LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – On Tuesday, the state Wildlife Conservation Board approved funding for a Lake County Land Trust property purchase meant to protect wetlands and shoreline in the Big Valley area, helping the long-term project to move one step closer to completion.
The board said it approved a $135,000 grant to the Lake County Land Trust to acquire in fee approximately 34 acres of land for the protection of shoreline freshwater wetland, riparian woodland
and wet meadow habitats that support the state's-threatened Clear Lake hitch and the western pond turtle, a state species of special concern.
The project also is meant to provide future wildlife-oriented public use opportunities in the Big Valley area, located, on the northwestern shore of Clear Lake.
The funding for the Land Trust project was part of $15 million in grants the Wildlife Conservation Board approved at its Tuesday meeting for 21 projects that are meant to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout California.
The state funds for all these projects come from initiatives approved by voters to help preserve and protect California’s natural resources, the board reported.
“We're really excited about it,” Lake County Land Trust President Roberta Lyons told Lake County News on Tuesday after returning from the meeting in Sacramento, which she and several other Land Trust members attended.
Lyons said the Land Trust has been working on the project for about six years, beginning with developing a conceptual area protection plan for the Big Valley Wetlands Protection Area that was needed to apply to the state for the funding.
The keystone property for the project is the 34-acre property owned by George Melo, who entered into an agreement four years ago to sell the property to the Land Trust, Lyons said.
“George Melo has been extremely patient and fabulous in working with us on this project,” Lyons said.
The agreed-upon purchase price was $225,000, and since then the Land Trust has raised more than half that amount, separate from the grant.
She said the wetlands protection area can conceivably include other projects, but Lyons emphasized it has nothing to do with eminent domain.
“It's a cooperative venture” with landowners, she said, noting that it will open up the possibility of conservation easements that could qualify for future state funding.
Lyons said the Land Trust is now looking forward to getting through escrow and seeing the project completed.
The Land Trust project is the second in Lake County to receive a major funding grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board in the last three months.
In June, the board gave a $440,000 grant to Tuleyome to acquire the 1,280-acre Silver Spur Ranch near Clearlake Oaks, as Lake County News has reported: http://bit.ly/1tbHeZH .
In addition to the Land Trust's grant, other funding awards for projects approved Tuesday include the following:
– A $1.2 million grant to the Feather River Land Trust for a cooperative project with the Natural Resources Agency to acquire a conservation easement over approximately 5,530 acres of land to provide protection for deer, mountain lion and oak habitats near the town of Doyle in Lassen County.
– A $1.7 million acquisition in fee of approximately 1,066 acres of land by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to expand the Crocker Meadows Wildlife Area, protect riparian and oak woodland habitat, and for future wildlife oriented public use opportunities near Beckwourth in Plumas County.
– A $3 million grant to Sonoma County Agriculture Preservation and Open Space District for a cooperative project with the State Coastal Conservancy to acquire a conservation easement over approximately 871 acres of forest lands, including large areas of old and new growth redwood located near Stewarts Point.
– A $2.5 million grant to the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust for a cooperative project with the Inland Empire Resource Conservation District to acquire in fee approximately 240 acres of land as an expansion of the Sawmill Pebble Plain Ecological Preserve – rare pebble plain habitat supporting a wide variety of endemic plant species – south of Big Bear Lake in the San Bernardino Mountains, in San Bernardino County.
– An $850,000 grant to the San Elijo Lagoon Conservancy for a cooperative project to implement a comprehensive habitat restoration program, remove target nonnative invasive weed species and restore native habitat on 65 acres of coastal wetlands on several sites located at Agua Hedionda, Batiquitos Lagoon and San Elijo Lagoon. These are located from approximately nine miles north to five miles south of Encinitas on privately owned properties and on properties owned by California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the state Department of Parks and Recreation.
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