Grant Helps Protect Habitat, Water Quality (CA)

A $500,000 grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the California Department of Fish and Game will help protect the 289-acre Buena Vista property, home to the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, a federally designated endangered species. The land is one of the last undeveloped, unfarmed areas of chaparral and coastal woodlands on the west side of U.S. Highway 1 and an important groundwater recharge area for Santa Cruz County.

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. 10/22/02 – The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national land conservation organization, has announced that a $500,000 grant awarded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to the California Department of Fish and Game (DFG) will help protect land to aid in the recovery of federally protected species in Santa Cruz. The purchase of the property, located in the Watsonville Slough watershed, will also help protect drinking water for the city of Watsonville.

The money will go toward the purchase the 289-acre Buena Vista property, which is home to the Santa Cruz long-toed salamander, an amphibian protected under the federal Endangered Species Act (ESA). The Buena Vista property is one of the last of the undeveloped, unfarmed areas of chaparral and coastal woodlands located on the west side of U.S. Highway 1. The land is also home to several threatened plants and acts as an important groundwater recharge area for the County of Santa Cruz, which relies on groundwater for all of its freshwater supplies.

TPL has been working in partnership with Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif., the CA Dept. of Fish & Game, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, State Coastal Conservancy and others to acquire the property. The goal is to permanently protect the entire 289-acre property by May 2004.

The grant was awarded through the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund Recovery Land Acquisition, which is part of the Endangered Species Act. This program provides federal money for conservation efforts on non-federal lands, helping states protect key habitat. “I’m very glad we were able to navigate the federal process so that the Endangered Species Act works the way it should,” said Rep. Sam Farr, D-Calif.

“We are very grateful to Representative Sam Farr for his leadership to protect this critical habitat and watershed land. It is the first step along the way to seeing this wonderful property protected,” said Margaret Eadington, central coast program director for the Trust for Public Land.

The Trust for Public Land, established in 1972, specializes in conservation real estate, applying its expertise in negotiations, public finance, and law to protect land for people to enjoy as parks, greenways, community gardens, urban playgrounds, and wilderness. On the Central Coast of California, TPL has protected thousands of acres of land for recreation, habitat and beach access, including the 7,000-acre Coast Dairies property just north of Santa Cruz. Across the nation, TPL has helped protect more than 1.4 million acres.