, including landowners, developers, government agencies, nonprofits, and citizen groups,” said Perry Norris, Executive Director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. “If successful, this effort will set a precedent for cooperation between non-traditional partners who share a common interest in preserving quality of life in the Sierra.”

With the approval of the Martis Valley Community Plan in 2004 by the Placer County Board of Supervisors, Martis Valley was given entitlements for extensive development, including plans for more than 6,000 new condominiums and townhouses and five new golf courses. A coalition of environmental and civic organizations, led by Sierra Watch and the Mountain Area Preservation Foundation, united to oppose the entitlement plan and together with the developers of Northstar, Martis Camp, and Timilick Tahoe, worked to broker a conservation-oriented agreement that would benefit residents of the valley as well as the many thousands of visitors it attracts each year. This landmark agreement will protect the valley north of Highway 267 while allowing development to the south, adjacent to existing developments and nearby Northstar.

“Waddle Ranch is the cornerstone property on the north side of Highway 267,” said Sara Taddo, Land Conservation Director of Truckee Donner Land Trust. “Its protection is critical to the future of Martis Valley. In addition to its size and location, the ranch is the valley’s most biologically diverse property. We can not afford to lose its scenic, ecological, and cultural resources.”

If protected, Waddle Ranch will provide miles of new cross-country skiing, hiking and biking trails, enabling the public to access the Tahoe National Forest, Martis Creek Lake National Recreation Area, and Mount Rose Wilderness Area. Its protection will also contribute to the creation of a 10-mile open space corridor for wildlife movement and recreation.

The Morgan Family Foundation has provided a key lead gift of $500,000. “The future of Martis Valley hangs in the balance,” said Becky Morgan, a former State Senator and President of the Morgan Family Foundation.

The Land Trust and TPL are also pursuing a 160-acre acquisition that borders Waddle Ranch to the southeast.

Partners Protect 3,344 Acres of Truckee River Canyon
Deal will protect wildlife habitat and scenic beauty at "gateway to California"

http://www.nature.org/wherewework/northamerica/states/california/press/truckee062107.html

Truckee, Calif. — June 21, 2007 — Seven miles of one of the most ecologically rich and scenic stretches of the Truckee River in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains are now permanently preserved thanks to an alliance of public and private partners in California and Nevada.

The Nature Conservancy brokered the acquisition of a 3,344-acre property near Truckee, California, from Sierra Pacific Power Company (SPPC) for $2 million. The California Resources Agency provided $1.5 million for the purchase through the 2002 River Parkways Grant Program, with the Conservancy providing private funds to complete the deal.

"The concept of protecting contiguous pieces of property is essential for wildlife corridors and habitat conservation," said Resources Secretary Mike Chrisman. "Thanks to our great partnerships, projects like these are creating a legacy of conservation for our generation and the generations to follow."

The California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved the acquisition of the 3,252 acre upland portion of the property, to be held by the State of California. The Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will manage all but 92 acres of the property – the riparian corridor – that will be owned by the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, per the stipulations of a pre-existing agreement with SPPC. The Truckee Donner Land Trust (TDLT), which played a role in securing funding, will hold a public access and conservation easement on these riverside acres and intends to open them to the general public for passive recreation. In cooperation with the partners, DFG will develop a Land Management Plan to guide management activities on the upland property, including wildlife related recreational opportunities.

"This acquisition is an outstanding example of a diverse partnership with a shared conservation vision achieving on-the-ground results - the protection of a spectacular and ecologically important canyon," explains Mike Conner, project director with The Nature Conservancy. "This gateway to California will now remain forever wild."

Situated adjacent to the Nevada border along Interstate 80, the property provides a scenic welcome to passengers of more than 34,000 cars per day to California. More importantly, scientists from The Nature Conservancy and DFG identified the canyon property as a top priority for preservation due to its high quality wildlife habitat.

"It's so rewarding for the Wildlife Conservation Board to partner with other public agencies, the conservation community, and private enterprise in order to preserve this significant stretch of riparian and upland property for future generations," said WCB Executive Director John Donnelly. "This transaction is a great example of what can be achieved through a joint cooperative effort."

This property encompasses seven miles of riverfront and many miles of tributary streams with large stands of cottonwood-riparian forest and a willow-riparian corridor. These habitats support birds such as the yellow warbler and warbling vireo. The property’s uplands connect hundreds of thousands of acres of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest to the Tahoe National Forest and therefore provide important movement corridors for wildlife, including mule deer from the Verdi subunit of the Loyalton-Truckee Deer Herd.

Sandwiched between Truckee and Reno, both of which are expanding at dramatic rates, the primary threat to the Truckee River Canyon is low-density residential development.

"We’re pleased to be a part of preserving portions of the Truckee River Canyon," said Sierra Pacific Power Company President, Jeff Ceccarelli. "We are proud of our partnership with The Nature Conservancy and Truckee Meadows Water Authority, whose cooperation and vision helped make this project possible."

The 92 acres that will be owned by TMWA encompass the riparian corridor, with TDLT holding a conservation easement to monitor and ensure the protection of the natural communities on the land.

"The most amazing part of this conservation effort is its sheer size," says Perry Norris, executive director of the Truckee Donner Land Trust. "It is rare today to protect such a large swath of contiguous lands in a single watershed."

The easement will allow for passive recreation on the parcels, including rafting, fishing and birdwatching. The agreement will permit TMWA to maintain and construct facilities related only to its hydropower operation on the property.

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Over 50,000 acres of Redwood Forest Next to Sinkyone State Park and the King Range is Saved from Development

June 15, 2007

Group buys forest to log, shield it from development

By Tim Reiterman, L.A. Times Staff Writer

With 100% financing from the Bank of America, a nonprofit conservation group has purchased 50,000 acres of redwood forest along the Mendocino County coast north of Fort Bragg for $65 million and plans to use it for commercial timber harvesting while shielding the land from development. "We know that this property without protection would have been subdivided into smaller parcels," Art Harwood, a sawmill operator and president of the Redwood Forest Foundation, told reporters Thursday in the redwood grove outside the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. "Every year in the U.S., millions of acres of forest are bought and sold, and the pressure is particularly high in Northern California."

Bank and foundation officials said the deal is the first of its kind that relies entirely on private financing. However, much of the debt is to be paid through the sale of a conservation easement to another nonprofit group that plans to seek state funding.

Harwood said the land, acquired from Hawthorne Timber Co., was heavily logged in the 1980s and '90s and now consists primarily of second-growth redwood and Douglas fir. "There are a few old-growth trees scattered out there, but we will not be cutting them," he said.

Foundation officials said they plan to do very little logging at first, and never on more than 3% of the property a year to ensure a long-term supply of jobs and timber. The Redwood Forest Foundation, which is dedicated to restoring working forests, plans to use logging revenue to help pay off the 20-year loan. The foundation, based in the southern Mendocino County town of Gualala, intends to sell the conservation easement to the Conservation Fund, which plans to use state money approved by voters last year in Proposition 84, the clean water, parks and coastal bond measure.

"We haven't negotiated the cost of the easement and the terms," said Chris Kelly, who manages California operations for the fund. "But our intention is to have an agreement allowing no subdivision, development or conversion to non-forest uses, and possibly there will be a cap on harvesting." The land is north of Fort Bragg and about 50 miles north of two other parcels purchased recently by the Conservation Fund.

---------------------------------------------- http://blogs.business2.com/greenwombat/2007/06/redwood_summer_.html

Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis appeared in a redwood grove in downtown San Francisco today - the urban redwoods are planted next to the Transamerica Pyramid - to announce a first-of-its kind deal: the bank is providing 100 percent financing to the non-profit Redwood Forest Foundation to acquire 50,635 acres of redwood timberlands on Northern California's Lost Coast. The acquisition is part of BofA's (BAC) $20 billion green lending initiative. What makes the $65 million deal unique is that the foundation will continue to log the Usal Redwood Forest in Mendocino County, albeit on a much reduced scale and in conjunction with the restoration of the forest ecosystem. The foundation, which is buying the land from the Hawthorne Timber Company, will sell a conservation easement to ensure the forest remains intact in perpetuity and to pay down the debt it owes BofA.

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For more info, click here: http://www.rffi.org/UsalRedwoodForest.html

also here:
http://www.rffi.org/Usal-PR-2007-06.html

Bank of America and Redwood Forest Foundation Announce Nation's First Private Capital Forest Acquisition by Nonprofit Transaction Helps Protect California's Usal Redwood Forest

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Bank of America and the Redwood Forest Foundation (RFFI) today announced the country's first forest acquisition by a nonprofit using 100 percent private capital to close the deal. The transaction preserves more than 50,000 acres of critical working timberland in the Usal Redwood Forest, just north of Fort Bragg in Northern California's Mendocino County. This transaction will stop the forest's fragmentation while also allowing the property's coastal redwood trees to grow and be managed as a working sustainable forest. The foundation will purchase the acreage from Hawthorne Timber Company using $65 million in flexible long-term financing from Bank of America.

This unique structure provides a national model for nonprofit ownership of a forest, and enables local environmentalists and timber companies to implement sustainable timber practices that sustain jobs and tax base while protecting critical ecological areas. The transaction also provides a return on investment for Bank of America.

"This is the beginning of a new era for our local community," said Art Harwood, President of RFFI. "We are banding together to protect and manage our forests. We are pulling together private capital, and the hopes and aspirations of people from all walks of life to create a bright beacon for our future. We are doing this by ending the 30 years of fighting, and focusing on what unites us."

"Some of the trees we are protecting were saplings before Bank of America was founded in San Francisco in 1904," said Kenneth D. Lewis, Bank of America chairman and CEO. "This is one of the most significant transactions of our recently announced $20 billion environmental initiative. We are honored to protect a California legacy and one of the environment's most precious resources." Don Kemp, RFFI's Executive Director added, "We anticipate that this project will be the first of many in which the global capital markets will be tapped to finance projects more traditionally considered the domain of the public sector. We look forward to working with the entire community to manage our Redwood forests so that jobs and environmental benefits will be maintained for decades to come." RFFI's oversight of the forest will preserve open space, restore the quality of the Redwood forest, purify waterways, enhance wildlife habitat and maintain family wage jobs for those who depend on forests for their livelihoods. Upon fulfilling its financial obligations, RFFI will continue to sustainably harvest timber and reinvest in the community as determined by RFFI.

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Fox gets more room to safely roam on Carrizo Plain
About 200 acres of important habitat for the endangered kit fox is added to Carrizo Plain
By David Sneed - dsneed@thetribunenews.com
5/31/2007

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/story/54726.html

(click on map to enlarge)

More than 200 acres have been added to the Carrizo Plain National Monument as part of a program to protect the endangered San Joaquin kit fox.

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced this week that three parcels totaling 222 acres within the monument have been purchased from two families for $118,500.

The parcels contain important habitat for kit foxes, one of a host of rare and endangered species found on the Carrizo Plain. Recent population surveys have found foxes on the acquired land, said Bob Stafford, wildlife biologist with the Department of Fish and Game.

Money for the purchases came from an innovative county program that pools mitigation fees that developers pay to build in or disturb kit fox habitat in the eastern half of the county.

The county’s kit fox fund, established in 2003, has thus far generated $250,000, which has been given to the BLM to purchase private in-holdings and add those to the monument.

Privately owned parcels are scattered throughout the 250,000-acre monument in the county’s southeastern corner. More purchases of in-holdings are planned, said Tom Maloney, project manager with The Nature Conservancy, which coordinates the kit fox program with the federal, state and county governments.

“By pooling mitigation fees and targeting high-quality habitat in key locations, we can ensure more effective conservation for the dollar,” Maloney said.

The program gives developers whose projects damage kit fox habitat the option of paying a fee into the kit fox fund rather than setting aside kit fox habitat elsewhere.

Projects that can participate in the kit fox program are any development that requires a discretionary permit from county planners, including subdivisions and lot-line adjustments. Major grading projects can also require contributions, said Julie Eliason, a county environmental resource specialist.

The Carrizo Plain is one of three places in the state considered vital for the survival of the diminutive San Joaquin kit fox. An estimated 500 to 600 kit foxes are found in arid inland portions of the Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley.

MORE ONLINE
For information about the kit fox, go to
http://www.slocounty.ca.gov/planning/environmental/San_Joaquin_Kit_Fox.htm

Map of Kit Fox habitat in San Luis Obispo County

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$8.9-billion Salton Sea plan proposed

(click on map to enlarge)
http://www.saltonsea.water.ca.gov/

The 75-year effort to save the polluted resource would cut it to about a fifth its current size and add sections of wildlife habitat.

By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer
May 26, 2007

An ambitious $8.9-billion, 75-year plan to save the Salton Sea was handed to state lawmakers Friday. It calls for a drastically shrunken lake, the creation of a new "marine sea" and creation of thousands of separate wildlife habitats.

"What we have done here is truly historic," said Michael Chrisman, California's resources secretary. "There is a little bit in here for everyone. There will be a lot of debate, and we think that is very healthy."

The plan, three years in the making, would reduce the Salton Sea to about a fifth of its current size. The water would be less salty, and sport fish, such as the corvina that vanished five years ago, would be reintroduced.

The plan calls for the creation of a 62,000-acre "saline habitat complex," a series of 1,000-acre cells that would include bits of shoreline, islands and peninsulas to be habitat for birds, fish and invertebrates.

A special 2,000-acre habitat would be built first to help save species, such as the tilapia, that are threatened by rising salt levels.

Under the proposal, 52 miles of barriers and 158 miles of berms would be added, and 106,000 acres of lake bed would be exposed.

"The Legislature said in 2003 that the restoration of the sea is critically important," Chrisman said. "There will be a big debate about the cost and timeline, but my sense is that the Legislature has already said yes and we will move forward."

At 15 miles wide and 35 miles long, the Salton Sea is the biggest lake in California. It was created accidentally in 1905 when the Colorado River broke through a levee.

There is no natural outlet, so the water is getting saltier and more polluted from agricultural runoff. It's already 25 times saltier than the ocean.

The last major fish species remaining is the tilapia, and scientists say that fish could disappear by 2018.

Tilapia are the chief food source for many of the 400 bird species, such as the endangered brown pelican, that winter on the lake.

Chrisman said the $8.9 billion for the project probably would come from a combination of local, state and federal sources and a variety of partnerships.

"True, it's expensive, but it's a price tag over 75 years," he said.

As the lake shrinks and huge areas of its floor are exposed, a major issue will be air quality. In places such as the Imperial Valley, into which the lake extends, childhood asthma caused by swirling dust clouds is a major problem.

"Air quality will be a big-ticket issue; we realized that early on," said Dale Hoffman-Floerke, chief of the Colorado River and Salton Sea office for the state Department of Water Resources.

She said water would be used to keep the area wet so dust wouldn't swirl, that salt-tolerant vegetation would be planted and vehicles would be banned from areas where they probably would kick up dirt.

But Rick Daniels, executive director of the Salton Sea Authority, is worried.

"We are very skeptical about the air quality. We cannot afford to have a big dustbowl like the Owens Valley out there on our eastern border," he said. "It would destroy the area as a result."

He also said that the Torres Martinez tribe, which has 11,000 acres of its reservation land beneath the sea, does not want its submerged ancient villages to suddenly appear when water levels drop.

"They don't want scavengers out there," he said. "These are all technical things that will be solved. Even though it has warts and blemishes, it's worth moving forward."

The plan was embraced by the Salton Sea Coalition, which includes the Sierra Club, the Pacific Institute and the Defenders of Wildlife.

"Now it's up to the Legislature to make good on the secretary's efforts and not abandon the sea, or the hopes and hard work of the many people who have devoted so much time to designing a plan that meets that the state's obligations to protect public health and wildlife," said Jim Metropulos, legislative representative of Sierra Club California.

Kim Delfino of Defenders of Wildlife California said in a statement, "Failing to restore the Salton Sea is simply not an option. The sea is just too important to the people, agriculture, economy and wildlife of the region for us not to save it."

The timeline for construction, assuming the plan is approved, would be broken into four periods beginning in 2007 and ending in 2078, with most of the major building to take place between 2014 and 2025.

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L.A. County Funds Major Land Purchases in Santa Monica Mountains
5/18/07

Board of Supervisors Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky has announced approval of $2.32 million in grant funding to help purchase six parcels of prime open space in the Santa Monica Mountains to expand the County’s hiking and equestrian trail system.

The money comes from competitive grant awards under the Natural Land for Trails program funded through Proposition A, a park and open-space measure championed by Yaroslavsky and approved by County voters in 1996.

The projects, funded by a combination of sources, are:

Lindero Creek - $200,000 from Prop. A to the City of Agoura Hills completes funding for an $1,8773,800 package to purchase 18 acres for city park with hiking trail

Upper Topanga Canyon Trail Connection - $320,000 from Prop. A to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority completes funding for a $425,000 package to purchase 8 acres for a trail connection between Summit to Summit at Henry Ridge Motorway

Cold Creek Trail - $300,000 from Prop. A to the County of Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Department completes funding for a $400,000 package to purchase 266 acres for trail development in the Cold Creek Preserve Area, owned by the County and managed by the Mountains Restoration Trust

Cold Creek High Trail - $500,000 from Prop. A to the Mountains Restoration Trust for the purchase of the 99-acre Ty Sisson property as part of the remaining 145 acres identified for open space and trail acquisition for the Cold Creek Restoration Plan, encompassing 520 acres

Upper Solstice Canyon – Solstice Canyon Trail - $500,000 from Prop. A to the National Park Service completes funding for a $1.6 million package to purchase 80 acres considered a “critical acquisition” in the Upper Solstice Canyon

Corral Canyon - $500,000 from Prop. A to the Trust for Public Land toward the funding of a $4 million project to purchase 199 acres in Corral Canyon adjacent to Malibu Creek State Park, surrounded on three sides by public property

Yaroslavsky explained the public agencies and qualified nonprofit organizations are eligible for the funding, giving priority to those with demonstrated success in completing acquisition and trails development projects in the Santa Monica Mountains within the Third Supervisorial District, consistent with the Los Angels County Trails Master Plan.

For a photo gallery of other Third District projects funded by Prop. A, visit 3rd District Open Space.

To learn more about the County’s programs to preserve and protect open space and improve neighborhood parks, visit the Regional Park and Open Space District .

To see a list of parks purchased with County park bond funds, search here by zip code, city or parks agency: http://cmsapp.co.la.ca.us/rposd/psearch.asp

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News from http://www.hillsforeveryone.org/

Shell-Exxon Development on East L.A. County Pinch-point Enrages Community

If you missed the Notice of Preparation meeting held by the City of Diamond Bar on Wednesday May 16 -- boy, did you miss out!

Who knew there would be so much opposition in Diamond Bar? Only now are the residents learning about the decisions their City Council has been quietly making for nearly a year. Those decisions have set a path to relocate the County-owned golf course from Grand and Golden Springs to Rowland Heights. The new golf facility would be adjacent to, and facilitated by, the development of Shell's 3,600 houses along the 57 freeway. EDAW, the consultant firm hired by the City of Diamond Bar to prepare the Environmental Impact Report for the 3,600 unit Shell-Aera project, ran the Notice of Preparation meeting. Participants saw essentially the same plan for 3,600 housing units (and 40,000 more vehicle trips a day) that Shell-Aera has been touting for four years.

Two Diamond Bar Council members and representatives from Shell-Aera attended the meeting as well as several hundred residents from all over the region.

When one audience member asked those who opposed the project to please stand, nearly the entire audience rose to their feet. As you can see below it was a very visual thumbs down!

Other points of interest from the meeting:

As the formal presentation concluded, the audience was told only a few questions would be allowed and all further comments were to be directed to the court reporters who would type them out on a one on one basis. The crowd responded with a spontaneous and very loud "NO" insisting that a "Public meeting should have public comments." Organizers relented and fielded more questions from the aggravated crowd.

When an audience member asked questions about the pre-annexation and pre-development agreement between the City of Diamond Bar and Shell-Aera the public Q&A session was shut down. (As you may recall this agreement was approved just days before Christmas and strongly favors Shell-Aera interests. For example, the City agreed to freeze developer fees for 25 years. ) Many attendees thanked Hills For Everyone for mailing out the meeting notification postcard. It was certainly frustrating to Diamond Bar residents that their own City chose not to robustly inform them of this important meeting.

Development draws fire in diamond bar
San Gabriel Valley Tribune
By Caroline An, Staff Writer 5/17/07

DIAMOND BAR - Aera Energy officials and local residents clashed at a meeting Wednesday over a proposed 3,600 residential and mixed-use development. The meeting at Diamond Bar Center was about what areas an environmental study should analyze, with residents wanting to know about the effects on wildlife and open space. Aera Energy is proposing to build a maximum of 3,600 homes, with nearly 2,800 homes to be developed on 1,940 acres that could be annexed into Diamond Bar. The proposed development calls for restoring 1,600 acres that was home to cattle grazing and oil wells to open space.

More than 150 residents from Rowland Heights, Hacienda Heights, Diamond Bar and Brea became frustrated after the public comment segment ended, and they were told to submit their questions in writing or verbally to the nearby staff. Residents then began shouting "it's a public meeting."

"With 55 minutes to go, they stopped the questioning," said John Martin, a Diamond Bar resident since 1973. "The meeting was just fragmented."

David Doyle, Diamond Bar's assistant city manager, said residents with specific project questions could talk to city and Aera officials in the room.

Diamond Bar Councilman Jack Tanaka said he was surprised by the abrupt ending. "It is obvious that more town hall meetings are needed," Tanaka said, adding that he would ask Mayor Steve Tye for his input.

George Basye, Aera vice-president, said that the meeting was the first in a long process. Aera officials said they believe it was a good project and with the growing job market in southern Los Angeles and northern Orange counties, building new homes is necessary.

In the more than three decades as a Diamond Bar resident, Martin said the city has gone from "country living" to the traffic-congested community that it is today. Martin said that he trusts the City Council will act in good faith, but was skeptical of Aera's intentions. "I'm not sure they understand that this is the biggest development. There should be numerous town hall meetings," he said.

Traffic remained the No. 1 concern of residents. Mike Hughes, president of the Hacienda Heights Improvement Association, believes the project - if it moves forward - will drive long-time residents out of the area. "We should leave that area as open space," he said.

Another Diamond Bar resident, Don Sutton, said the city's Pantera Park was the location for regular deer sightings, but with more development in the area, the sightings have decreased over the year. "No matter how you look at it any development will impact the animals," he said.

A draft of the study will be completed this summer, with a final version for the Diamond Bar City Council's review by the end of the year, officials said.

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Judge assails Rocketdyne cleanup; Site in Simi Hills is Pinch-point Between Important Western L.A. Wilderness Areas

Environmentalists hail a federal jurist's ruling that a Department of Energy effort to rid the Santa Susana field lab of pollutants is inadequate.

By Gregory W. Griggs, L.A. Times Staff Writer
May 3, 2007

Environmental activists won a major victory Wednesday when a judge declared that the U.S. Department of Energy continues to violate federal law in its cleanup of nuclear and chemical contamination at Boeing's Rocketdyne field laboratory near Simi Valley.

U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti also barred the DOE from transferring ownership of its Santa Susana property until it conducts a more thorough environmental review of its cleanup operations at the former nuclear and rocket engine testing facility.

"The Bush administration was trying to cut corners at the expense of public health, and the judge wasn't having any of it," said James Birkelund, a Los Angeles-based attorney for the lead plaintiff, the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Boeing Corp. spokeswoman Blythe Jameson said the company, which sold the remainder of the Rocketdyne assets in 2005 to United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney unit for about $700 million, would withhold comment on the court ruling. Boeing still owns the 2,800-acre hilltop property that contains the lab.

"It's just been issued and we're reviewing the court's decision," Jameson said.

But Daniel Hirsch, president of the anti-nuclear group Committee to Bridge the Gap, a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit, said that nowhere in the 47-page ruling did the judge side with the DOE, and by extension the property owner, Boeing, which purchased the field lab 11 years ago.

"What the judge is essentially saying to the DOE is: 'You guys have really fouled up this cleanup; you've broken the law repeatedly. And I'm going to retain jurisdiction until I'm satisfied that you've met your obligations to clean up the mess you've made.' "

The two nonprofit environmental groups sued the Energy Department alleging that the cleanup plan for the property — where U.S. agencies conducted nuclear research over four decades before ceasing operations in the late 1980s — would leave dangerous levels of radioactive material and other toxic chemicals in the soil.

Energy Department officials have said that the site, where a nuclear reactor meltdown occurred in 1959, would pose no significant threat to human health or the environment after it is cleaned up. But critics and watchdog groups have demanded that a full environmental impact statement be prepared and that the site be cleaned up to tougher U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards, which would require removal of tens of thousands of cubic yards of contaminated soil.

Conti's ruling requires DOE to prepare a more stringent review of the lab, which is on the border of Los Angeles County. Conti wrote that the department's decision to prepare a less-stringent environmental document prior to cleanup is in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and noted that the lab "is located only miles away from one of the largest population centers in the world."

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and her colleague Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works who has been pushing for more stringent cleanup of the site, praised the judge's decision.

"On behalf of the people who live near Rocketdyne, I am so gratified that the court has found in their favor," Boxer said. "It is our solemn duty in government to protect the health and safety of the people we represent."

Hirsch and others said the DOE and Boeing appear to have accelerated the cleanup in recent months.

Critics suggest the rush was to get the Rocketdyne site declared officially "clean" before the Bush administration leaves office, fearing the next president may be tougher on environmental polluters.

Last month, the EPA announced that it would reconsider its decision not to add the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to its federal Superfund cleanup list.

The designation would provide more federal funding.

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl (D-Santa Monica) said she welcomed the consideration.

"Overall, the attention focused on this site by the EPA is very important. It rattles a few cages."

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New Addition to Redwood National Park lands; BLM's new Lacks Creek property a hidden treasure

John Driscoll, Eureka Times-Standard

05/11/2007

http://times-standard.com/local/ci_5871540

A purple carpet of western hound's tongue is unrolled under oaks leafing out in the sun after a long winter.

From these oak-rimmed prairies, you can look west over all of the Lacks Creek watershed, 11,000 acres that are remote more because of topography than distance. You can plainly make out where the stream runs into Redwood Creek, which flows into the ocean at Orick. The coastal fog bank is just a couple of ridges away.

”On a clear day you can see the ocean,” said U.S. Bureau of Land Management forest ecologist Hank Harrison. “I think the public got a nice piece of land here.”

Last year another major part of the drainage was bought by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management with help from private conservation groups. In a $5.5 million deal including $2.5 million from the Save-the-Redwoods League and money from the Resource Legacy Foundation Fund, 4,500 acres was procured from the Barnum Timber Co., Eel River Sawmills and landowner Veena Menda.

It gave BLM the majority of the watershed, adding to 4,100 acres it already owned, including a large chunk which the agency has held since the land was public domain. More than 1,500 acres are decadent old-growth fir, much of it perched precariously on steep west-facing slopes below Pine Ridge.

In early May, everything is lush. Sprawling meadows sprout green grasses and old Douglas fir glades shade fairy slipper orchids and late-blooming trillium. The eastern half of the watershed will be bone dry in a month or two.

Lacks Creek splits the land into two geologic types. The east-side slopes are subject to slides because of their steepness, even though their thick layers of well-cemented sandstone aren't very erosive. The well-drained, rocky soil makes the forest dry, supporting canyon live oak, Douglas fir, manzanita and madrone, according to a BLM geologic assessment report.

The west side, in contrast, has highly productive and moist soils on rolling hills. Thinner sandstone and mudstone layers are crushed into rocks more easily, and are further broken down into clay-like soils on which trees -- even some redwood and western red cedar -- thrive.

Firs on the western side below Beaver Ridge are thick-trunked but young. The heavy logging done throughout the watershed in the 1950s left some stands struggling to rebound on the eastern side, while trees on the western portion shot up. They are now dense, and in some stands there is a choking layer of tan oaks.

Harrison said there are some places with 600 trees per acre, which is beginning to stunt tree growth and could set up the place for a big wildfire. He hopes the former timberlands can be thinned out in the near future, down to 250 trees an acre, then later to fewer than 75.

Logging didn't begin here in earnest until the 1950s. Champion, Weyerhaeuser, Soper-Wheeler, Mutual Plywood and Simpson Timber all owned land here, among others. Starting in about 1954, logs began moving out in a hurry, with hundreds of roads and skid trails carved into the hillsides to get the cut out. Aerial photos clearly show the rapid changes on the land.

Perhaps fortunately for BLM, some of the better-maintained roads would do just fine as trails. The agency's longtime outdoor recreation planner Bruce Cann sees potential in linking segments of old roads with new sections of trail, creating several lengthy loops that could be enjoyed by hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers.

”I think I could find three ways to get across the creek, but it's not going to be easy,” Cann said, peering at a map and pointing out roads on the landscape.

BLM wants to present the public with ideas on how Lacks Creek might be managed, and has been gathering information on the area's history, biology and geology. Any plan will have to go through the requisite National Environmental Policy Act process, through which the public can express their desires for the property, alternatives are developed and eventually a plan is adopted.

That process starts next week with a meeting in Arcata.

One of Bob Barnum's wishes when he sold his part of the property to BLM was that the prairies be maintained. Even with cows grazing on the grasslands -- and without the old wildfire regimen -- fir trees creep in from their edges, threatening to transform the meadows into young forest. Small fir trees will likely have to be mechanically removed to preserve the prairies.

Getting from Hundred-Acre Field down to Lacks Creek is a lesson in the “it's just around the next corner” point of view. Today you have to guess which logging spur will get you down the fastest and then which slope you can negotiate without sliding uncontrollably.

But Lacks Creek is there, and it's likely that eventually it'll be a lot easier to get there.

Water moves over boulders and under huge fir trees that have fallen across the creek banks on its way toward Redwood Creek below 4,092-foot Hupa Mountain and past the verdant Stover Ranch downstream. Coho and chinook salmon and cutthroat and steelhead use the 7 3/4-mile-long stream, which is eligible to be designated a federal Wild and Scenic River.

The whole place is considered an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, and is enveloped within the Redwood National Park protection zone set up by the legislation that authorized the expansion of the park in 1978.

Right now, most of the place is a bit under used, and in some spots a little abused. There are a few abandoned campgrounds, some litter and some jeep trails torn through meadows. In one spot, a bullet-pocked oxygen tank lies under an oak.

But for the most part, the area is clean. Wildlife is plentiful, with evidence of elk and northern spotted owls and expectedly quite a few fishers. From the edge of one mixed stand a turkey called until it heard footsteps moving in its direction.

Without a doubt, there is plenty of potential in the Lacks Creek area, especially because of its proximity to the coast. It's only about 45 minutes from Arcata, and it is far enough inland to escape the summer coastal fog.

”The more people we have up here will really help the area,” said Lynda Roush, BLM's Arcata Field Office manager.

A management plan is beginning to be crafted to protect wildlife and fisheries and their habitat while developing opportunities for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking in Lacks Creek. The first public meeting to take comments and questions will be held on Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the BLM Arcata Field Office at 1695 Heindon Rd. in Arcata.

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L.A. growth slows as city hits 4 million; Expansion in city helps push county and state up as well, according to state Department of Finance.

By Harrison Sheppard, May 2, 2007 L.A. Daily Breeze
Staff writer

SACRAMENTO -- Los Angeles' continuing allure has sent its population surging past the 4 million mark for the first time, according to state figures released Tuesday.

While growth over the past year was less than 1 percent, it still propelled the city to an estimated 4,018,080 residents as of Jan. 1, according to the state Department of Finance.

Officials said the numbers show the city remains a magnet for people from all over the country and the world.

"Los Angeles is where the world comes together," said Janelle Erickson, a spokeswoman for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "Los Angeles is a city of America's hope and promise, where the dreams of so many have come to life."

The city's growth helped boost Los Angeles County to 10,331,939 residents, and California to 37,662,518 -- up 1.3 percent.

Still, experts noted the growth of the city and county populations has slowed in recent years. While immigrants continue to converge in the region, the influx is overshadowed by residents fleeing expensive and congested metropolitan areas for the Inland Empire.

Riverside County, for example, was the fastest-growing large county in California: Its population topped 2 million -- up more than 3 percent. State demographic experts say the state's population growth also has been slowing as larger families leave for less-expensive states and are replaced by smaller, immigrant families.

"What we found with the decline in school enrollment is (larger) families are moving out of California and being replaced with families with less children," said Daniel Sheya, a Department of Finance demographic specialist.

"Your family size is going down. Areas with minimum housing growth tend to either stabilize or lose population."

The fastest-growing city in California last year was Beaumont, in Riverside County, which expanded by 21.2 percent to 28,250 residents.

In Los Angeles County, Santa Clarita was the fastest-growing larger city, increasing by 5.7 percent to 177,158, many drawn by new housing developments. Nationally, Los Angeles remains the country's second-largest city behind New York City, which has about 8.2 million people, and ahead of Chicago with about 2.8 million. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Deal will clean Santa Clarita Valley aquifers
By Valerie Reitman, L.A. Times Staff Writer
May 3, 2007

Perchlorate contaminating the Santa Clarita Valley's underground water supply is to be cleaned up under an estimated $100-million settlement of a federal lawsuit against former and present owners of a shuttered munitions and fireworks factory announced Wednesday.

The suit was filed by four area water agencies in November 2000 against Whittaker Corp., Remediation Financial Inc. and Santa Clarita LLC over pollution at the 996-acre site known as the Whittaker-Bermite plant, which for decades operated in the heart of Santa Clarita.

Five public wells were shut in 1997, about a decade after the plant closed, after the perchlorate contamination was discovered.

Perchlorate compounds are used in the manufacture of explosives, munitions and rocket fuel.

Under the agreement, a treatment plant will be built to clean up pollution in two local aquifers.

The facility will be at Bouquet Canyon Road, next to the Castaic Lake Water Agency pump station. The agency was a plaintiff, along with the Newhall County Water Agency, the Santa Clarita Water Co. and the Valencia Water Co.

The settlement is still subject to federal District Court and Bankruptcy Court approval. The current site owners filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Two potential buyers — SunCal Cos., a builder, and Cherokee Investment Partners, which specializes in redeveloping polluted properties — have proposed buying and developing the site with homes and businesses after soil cleanup is complete.

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Park Agencies to Take Possession of SOKA University Site in Center of Santa Monica Mountains in June

Several years ago former Task Force Co-Chair Margot Feuer made a comment about the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area that, “There’s no ‘there’ there,” meaning that there was no central focal point or destination for visitors to the Park that would give the Park an identity in the public mind the way Yosemite Valley creates an identity, a focal point, and a destination for Yosemite National Park.

In the 27 years of its existence the Santa Monica Mountains NRA has had to compete with developers for land, while watching that land escalate in value while public funds became increasingly scarce, resulting in incomplete, scattered units of protected land interspersed with subdivisions, ugly mansions, and horse ranches in what the media still often refers to as the “Malibu Hills” or the “Hollywood Hills.” Meanwhile, properties deemed essential to the Park have been lost to development.

About all that was left for a “there” was the beautiful rural valley occupied by SOKA, and for years SOKA stoutly resisted offers of purchase and proceeded with plans to develop a major institution on the site.

Two years ago SOKA was finally persuaded to sell, and by herculean efforts, the $35 million asking price was put together. Part of the purchase agreement was that SOKA could lease back the property until December, 2007 in return for knocking $2 million off the purchase price.

Last Friday SOKA notified the park agencies that it would be vacating the property on June 27, six months ahead of schedule. Then, as the ribbons are cut and the speeches are made, we will finally have our “there” — a combined park headquarters, visitor center, interpretive center, and staging area for the entire Santa Monica Mountains park system set in a beautiful, unspoiled valley surrounded by the rugged peaks of the Santa Monica Mountains and filled with 4000 oak trees.

On June 27 the MRCA — the management arm of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy — plans to take possession of the “campus” portion of the former SOKA property that has been under lease to SOKA and open it to the public. The National Park Service will move their headquarters and visitor center from its current location in Thousand Oaks, but that move will not take place until sometime in the Spring of 2008. State Parks will also move in SOKA at some point, creating a “one-stop” headquarters and visitor center and moving the “center of gravity” of the Santa Monica Mountains park system that much closer to Los Angeles, where most of the people are.

As soon as the park agencies move into the buildings that SOKA “University” is vacating, we can expect them to start work on their master plan for the 588 acre property. Information on the interagency planning process is posted on MRCA website, where people can sign up for the updates (http://smmc.ca.gov/KGRPindex.html). ---------------------------------------------------------------

23,000 ACRES THIS MONTH...

SAVING CALIFORNIA’S PRECIOUS WILDLIFE HABITAT, ACRE BY ACRE—MAY 2007

May 2, 2007 meeting of the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority to Preserve lands in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

2:00 p.m. at the Conejo Recreation and Park District, 403 West Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks, California

TO SEE AGENDA AND MAPS AND OTHER ATTACHMENTS: http://mrca.ca.gov/attachment.asp?agendaid=130

a. Consideration of resolution amending Resolution No. 03-51 to authorize entering into an agreement regarding the realignment and future grant of hiking and equestrian trails over a 27 acre open space dedication lot in La Tuna Canyon, Verdugo Hills, Los Angeles.

b. Consideration of resolution amending Resolution No. 06-37 to authorize entering into a license agreement to allow Pardee Homes to conduct a mitigation and monitoring plan on a 230 acre open space dedication lot in Violin Canyon, County of Los Angeles.

e. Consideration of resolution authorizing the use of Santa Monica Mountains Open Space Preservation Assessment District No. 1 funds to acquire properties in Sunset Plaza, Oak Forest Canyon, Beverly Glen, and Laurel Canyon areas.

f. Consideration of resolution authorizing the use of Santa Monica Mountains Open Space Preservation Assessment District No. 2 funds to acquire one Rivas Canyon property, Pacific Palisades

g. Consideration of resolution authorizing the acceptance of an approximately 18-acre donation (APN 700-0-190-075) located east of Yerba Buena Road and north of Yellow Hill Road, Little Sycamore Canyon Watershed, Ventura County.

h. Consideration of resolution authorizing entering into a Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperative Agreement with City of Compton for the purpose of developing, designing, constructing and maintaining recreation and open spaces along Compton Creek.

i. Consideration of resolution authorizing the acceptance of an approximately 275-acre open space dedication of lots 34 and 20 of Tract Nos. 44327 and 44327-01 and conservation easements within said tracts, Indian Springs project, Devil Canyon, Chatsworth

j. Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of an approximately 280-acre open space dedication, conservation easements, trail easements and maintenance funding in the Big Tujunga Wash, Sunland-Tujunga

k. Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of an approximately 3.5-acre conservation easement over APN 2274-020-019 west of Oak Forest Canyon and Camino de la Cumbre, Sherman Oaks

l. Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of Proposition 50 grant funds from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for acquisition of APN 2821-0090-021 in Devils Canyon, Santa Susana Mountains, Upper Los Angeles River Watershed, unincorporated Los Angeles County.

VI. Consideration of resolution adding APNs 5571-026-007 and 5571-025-042, adjacent to Runyon Canyon Park, to the Final Engineer's Report and authorizing the use of Santa Monica Mountains Open Space Preservation Assessment District No. 1 funds to acquire said parcels, Hollywood.

VIII. Rocky Peak Park near the terminus of Flanagan Drive, for the development of Chumash Park and to provide trailhead parking for Rocky Peak Park, pursuant to CUP-S-653, Simi Valley.

IX. Consideration of resolution authorizing a grant to the City Project for collaboration and community outreach on an MRCA pilot interpretive program for the communities of North East Los Angeles.

X. Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of a conservation easement over approximately 117 acres located near Yerba Buena Road (APNs 701-0-030-100 and 701-0-140-040), County of Ventura.

XI. Consideration of resolution authorizing the use of Santa Monica Mountains Open Space Preservation Assessment District No. 1 funds to acquire an option on APNs 5565-003-036, 037, 038, 039, 040, and 041 located at the southwest corner of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Mulholland Drive, Laurel Canyon,

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NOTICE OF MEETING

WILDLIFE CONSERVATION BOARD

State Of California Department of Fish & Game

May 24, 2007

10:00 A.M.

State Capitol, Room 113

Sacramento, California 95814

TO SEE AGENDA: http://www.wcb.ca.gov/pdf/Agenda/May2007PrelimAgenda.pdf

*7. Wilson Creek Riparian Corridor, Expansions 4 and 5, $10,000.00 Riverside County acquisition of two separate properties totaling 354+ acres for the protection of threatened and endangered species including the San Diego horned lizard, orange-throated whiptail, coastal western whiptail, and the coast patch-nosed snake and to establish a wildlife movement corridor located east of Temecula, south of Hemet near State Highways 79 and 371

*8. San Jacinto Wildlife Area, Expansion 29, Riverside County $211,000.00 acquisition of 16+ acres of land, as an addition to the San Jacinto Wildlife Area

*10. La Sierra Canyon, Malibu Creek Watershed, Los Angeles County $5,000.00 acquisition of 30+ acres of vacant land

11. Elkhorn Slough Ecological Reserve, Expansion 12, $550,000.00 Monterey County acquisition of 42+ acres of land as an addition to the Elkhorn Slough Ecological Reserve

*12. Elkhorn Slough Ecological Reserve, Expansion 13, $325,000.00 Monterey County acquisition of 7+ acres of privately-owned land as an addition to the Elkhorn Slough Ecological Reserve

21. Santa Ana – Palomar Mountain Linkage $1,580,000.00 (Department of Defense – Margarita Peak), San Diego County To consider the allocation for a grant to The Trust for Public Land for a cooperative project with the Department of Defense, the Fallbrook Land Conservancy, and the Department of Fish and Game to assist with the acquisition of 1,206+ acres of land to protect significant open space corridors and provide connectivity to the Cleveland National Forest,

22. Santa Rosa Mountains, Expansion 8, Riverside County $756,000.00 To consider the acquisition of 100+ acres of land as an expansion of the Santa Rosa Mountains and the acceptance of two grants from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service totaling $924,000.00 to be applied toward the purchase of the property for the protection of critical habitat for peninsular bighorn sheep located south of Avenue 62 and west of Jefferson Street, in the city of La Quinta,

24. Parker Ranch, Kern County $1,515,000.00 To consider the allocation for a grant to The Nature Conservancy to assist in the acquisition of a conservation easement over 9,576± acres of land for the protection of rangeland, grazing land, and grasslands, located near Caliente, in the County of Kern.

26. San Antonio Valley, Santa Clara County $4,730,000.00 To consider the acquisition of a 2,899± acre real property for the protection of sensitive plant and animal species and valuable habitat linkages to adjacent public lands, located approximately 20 miles east of San Jose and 25 miles south of Livermore, in Santa Clara County.

29. Putah Creek North (Bobcat Ranch), Yolo County $6,360,000.00 To consider the allocation for a grant to Audubon California to assist in the acquisition of 6,810± acres of vacant land, together with the acceptance of a conservation easement over the property by Department of Fish and Game, for the protection of native grasslands, oak woodlands, and riparian habitat located north of State Highway 128, approximately three miles west of Winters, in Napa and Yolo Counties.

30. Martis Valley, Nevada and Placer Counties $6,510,000.00 To consider the allocation for a grant to the Truckee Donner Land Trust to assist in a cooperative project with The Trust for Public Land for the acquisition of 1,481± acres of vacant land for the protection of a critical deer migration corridor, mountain lion and wetland habitats, and to provide recreational opportunities for the public located approximately one-half mile east of the Truckee-Tahoe Airport, in Martis Valley, in Nevada and Placer Counties.

31. Eel River Wildlife Area (Salt River Unit), Humboldt County $920,000.00 To consider the allocation for a grant to the Western Rivers Conservancy and the acceptance of a National Coastal Wetlands Conservation Grant in the amount of $1,000,000.00 from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service together with the authorization to enter into an Agreement to Subgrant those federal funds to the Conservancy, in a cooperative project with the State Coastal Conservancy to assist in the acquisition of a 443+ acre real property for the protection of wildlife habitat and coastal wetlands located northwest of the community of Ferndale along the Salt River, adjacent to the Eel River, in Humboldt County.

33. Humboldt Bay Coastal Reserve, Humboldt County $175,000.00 To consider the allocation for a grant to the Friends of the Dunes Land Trust in a cooperative project with the State Coastal Conservancy, Humboldt County, and the Pacific Coast Joint Venture, to assist in the acquisition of 38+ acres of land for the protection and preservation of beach, dune, wetland, and remnant maritime forest habitat on the north spit of Humboldt Bay, about three miles southwest of Arcata and four miles northwest of Eureka,

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MAJOR L.A. WILDLIFE CORRIDOR PINCHPOINT PARCEL TO BE SAVED

March 2007: Browning-Ferris Industries (BFI) owns approximately 1200 acres of
vacant land in Elsmere Canyon and has offered to donate the northerly 400 acres
to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority. This property connects the thousands of acres of parks in the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills and Santa Susana Mountains with the Angeles National Forest and parks in the east half of L.A. County! This pinch point is just north of Sylmar and Granada Hills and south of Santa Clarita.

The Elsmere parcel is in the center of the map below, immediately east of the 14 freeway icon. The green shaded land is public parkland. The red shaded parcels are from a year 2000 map of proposed purchases by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. (click on maps to enlarge)

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Santa Monica Mountains Project rejected by County

On March 27th, 2007 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors roundly rejected attempts to pave over sensitive streams and endangered plants. Triangle Ranch had threatened to destroy imperiled plants, heritage oaks, and important wildlife linkages.

Your voice made a difference! Center members and biodiversity activists generated more than 735 emails to the LA Board of Supervisors. Several speakers emphasized the importance of maintaining conservation protection. With your support, the Supervisors voted to deny the Triangle Ranch project as proposed and keep strong protections for sensitive ecosystems in the Santa Monica Mountains.

The Center for Biological Diversity will continue to work for wildlife protections in southern California by fighting projects that destroy wildlife and advocating for stronger conservation. Now more than ever, we will focus on oversight of the irresponsible sprawl encroaching on our urban wildlands to protect wildlife for future generations of Californians. With your help we can continue to make a difference.

Spread the word. Get your friends involved by clicking on the Tell-a-Friend link.

The Center for Biological Diversity is a national nonprofit conservation organization with more than 35,000 members dedicated to the protection of endangered species and habitat. www.biologicaldiversity.org

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Kings County Utopian themed Sprawl Project proposed

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/11/MNGGVOJC0J1.DTL&hw=quay&sn=002&sc=999

50,000 homes on 12,000 acres along the 5 Freeway proposed by L.A. wannabe developer.
"Some call him a visionary. Others say he's a smooth talker who has a history of promising more than he can deliver. Now Hays is pushing his biggest idea yet: A new, solar-powered town of 150,000 people on flat fields and grazing land along a desolate stretch of Interstate 5 in the San Joaquin Valley. In Hays' utopian vision, no resident would ever pay an electric bill, homes would feature the latest technological innovations and commuters would drive energy-efficient cars, possibly supplied at low cost by General Motors." to read the initial study of environmental impacts, click here: http://www.willdan.com/QuayValley/Initial_Study_1_30%20Final.pdf

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-quay26mar26,1,4167798.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true
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Development takes toll on South Orange County surf spot

By Doug Green/ Staff writer, The Daily Breeze, 3/23/2007

If you tuned in last summer, the mighty forces of government and commerce, which are one and the same, were closing in on poor little San Onofre and its wave-pumping, world-class neighbor known simply as Trestles.

Their instrument of infamy is a toll road poised like a loaded gun in the hills east of Mission Viejo, taking aim at this surfers' mecca.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies, a consortium of Orange County governments, is planning to extend the 241 toll road on a curving course through the San Mateo watershed, the state park of the same name, a land conservancy area and San Onofre State Beach, a dirt-road surf spot that is great for beginners and rife with vibrations of surfers' fellow love not often felt elsewhere.

This is Orange County and the juice is direct current, that is to say, it flows one way: pro-developer.

Ostensibly, that is, according to the attendant lobbyists and politicians, the toll road will relieve the horrific congestion on Interstate 5, which Orange County visionaries have relied on to supply transportation to the area for the last 50 years as the walled housing tracts filled the flats and terraced developments climbed the hillsides.

Ah, the march of civilization, ever southward -- guided by the wisdom of our civic leaders. Someday, I'm sure, it will reach San Diego.

CEO Bill Woollett says the TCA is "working toward beginning construction as soon as possible, but building a large infrastructure project, no matter how popular and needed is a complex and controversial undertaking."

He says construction will be delayed until 2010 at the earliest, moved back from 2008.

The TCA blames the necessary red tape: environmental impact reports, regulatory agencies, etc. It doesn't mention the four lawsuits against the toll road.

So San Onofre has been given a two-year reprieve, a victory, but the war is anything but over.

"This is still good news," said Mark Rauscher Surfrider Foundation's assistant environmental director. "The longer it doesn't happen makes it more likely that it will never happen."

At first glance Save San Onofre forces look like they're holding aces.

Rauscher said the staff of the Coastal Commission, which must OK the Foothill-South Toll Road, have opposed it on grounds that it was not in compliance with goals of the Coastal Act of 1972.

Surfrider has partnered with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club to sue TCA.

Rauscher says Attorney General Jerry Brown's office is suing over encroachment onto the public lands on behalf of the California State Parks Commission.

Brown's lawyers are also suing on behalf of the Native American Heritage Commission over seven archeological sites that the toll road will impact.

The fourth lawsuit is a land dispute between TCA and an Orange County landowner.

A favorable bill, AB 1457, has been introduced in the Assembly. Sponsored by Jared Huffman, D-Marin, and co-authored by former L.A. Councilman Mike Feuer, the law requires any park-encroaching road builders to get an OK from the state parks director, which would present another obstacle to the toll road.

Rauscher said Surfrider is hiring someone to rally the troops and the dozens of organizations arrayed against the toll road. He believes with the TCA balking, that the combined strategies are working.

"We see it as a signal that we're doing the right thing, so we're ramping up our public support to protect Trestles and San Onofre," he said.

My understanding of the project is that it is something of a one-shot deal. There are no plans for an alternate route. The TCA is putting all of its money on a toll road that parallels the San Diego Freeway for the length of Camp Pendleton's 19 or 20 miles.

"They (the TCA) definitely have a lot of momentum going," Rauscher said. "It's been going for 20 years or more. This road was planned so long ago that it doesn't address traffic mitigation."

He said the 241 doesn't even connect properly with the I-5 Freeway.

I agree with Rauscher that the fight is far from over.

I'll bet somebody has put a pro-business, pro-developer type or two on the Coastal Commission -- a Republican with a funny accent, perhaps? Mr. Woollett is pretty confident to say that it will only take two years to defeat four lawsuits and an Assembly bill and a host of opponents.

He probably knows something that most people don't know: In politics and business, the juice is direct current, it flows one way -- the way the money wants it to.

But maybe, just maybe, the surf-loving citizens of Southern California can turn aside this loaded weapon and save San-0, like Bambi in its sights. Check it out at savesanonofre.com.

green4surf@yahoo.com

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Champion Clear-cutter Pacific Lumber Co. files for bankruptcy

--2 stories
also, to get information on the bankruptcy filing, click here: http://plbankruptcy.com/

The timber giant on California's North Coast says environmental limits have kept it from making a profit. A state official denies the claim
By Tim Reiterman, Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO — Pacific Lumber Co., a timber giant on California's North Coast for more than 140 years, has filed for bankruptcy, contending that environmental restrictions imposed by the state have made it impossible to log enough to make a profit.After years of threatening bankruptcy, Pacific announced Friday that the company and its subsidiaries had filed for Chapter 11 protection a day earlier in U.S. District Court in Texas.The companies seeking to reorganize are Pacific, Scotia Pacific Co., Britt Lumber Co. and Scotia Development, which harvest, grow, mill and sell redwood and Douglas fir. They have more than 500 employees.A spokeswoman said Pacific did not have the money to make a $27-million interest payment due Friday. Its parent, Maxxam Inc., recently reported long-term debt of more than $800 million.Pacific said it was facing the "liquidity crisis" because excessive environmental requirements were imposing high costs while restricting the amount of timber the company could cut on its land in Humboldt County.Pacific contends that the state has violated the historic Headwaters Agreement of 1996 — a $480-million deal under which the state and federal governments acquired 7,500 acres from Pacific, creating the Headwaters Preserve of ancient redwoods. The company agreed to limit logging on its remaining 200,000 acres.The bankruptcy filing comes one month after Pacific sued the state, alleging that it breached the Headwaters accord, thus preventing the company from remaining economically viable without restructuring."The government restrictions above and beyond those agreed to in Headwaters made it impossible for the company to generate the kind of income it needed," said Edgar Washburn, a longtime attorney for Pacific, who filed the lawsuit.Pacific has clashed repeatedly with environmentalists and the North Coast Regional Water Board, contending that the agency's environmental restrictions were putting too much land off-limits to logging.Bill Rukeyser, state Water Resources Control Board spokesman, denied that environmental enforcement has brought the company to bankruptcy. "There are plenty of well-run companies in California in a variety of fields that are making a profit and are complying with regulations that protect water quality," he said.Pacific, which has its own mill town of Scotia, was purchased in 1986 by Houston-based Maxxam, headed by financier Charles Hurwitz.Officials said they hoped the Headwaters deal would end years of controversy and protests by environmentalists who contended that excessive cutting had rapidly depleted redwood forests, harmed wildlife habitat and filled streams with silt.The company agreed in 1999 to a plan for conserving the habitat of 17 species on its remaining land.U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) issued a statement Friday saying, "I believe that Pacific Lumber is required to meet the obligations of the … plan whether or not they are in bankruptcy and to live up to the agreement they signed eight years ago."Spokeswoman Andrea Arnot said the company has been following the habitat protection agreement and mitigating the environmental effects of its logging.A longtime Pacific critic, Mark Lovelace of the Humboldt Watershed Council, said, "While sale and conversion of land is a concern, the highest and best use of this company's land … remains timber production."
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Pirates North of the Klamath

By Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, Monday, January 22, 2007
http://www.sierraclub.org/carlpope/2007/01/pirates-north-of-klamath.asp

Scotia, CA -- The announcement that Pacific Lumber (PL) would attempt to escape the regulatory authority of the State of California by heading for bankruptcy court brought back bitter memories.

PL was paid enormous sums by the federal government for the protection of the Headwaters Forest but never accepted the fact that being a good environmental steward was part of the deal. Indeed, the purchase almost fell apart at the last minute when PL and then-Governor Pete Wilson attempted to weaken this requirement. Fortunately, the Majority Leader of the California Senate, John Burton, held firm and, in the last hour of the legislative session, told PL that if it insisted on weakening environmental standards, it would have to kiss a half billion in federal and state tax dollars good-bye. PL blinked.

Now the outlaw is back, asking a federal bankruptcy court to release it from the requirement that it comply with California's water quality standards. The latest shenanigans comes as the company filed for, "Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it is 'facing a liquidity crisis arising from regulatory limitations on timber harvest.' In a release, the company said its annual timber harvest volumes and cash flows will be below the levels needed to meet its debt service obligations." The solution? Cut more timber, even at the expense of water quality and endangered salmon runs.

This is standard operating procedure for PL, Maxxam (the holding company that controls it), and Charles Hurwitz, (the Houston Financier who manipulates it). And it's personally painful for me, because I received a phone call from a distraught PL employee the afternoon when Hurwitz first made his hostile takeover bid for Pacific Lumber, which at the time was the model of sustainable forestry in the United States. The employee explained to me back in 1985 that Hurwitz was going to take the company over, plunge it into debt, and try to pay the debt off by liquidating the remaining old growth redwoods. She wanted to know if there was a way the company could fight Hurwitz off.

I thought there was. Pacific Lumber could take the water quality and conservation benefits of its sustainable timber practices, sign a permanent commitment to them, and receive in exchange a conservation easement worth hundreds of millions to its shareholders. This conservation easement would have been good for the company, but a poison pill for Hurwitz and his plan to clearcut the Redwoods. I approached sympathetic members of the Pacific Lumber Board. At first they were interested, but asked me not to go the press. Then, at the last minute, their lawyers told them that if they stood up to Hurwitz, he would sue them personally, and they could be bankrupted -- whereas if they went along with Hurtwitz, the lawyers said, he could and would legally indemnify them against the lawsuits which followed. Faced with personal ruin, the board gave in and allowed Hurwitz to take over. Only later did we learn that the lawyers, whether correct or not, had a conflict of interest -- because they were also the lawyers for leveraged buy-out king Ivan Boesky, who was, secretly, Hurwitz's partner in the hostile takeover.

I've always wondered what would have happened if I had taken our idea to the press. But now even the modest protection we won in the Headwater Deal is at risk -- because federal bankruptcy judges have become the new court of last resort for crony capitalism of the sort that Hurwitz and his fellow pirates represent. Want out of an expensive underfunded pension plan? Follow the lead of the airlines who've gone to bankruptcy court to find a way to dodge their responsibilities. Want to raise electricity rates for your customers beyond the tolerable level? Just transfer your assets to a holding company, declare bankruptcy and leave the rate-payers with the liabilities, which is what happened in California's electricity crisis. Find it awkward to clean up your toxic waste? Use the same ploy: Declare bankruptcy and walk away from your obligations to communities as ASARCO is trying to do.

And now the bankruptcy judges are being asked to rule that Pacific Lumber can cut trees it needs to pay off its junk bond debt. Yes, this stands the concept of the rule of law on its head -- but we live in a topsy-turvy world. I'm not sure they can't get away with it -- unless Congress fixes federal bankruptcy law fast, as Senator Maria Cantwell proposed last year.

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http://www.calcoast.org/news/water0070118.html

Experts cast doubt on toxic water plan

Scientists don't think pricey new San Joaquin Valley drainage policy will succeed

By Glen Martin, San Francisco Chronicle, January 18, 2007

An internal government memo obtained by The Chronicle shows that the federal government wants to spend billions of dollars on a plan to fix one of the San Joaquin Valley's most intractable pollution problems.

The policy, expected to be confirmed in a Feb. 16 announcement, targets the decades-old dilemma of toxic water that drains from some west valley farms -- contamination that has caused the deformities and deaths of thousands of birds since the problem was first discovered at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge in the 1980s.

The new policy outlined in the memo involves:
-- Paying potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money to farmers who would take about 194,000 acres of cropland out of production.
-- Treating some farm drainage water with expensive technology to remove selenium, a naturally occurring element in west San Joaquin Valley soils that can poison wildlife and poses a danger to humans.
-- Building more than 2,000 acres of artificial ponds in the valley to collect drainage water until it evaporates.Officials with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the agency that sets federal water policy, declined to comment specifically on the memo, which was written by an agency staffer and verified by several sources familiar with the negotiations. None of the staff members wanted to be named by The Chronicle because of fears of retaliation from their employers.

Some experts who have read the memo say the plan, which could cost upward of $2 billion, is much more expensive than past proposals and could amount to little more than payouts to a few hundred farmers.

Many experts who monitor water issues in California say the memo represents an extreme departure from previous proposals."The insanity of this plan defies economic, scientific and just plain common sense," said Tom Stokely, a director of the advocacy group California Water Impact Network. "It's clear this alternative will not work and taxpayers will end up paying the bill."Stokely and other activists preferred earlier proposals that would have taken much more selenium-laden cropland out of production.

Drain water from western San Joaquin Valley farms has been a problem for years.Growers there use salty irrigation water imported from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and delivered via a canal-and-pump system. The federal government subsidizes that water, delivering it to the farmers through long-term water contracts.

Over time, salt builds up on the land and farmers flush it away with additional water. This takes away most of the concentrated salt, but it also flushes out large quantities of selenium that occur naturally in the soil.At sufficiently high levels, selenium can poison fish, wildlife and people. To solve the drainage disposal problem, the Bureau of Reclamation in 1968 started building the San Luis Drain so the contaminated water would flow into the delta. It was stopped in 1975 due to high costs and a growing awareness of selenium's dangers.

In the 1980s, wildlife officials discovered that selenium-tainted drain water had caused birth deformities and deaths of thousands of birds at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge, where some of the polluted water was sent. The San Luis Drain was never completed.So in 1995, the Westlands Water District -- which at 600,000 acres is the largest water district in the country and represents hundreds of farmers -- sued the federal government, demanding a solution to the dilemma of drain-water disposal. A federal appeals court in 2000 ordered the Bureau of Reclamation to solve the problem.

Most recently, it seemed the Bureau of Reclamation was poised to pay farmers to permanently retire about 308,000 acres of farmland and build a large system of ponds to collect much of the remaining runoff water.That plan could have cost more than $300 million for the evaporation ponds and compensation to farmers for crop losses; perhaps another $900 million -- or $3,000 an acre -- would be paid to retire the land.Yet, according to the internal government memo, the agency now favors a much more expensive plan -- one that could cost between $2 billion and $3 billion over a 50-year-period. This new plan would retire only 194,000 acres of cropland, build even more evaporation ponds, and use reverse osmosis water-treatment technology to help remove the selenium from the drain water.

Ultimately, any agreement that settles Westlands' lawsuit would have to be approved by a federal judge, and Congress would have to agree to pay for it.Bureau of Reclamation spokesman Jeff McCracken -- who declined to identify the plan the agency now favors -- wouldn't confirm the policy shift. But he said it was within the agency's authority to change its policy with regard to the selenium problem."We do have the legal right to select any alternative within the legal confines" of the environmental studies, said McCracken. "It is not unique to go from a preferred alternative to another alternative that meets everyone's interests."The affected farmers, in general, want to retire less land than environmentalists, who say the best solution to the selenium problem involves retiring as much land as possible.

Stokely said the Bureau of Reclamation's new plan will only exacerbate the selenium problem."The problem is easily solved. Less irrigation, less drain water," Stokely said.The Bureau of Reclamation's new plan may also allow irrigators to keep both the land and their promised allotments of federally subsidized water, Stokely said. The so-called "retired" land could then be irrigated with groundwater, he said."Basically, the public will pay billions of dollars for worse than nothing. We'll have fewer options for solving the selenium problem and less control over public water," Stokely said.

And tests by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show the reverse osmosis treatment won't work well enough to solve the problem. Joe Skorupa, a biologist for the agency and an expert on selenium's impact on wildlife, said there are only two ways to fix the pollution: Irrigate less land, or somehow get the drainage water safely out of the valley."Anything else is a stalling action," he said. "Basically, the less water you put on the land, the less polluted water you have coming out the bottom."Skorupa also questioned the proposed ponds that would collect the selenium-tainted water and allow it to evaporate. The ponds are bird magnets, he said."All things being equal, the fewer evaporation ponds, the better," he said.Westlands Water District spokeswoman Sarah Woolf confirmed that the district's farmers have been discussing lawsuit settlement options with the Bureau of Reclamation, but she would not go into details. She also refused The Chronicle's requests to speak with farmers about the issue."We're not confident any of the drainage options under consideration will really solve the problem," Woolf said. "Each of them has some problems."

Woolf said she knew nothing about another aspect of the government memo: The proposed transfer of San Luis Reservoir, a water-storage reservoir owned jointly by the state and federal governments, to west valley water districts. The Los Banos-area reservoir now serves the farmers, Southern California municipalities and some Santa Clara County cities. Such a transfer would give farmers much more control over when -- and how much -- water is released.Carl Torgersen, the chief of state water project operations and management for the California Department of Water Resources, said his agency supports efforts to solve the San Joaquin Valley's drainage problem. But it would be premature to discuss details, Torgersen said -- including the future of San Luis Reservoir.

But Karen Schambach, the California director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said transfer of the reservoir shouldn't be considered."It's really inappropriate to be having discussions of disposing of a public resource to a private party," Schambach said. "Who's looking out for the public in this?"Regardless of how the Bureau of Reclamation proceeds, the scrutiny from the new Democratic Congress could be rigorous.Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Norwalk (Los Angeles County), who is expected to take over the House Subcommittee on Water and Power, said she had serious concerns about selenium contamination and threats to wildlife and drinking water."In the past, the Bureau of Reclamation and I have had many differences," Napolitano said. "We may be compelled to hold hearings on this current situation."

How agricultural drain water is becoming contaminated:
Water coming off farms in the western San Joaquin Valley is picking up selenium, an element that can be poisonous to fish, wildlife and people.
1. Irrigation water is applied to croplands in the western San Joaquin Valley, an area with selenium-rich soils.
2. Salt in the irrigation water concentrates around the root zone of the plants.
3. To remove the concentrated salts and keep land productive, farmers flush their lands with more water.
4. The water that drains off the fields picks up selenium from the soil as well as salt. The high levels of selenium can be toxic to wildlife, especially birds.

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070105/news_1n5runoff.html

San Diego County's urban-runoff rules getting tougher

Region's 5-year cost may hit $250 million
By Terry Rodgers,STAFF WRITER

January 5, 2007
Water officials are poised to enact stricter regulations requiring local governments, developers and businesses in San Diego County to further reduce the amount of pollution washed into storm drains.Analysts say the revised storm-water discharge permit could force the region's 18 cities, county, port district and airport authority to collectively spend more than $250 million in the next five years.

TOUGHER MEASURES

State regulators are set to adopt new rules for curbing urban-runoff pollution in San Diego County.

They want:

Local governments to inspect a wider array of commercial and industrial businesses that have potential storm-drain contaminants.

Cities to work with one another on regional plans for reducing urban runoff.

Various developers, including home builders, to install devices or systems for capturing runoff.

In addition, the building industry contends that the tougher rules would hit consumers' pocketbooks. They say affected developers will pass on their additional expenses to home buyers and other property users.

“It could easily cost $20,000 or more per (new-home) lot, not counting the maintenance cost over the life of the property,” said Jerry Livingston, an attorney for the San Diego Building Industry Association.

The proposed permit is “one of the most far-reaching pieces of land-use regulation ever proposed for San Diego County,” said San Diego attorney S. Wayne Rosenbaum, an expert on water-quality laws. “General plans, specific plans and individual development permits are all going to be affected by this.”

Across Southern California, rainfall and other sources of runoff typically carry toxins to beaches and other waterways, making them unsuitable for human contact.The San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, a state agency responsible for enforcing the federal Clean Water Act, is scheduled to adopt the stepped-up standards Jan. 24.

Its new permit would compel local governments to verify that a broad range of businesses – from factories and auto-repair shops to restaurants and dry cleaners – are diverting trace metals, solvents and other contaminants from storm drains.The water board also wants those governments to jointly establish regional plans for limiting urban runoff.For private industry, the proposed measures would require new-home tracts and various other developments to use special devices that trap runoff and filter out many pollutants.

Water-quality officials say stronger regulations are needed because urban-runoff pollution is increasing. They point to research showing that most development involves paving over dirt with asphalt roads and concrete sidewalks, surfaces that not only can't absorb water but also speed up the flow of runoff to waterways and beaches.

Urban runoff consists of rainfall and other random sources of water, such as excess irrigation or soapy residue from car washing. As it flows across roads and other impervious surfaces, runoff collects silt, oil, bacteria and other contaminants, such as copper residue from the brake pads of vehicles.

Many people mistakenly assume that storm drains funnel runoff to sewage treatment plants. In reality, most of the runoff collected by storm-drain systems from Los Angeles to San Diego is discharged along the coastline without treatment to remove pollutants.

In 1991, Congress amended the Clean Water Act to allow states to reduce urban-runoff pollution “to the maximum extent practicable.” It wasn't until a decade later that water-quality officials in San Diego County adopted regulations with teeth.

Those requirements – the most stringent in California at the time – were challenged in court by the San Diego Building Industry Association. The state's 4th District Court of Appeal upheld the rules, and the California Supreme Court allowed the appellate decision to stand.

In recent years, Los Angeles, Santa Monica and other cities have jumped to the forefront of regulating urban runoff.Ninety percent of the provisions in San Diego County's revised storm-water permit are the same as those adopted five years ago, officials for the regional water board say.

One significant change, called “low-impact development,” would affect certain developments such as new housing complexes. Such places would have to incorporate special drainage features that capture rainfall for later use as irrigation or enable it to seep into the ground to replenish the local aquifer.In addition, drainage from home lots and other buildings would have to be engineered more precisely to prevent downstream erosion. Many properties would need to install drainage systems that hold and slowly release storm water, a low-tech method for reducing pollutants. When runoff is contained, its oil, trace metals and other contaminants settle out, and sunlight helps kill much of its bacteria.

Local governments also would have more responsibilities. Besides meeting the mandate to inspect businesses, they would have to collaborate with one another in curbing runoff that pollutes large drainage basins known as watersheds. Officials would need to amend local ordinances to reflect the new requirements.

The revised storm-water permit is likely to encounter its stiffest political resistance from smaller cities and the county government.“The county and some cities will be forced to make difficult funding decisions based on some of the requirements in this permit,” said Kathleen Flannery, a county official monitoring the water board's process.Three years ago, San Diego County sponsored a bill that would have undermined the state's ability to enforce storm-water controls. It abandoned the effort after getting flak from a range of groups.

In October, the county submitted a letter to the water board detailing its “legal concerns” about the proposed permit revisions.County officials contend that such revisions would exceed the Clean Water Act's minimum standards for combating pollution and are thus “unfunded mandates” subject to review by a state commission. The county also argues that the proposed pollution controls should be put on hold until they are reviewed for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

Regional board officials said the county's legal arguments are without merit.While local governments in San Diego County have made progress since 2001, further nudging is necessary to achieve better results, said Phil Hammer, a water-board official overseeing the revised permit.

“This adds a level of accountability that wasn't there before,” Hammer said.
The city of San Diego has taken a less-confrontational stance.

It spends more than $8 million annually to comply with the regional board's urban-runoff regulations. Under the revised permit, that cost would rise to at least $10 million each year, said Chris Zirkle, director of the city's pollution prevention program.San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has approved the spending increase and is “absolutely committed” to reducing urban-runoff pollution, mayoral spokesman Bill Harris said.

Meanwhile, some environmental organizations say the proposed regulations don't go far enough.“The regional boards statewide have only proposed Band-Aids for a problem that is only getting worse,” said David Beckman, an attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council, a national environmental group that has successfully defended urban-runoff controls in court.

For example, he said, the proposed measures fall short of requiring all new construction and major redevelopment projects to use runoff-capturing technologies.Reducing runoff pollution is difficult because each new building, driveway and highway increases the amount of impervious surfaces.“You have to do more every year just to reduce pollution to counteract the additional landscape being paved,” Beckman said.A 2002 study by the Pew Oceans Commission found that creeks, rivers and estuaries become biologically degraded once impervious surfaces in a watershed cover 10 percent of the land.

An analysis of satellite photos taken in 2001 found that 28.5 percent of the coastal metropolitan landscape from Oceanside to the U.S.-Mexico border was covered with impervious surfaces, said an official with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20070125/news_7m25runoff.html

San Diego Water Board toughens rules for rain runoff

Sweeping changes to control pollution
By Terry Rodgers, STAFF WRITER
January 25, 2007

Cities, builders and businesses throughout San Diego County must ramp up efforts aimed at reducing urban runoff pollution, state water quality regulators decided yesterday.
The rules were adopted unanimously by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board following a daylong public hearing attended by more than 100 people.

The regulations are incorporated into a state storm-water discharge permit for the region's 18 cities, the county, the San Diego Unified Port District and airport authority. The permit is revised every five years.

“There is no perfect permit,” said board chairwoman Jennifer Kraus. “But I believe we are pretty darn close.”

The permit calls for sweeping changes in how cities and builders allow development to occur. The new standard requires builders to incorporate special design features that would allow rain to soak into the ground rather than go into streets and drains.

Across Southern California, rainfall and other sources of runoff can carry toxins to beaches and other waterways, making them unsuitable for humans. Kraus acknowledged the new regulations represent a major change in how developers should build and how businesses must curb their contributions to urban runoff pollution.

“It's time for that shift,” she said.

As in the past, local governments will police the new storm-water regulations. Cities must compile lists of businesses within their jurisdiction that are likely to contribute to polluted runoff and inspect at least 25 percent. Cities must also monitor their storm drains annually to measure any improvements.

A broad range of businesses, including factories, auto repair shops and restaurants will be scrutinized to ensure they aren't adding pollutants to storm drain systems.

Cities have some flexibility in how they implement the more stringent rules. Some may choose to prevent contaminants from getting into their storm drains by enacting local ordinances that, for instance, prohibit shop owners from hosing down storefront sidewalks. Cities may also require builders to install treatment ponds and other devices that clean storm water before it reaches creeks and rivers.

A majority of the county's cities – except for San Diego – consider the regulations to be an unfunded mandate that the state should pay for.

Representatives of the business community and development industry said the regulations would increase the cost of doing business and will raise housing costs. They urged the board to put the discharge permit on hold.

Environmentalists said they were disappointed the permit isn't as tough as they wanted.
“More needs to be done,” said David Beckman, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.

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http://www.calcoast.org/news/cpr0070201.html
STEVE WIEGAND

High-speed train's near standstill

Sacramento Bee, February 1, 2007

In 1993, Arnold Schwarzenegger was starring in "The Last Action Hero." California politicians, meanwhile, were creating a commission to ponder the prospect of building an environmentally sound, cost-efficient, up-and-down-the-state high-speed rail system.

Now it's 2007. Arnold Schwarzenegger is starring in "Governor."And after 14 years, $30 million, two oversight panels, a couple of postponed bond votes and a whole bunch of planning, the dream of a high-speed rail system in California is on the verge of being slowly but inexorably starved to death.

"It's very frustrating," said Quentin Kopp, who is chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The authority was created in 1996, after a predecessor commission decided a passenger train system within the state did indeed make sense economically, environmentally and technologically.

What's frustrating Kopp is the bread-and-water budget for the authority that the Schwarzenegger administration has proposed for the budget year that starts July 1.

The rail folks have asked for about $104 million. Most of it would be used to pay for design and engineering plans and to purchase rights of way for a system that supporters say would zip along at speeds of up to 220 mph, carry up to 68 million passengers a year and require no taxpayer subsidies to operate.

But the proposed budget the guv trotted out Jan. 10 contains a bit over $1 million for the authority -- or just enough for it to pay a small staff and the rent on an office across the street from the Capitol.

That's the bureaucratic equivalent of treading water, at a time when the project at long last is ready to begin picking up steam.

At an authority meeting Monday, for example, trustees unanimously approved $298.4 million in long-term engineering contracts for Sacramento-to-Fresno, Fresno-to-Palmdale and L.A.-to-San Diego segments. But there is only $2.5 million in the current fiscal year's budget to begin paying for them.

Even $104 million is chump change for a project that could take a decade to finish and cost $37 billion in state and federal funds.

A $10 billion bond proposal that would give the project its first serious money -- and has already been postponed twice in the past three years -- is scheduled for next year.

But the guv wants to postpone the vote again, so it doesn't interfere with the $29 billion bond package he's proposing for the same ballot.

Rail board members and staff are politely apoplectic at the thought of more delay.

"That (proposal) is obnoxious," said trustee Rod Diridon, who with Kopp has been a leading advocate of rail systems for several decades. "We gave in 2004, we went along in 2006. It's our turn now."

To ensure that, however, the bullet train boosters will need to enlist sizable support in a Legislature that is replete with rookie members who are new to the debate.

And politicians being politicians, it's tough to rally support for a project that will not be completed until well after they leave office.

As Kopp put it, "They might be there for the groundbreaking, but not too many will be there for the ribbon-cutting."

That includes the guv, who clearly wants to leave a lasting legacy to the state, but who, like others before him, can't seem to resist quick fixes that will earn applause now instead of appreciation later.

So why not just put the whole idea out of its misery rather than throw it a million-dollar budget crumb? Because someday California may wish it had a high-speed rail system, like France or China or Mexico. And not even a "Last Action" hero wants to have his fingerprints on the budget gun that killed it.

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http://www.calcoast.org/news/cpr0070108b.html
Cities balk at adding 28,000 housing units in county

VENTURA COUNTY: Local council might redistribute regional numbers

By Sam Richard, Ventura County Star, January 8, 2007

A requirement that Ventura County cities plan for more than 28,000 new dwelling units within the next seven years has some city officials balking.

A recent assessment of regional housing needs, drafted by the Southern California Association of Governments, would require cities in six counties, including Ventura County, to create plans to accommodate specific numbers of housing units by 2014.

Ventura County would be required to develop zoning plans to accommodate 28,481 dwellings. Construction of new developments would be based on four household income categories: very low, low, moderate and above moderate.

That has prompted the Ventura Council of Governments to look at proposals to redistribute the numbers.

The council wants to come up with numbers that "make sense for everyone," and three or four proposals could be introduced when the council meets Tuesday, said Wally Bobkiewicz, interim executive director. The council plans to meet at 3 p.m. at the Camarillo Police Department, 3701 E. Las Posas Road.

The cities have a problem with the state government telling them the amount of housing they must accommodate, rather than letting them determine "their own destiny," he said.

Number upsets Camarillo

Camarillo, for example, objects to the number it was assigned: 4,853.

Mayor Jan McDonald said in a recent interview that the city could build no more than 3,000 units during that period.

"We're stretching as far as we can go to stretch it," she said.

SCAG based its Regional Housing Needs Assessment on surveys from cities, an official said.

The Ventura Council of Governments has representatives from each of the county's 10 cities and one from the unincorporated areas.

If the council reaches consensus on one of the proposals to revise the numbers, it would likely sign an agreement with SCAG that would give the council responsibility to redistribute the numbers, Bobkiewicz said.Whether consensus means a majority or unanimous vote will be determined by the board, he said.If the council and SCAG sign such a "delegation agreement," it would address such issues as the council's responsibility to administer appeals if they are made by cities, said Joe Carreras, project manager for the Regional Housing Needs Assessment.

City near end of growth

Thousand Oaks, which was assigned 1,072 units, is nearing the end of its planned growth, City Manager Scott Mitnick said. Further development is "very limited," but the city could accommodate some additional population, he said.He said he is willing to recommend to the City Council that Thousand Oaks take more units so other cities could have fewer.He said cities should respect the "integrity" of one another's general plans, which are state-mandated blueprints for cities' growth and land use. The number of housing units assigned to a city should not exceed what its general plan allows, he said."For years, Thousand Oaks was one of the — if not the most — rapidly developing cities," Mitnick said, noting that the city added thousands of dwellings during the 1970s and '80s. Now, he said, "Thousand Oaks is at the end of its cycle of residential development."

Bruce Smith, a manager in the Ventura County Planning Division, said "one of the conundrums that we're facing is that under existing state law, SCAG is not supposed to consider local general plans."

The numbers do not represent units that must be built but ones that need to be accommodated for, he said. If an agreement is signed, the 28,481 units allocated to the county could not be lowered or added to, Smith said.

If the council decides not to sign a delegation agreement, cities that object to their numbers must appeal individually to SCAG.

The council is trying to deal with the cities' concerns, Bobkiewicz said. "We're trying to deal with fairness," he said. "It's a tall order. We haven't succeeded yet."

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http://www.calcoast.org/news/coast0070118.html

O.C. developer sues over Foothill South route

Rancho Mission Viejo says the tollway agency is violating an agreement by planning the route through San Onofre

By David Reyes, Los Angeles Times, January 18, 2007

Citing a disagreement over 150 acres, one of the largest developers in South County on Wednesday sued the transportation agency planning to extend a toll road through San Onofre State Beach.

Rancho Mission Viejo filed suit in Orange County Superior Court after negotiations broke down with the Transportation Corridor Agencies concerning a decade-old agreement under which the company provided acreage allowing the agency to extend the tollway using a "far east alignment."

Last spring, however, the TCA chose a different route, rendering the agreement "null and void," according to a letter that Rancho President Anthony R. "Tony" Moiso sent to the toll road agency Wednesday.

Several meetings between the TCA and the company to resolve the issue have been unsuccessful, Moiso said in the letter.

Rancho Mission Viejo has contended that the route change would affect oak woodlands, impairing its environmental obligations for home construction in the area. In addition, the new route would traverse the Donna O'Neill Land Conservancy.

In a prepared statement, Dan Kelly, the company's senior vice president for governmental relations, said the 1996 agreement was intended to avoid a costly and lengthy legal process. Instead, he said, "the TCA's actions have now forced us to seek the court's help" for clarification.

The 16-mile Foothill South route, one of eight options that were considered, has come under intense criticism by environmental groups because of its proposed path through San Onofre, a popular coastal park containing endangered species, unspoiled wetlands and world-renowned surfing spots.

Yet it would cause the least harm to natural resources and avoid the possibility of condemning hundreds of homes in San Clemente, the TCA has said.

A TCA spokeswoman Wednesday declined to comment on the lawsuit, which, she said, the agency had not yet seen.

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http://www.calcoast.org/news/water0070205.html

Canal-lining project knee deep in limbo
By Gig Conaughton, North County Times
February 5, 2007

SAN DIEGO ----Water officials say a new canal-lining plan will deliver enough water to San Diego County to sustain more than 135,000 households every year for more than a century.

Congress passed a law in December saying the plan should go forward without delay, despite objections from Mexican farmers and California environmental groups who say it could kill Mexicali farming and wetlands.

Yet the long-discussed $353.6 million project, which would line parts of Imperial Valley's All-American Canal with concrete, remains in legal limbo, halted by a federal appeals court order. The 82-mile canal runs from northeast of Yuma, Ariz., down along the U.S.-Mexico border into Imperial County east of San Diego, delivering water from the Colorado River to the desert.

San Diego County Water Authority officials said the cost of lining the canal continues to rise because of the delays, and that the earliest the project could start bringing water to the county would be spring 2009.

"We were hoping to start (construction) in August ... this pretty much delays us about a year in the timeline," said Halla Razak, the authority's water resources manager.

Dan Hentschke, the water authority's top lawyer, said last week that the latest legal argument revolves around whether the law that Congress passed in December should override an injunction the U.S. Ninth Court of Appeals slapped on the project in August.

Hentschke said attorneys for the United States Bureau of Reclamation and environmental opponents have each submitted their arguments, but the court has not given any timetable for when it would hear the issue.

Razak said that the water agency's hope is that the court will hear the issue in March."We think we might be hearing from the court sometime in March, and we're hoping that we'll be able to restart the process (and begin construction) by June," Razak said.

However, Robert Gaylord Smith, the attorney representing the environmental and Mexicali farmers' interests that want to kill the project, said by e-mail last week that they believe the courts will side with the environmentalists.

"I think (our chances) are very good," Smith wrote, "but it's up to the courts to decide."The canal-lining project, which has been discussed for nearly 20 years, would build a concrete-lined replacement for a 23-mile stretch of the Imperial Valley's earth-lined All-American Canal.

The project would conserve water by preventing it from seeping through the canal bed. The canal doesn't directly deliver water to San Diego. But the conserved water would be shipped via Metropolitan Water District of Southern California pipelines to San Diego County residents for 110 years.

Water officials have been discussing the canal-lining plan since the 1990s.In 2003, it became part of a complex series of agreements among San Diego County, Imperial Valley, Coachella Valley, the Metropolitan Water District, the state of California, six other Western states and the federal Bureau of Reclamation. Those deals were designed to get California to cut its take of water from the Colorado River to give the other growing Western states a larger share.But the project was derailed late last year by a challenge filed by an unusual coalition of Mexican business interests and California environmental groups.

Those groups said that water seeping through the bottom of the canal has sustained groundwater supplies for Mexicali farmers, wetlands and endangered animals for decades. Lining the canal, they argued, would steal that water and potentially kill those animals, wetlands and farms.

A Superior court judge ruled against the groups twice in 2006.But in August, to the surprise of federal, state and regional water officials and even the canal-lining project's environmental foes, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overruled the Superior Court and banned further work on the project until it could hear the issue again.

Then in December, Congress passed an omnibus bill containing several proposed laws. The legislation includes a portion pushed by the water authority that reaffirms Congress' support of the canal-lining plan and orders the project carried out "without delay."The bill also states that Congress, not the courts, have sole authority to deal with international treaties and whether water seeping out of the All-American Canal belongs to Mexico or the United States.

The Bureau of Reclamation and water agencies have submitted arguments to the Ninth Court that the injunction stopping the canal-lining project should now be moot.Smith and the environmental groups have filed papers arguing that the courts, not Congress, should decide the issue.Razak, meanwhile, said the canal-lining project's costs are rising because of the delay.

Just recently, she said, water agencies completed negotiating a deal to pay the company that is waiting to construct one portion of the lining project an additional $7.5 million just to cover the cost of waiting.

Razak said water agencies are still negotiating with a second company that is waiting to build another portion of the stalled project.In addition, Razak said, the costs of such materials as concrete are expected to increase as the delay continues.

The cost of the canal-lining project was $353.6 million. However, the water authority and San Diego County ratepayers are only paying $251 million. Because of the importance of the project, the state is paying the rest.Water officials, meanwhile, say that even with the delays and increases, the canal-lining project is more than worth it.

In April, Razak said the cost of water coming from a lined canal, averaged over 110 years, would be about $20 per acre foot, far cheaper than the $502 to $598 the water authority now pays the Metropolitan Water District for imported water. An acre foot of water is 325,900 gallons, enough to sustain two households for a year.

Razak said last week that the delays have been frustrating."We would have been smack in the middle of construction," she said. "But I am hopeful that we'll be able to proceed soon. We're trying to make sure that we have enough water to meet the needs of the region. This is a good resource to do that. We're just waiting for it to happen."

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excerpt from Sunset Magazine Paradise preserved
The West’s top 10 environmental success stories

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17582684/

3. Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act: Signed into law last fall, the Northern California Coastal Wild Heritage Wilderness Act set aside 275,000 acres of new wilderness and designated the newest federal Wild and Scenic River — a 21-mile stretch of the Black Butte River in Mendocino County. The new wilderness is not one contiguous swath but adds acreage or protection to various wildlands, like the King Range (north of Fort Bragg) and the Cache Creek area. And it protects everything from amazing wildflower displays to imperiled salmon and steelhead runs. Lands will be managed by the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management. Learn more: www.wilderness.net/ or www.wilderness.org/WhereWeWork/California/NCaliforniaWild.cfm

4. San Timoteo Canyon, California: Big tracts of open land aren’t easy to come by in Southern California, much less conserve. But in the case of San Timoteo Canyon, a 174-acre land donation from producer Gale Anne Hurd (The Terminator, Aliens) got the ball rolling. The Riverside Land Conservancy and other organizations have helped acquire an additional 8,000 acres in San Timoteo Canyon and are well on the way toward a goal of 10,000 acres for a future state park (the park is designated, but it’s not yet open to the public). Learn more: www.riversidelandconservancy.org/ or 951/788-0670

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Land protected by California land trusts rose by 39%, to 1.7 million acres between 2000 and 2005.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-trusts1dec01,1,1118741.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

Protected land increases in state

By Bettina Boxall, Times Staff Writer

December 1, 2006

The number of land trusts in California increased by 50% in the lastfive years, reflecting dramatic growth in private conservation effortsacross the country.

In a report released Thursday, the Land Trust Alliance found thatnationally, land protected by private, nonprofit trusts andconservation groups grew by 54%, or 13 million acres, between 2000 and2005.

"We think the amount of acreage will continue to increase every year,"said James Wyerman, the alliance's communications director. "Every yearwe've done this, we see not just some growth, but exponential growth."

Driving the trend, he and others said, is the passage of conservationbond funds, federal tax incentives and the desire to preserve openspace as development pushes into new areas."

Land trusts are protecting land close to home," said alliancePresident Rand Wentworth. "People are hungry for a place to walk orbike or hike."

In California, the number of trusts jumped from 132 to 198 over thefive-year period ending in 2005.

Land protected by local and regional trusts rose by 39%, to 1.7 millionacres.

When acreage conserved by big national groups, such as the NatureConservancy, is added, about 3.3% of the state is protected by trusts,according to the alliance.

During the period reviewed by the report, California voters approved$10 billion worth of conservation bond measures, providing money thattrusts could tap into.

"All of a sudden you had some funding," said Nita Vail, executivedirector of the California Rangeland Trust. "You have landowners becomemore interested because there's an economic viability to doing this."

Formed in 1998, Vail's organization has placed 176,000 acres of rangeland in Central and Northern California under conservation easementsand has a waiting list of 50 ranchers.

"It's phenomenal — the applications we continue to receive," Vail said."There's not enough funding to fund all of them…. We had no idea whenwe first started how important this would be."

Trusts typically operate in three ways: They directly acquire land andmanage it; they purchase conservation easements that leave the land inprivate hands but bar future development; and they buy land and thensell it to a government agency to manage.

In the alliance survey, by far the largest increase was in acreageplaced under easements, a trend expected to continue.

Buying easements is much cheaper than purchasing property outright —typically 30% to 40% of the land value, Vail said. And the approachraises fewer hackles in rural areas, where conservationists are oftenviewed as the enemy.

"This is no longer 'environmentalists,' " Wentworth said. "This is mainstream American values. Farmers and ranchers in conservative areaswant to keep their land in agricultural use and free from development.Much of what is driving this is large conservation easements."