Winter 2009
With a Little Help to Our Friends
Watsonville Sloughs
- POST relies on the strength and cooperation of fellow
land trusts and public agency partners to save land
in the most effective, strategic way. Working together,
we can save many more acres and preserve the
integrity of our region’s natural lands than we can
working alone.
- POST took quick action in December 2008 to
prevent delay and additional costs from derailing an
important restoration project on Outer Bair Island near
Redwood City. POST purchased a 1,600-acre portion of
the island in 1997 and made it part of the Don Edwards
San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The state
bond freeze threatened to halt a cooperative project
between Ducks Unlimited and U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service to remove the last levee separating Outer Bair
Island from tidal action. POST extended a loan of
$547,000 to replace bond money that had been
approved but was suddenly unavailable. Subsequently
the money was returned to POST.
- When approved bond money was withheld
by the state legislature and threatened a high
priority project of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County
(LTSCC), POST stepped in to help. At stake were 95
acres of valuable farm and wetlands at Watsonville Sloughs in Santa Cruz County. Recognizing the
urgent need to protect this fragile, multi-use land, we
reached into our own land
protection funds and provided $1.6 million of the
$3.1 million needed to purchase the land. While POST
temporarily took title to the land, the balance due
was paid by a grant from The Nature Conservancy.
In September, the state restored the bond funds
designated for the project, and POST was able to sell
the land back to LTSCC at cost.
John Markoff: The Value of Open Space. . .
