Posted on 07/08/2009 1:24:02 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Two pieces of prime coastal real estate will be maintained as open space if they are purchased by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, a public agency with the goal of preventing development on scenic lands rich in wildlife and farming history.
The district is likely to approve the purchase of two rural properties in the San Mateo County foothills at a meeting Wednesday in Half Moon Bay. The lands — the sprawling Bluebrush Canyon property and the smaller Roberts property — make up nearly 300 acres of forest, creeks and wild grassland. They currently are owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust, a private land-acquisition fund with a similar mission as the district. The trust has offered to sell both parcels to the district for $3.625 million, a small discount over what it paid. Bluebrush Canyon, which is 260 acres in size, is already familiar to motorists south of Half Moon Bay as a graceful sweep of grassland that climbs the edge of Lobitos Ridge near the top of Purisima Creek Road. Until today, the boundless view of the coast from the top of the ridge has been afforded only to the cattle that graze there, and the district plans to retain it as a working ranch even as it plans new hiking trails.
Lobitos Creek, the most pristine waterway in San Mateo County, ferries threatened steelhead trout upstream to spawn at a time when the species has all but disappeared from neighboring creeks. It is Advertisement
one of the final puzzle pieces in a trail project that someday will descend the western slope of the Santa Cruz Mountains from Skyline Boulevard to the ocean, the first of its kind in San Mateo County.
"It's crucial. It's one of the pieces that links everything together," said Mike Williams, manager of the district's property division. "To go from redwood forests to open grasslands to great vistas of the San Mateo coast — it is really one of the most spectacular ridgelines in the area and one of the few connections that is feasible. It did have the potential for development or private ownership that would cut those kinds of connections." Once the trail is constructed, the hardy hiker would traverse the 3,360-acre Purisima Creek Open Space Preserve and cross Lobitos Creek into Bluebrush Canyon and then descend Lobitos Ridge, now owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust. Further south are a University of California property, the upper portion of which the district is in negotiations to purchase, and a large land holding by a coastal farmer, who has agreed to allow a trail through his property. Williams predicts that in two years the district will have enough land to realize the dream of a "Purisima to the Sea" connection. Alas, eager hikers and nature lovers will have to wait several years beyond that — maybe even until 2021 — to gain access to Bluebrush Canyon and all the newly acquired lands.
The district had hoped to see trails built sooner on the 32-acre Roberts property, a steep ridgetop promontory strategically located at the corner of two preserves and Burleigh Murray State Park. However, plans to create trails between Burleigh Murray, Roberts and Mill Creek Open Space Preserve are now on hold as the state parks systems is threatened with closure due to a massive budget shortfall, according to Williams. The Roberts property looks like a small postage stamp on a map but will give district rangers better access to the whole area east of Half Moon Bay, which can be difficult to patrol in winter.
District spokeswoman Leigh Ann Maze said that even if visitors cannot get into the preserves for a few years, they still matter to the wildlife that thrive in them — including mountain lions, deer and coyotes.
"There are benefits of open space to the public even if they can't go out and hike it every day — there's clean air, clean water and scenic vistas," she said. "The coast is so much less developed and is so rich because of all of that. Preserving the land as open space allows the animals to continue using it."
The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District will meet at 6 p.m. Wednesday at Community United Methodist Church, 770 Miramontes, Half Moon Bay.
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Two pieces of prime coastal real estate will NOT be maintained as open space if they are purchased by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District,
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