Fall 2018 Landmarks LAND TRUST OF SANTA CRUZ COUNTY EST. 1978 Keep Santa Cruz Wild By protecting the wild lands where the wild things roam We live and play in a wild place just over the hill from seven million people and billions of dollars. Our wildness and our proximity to so many people make keeping Santa Cruz wild a constant challenge. It is a challenge that has been taken up by locals and lovers of the county for generations. Big Basin was saved over 100 years ago. Natural Bridges was protected during the Depression. Wilder Ranch was saved from development in 1974. For 40 years the Land Trust has been part of this efort to keep Santa Cruz County wild. We ve protected more than 12,000 acres of forests, wetlands, and grasslands the wild places wildlife need to survive. In 2014, we launched a campaign to get a wildlife crossing on Highway 17. his year, Caltrans will complete engineering work on the Wildlife Crossing and go to bid for construction ater funding is secured (see page 3 for more). his year we are also launching a project to help wildlife cross Highways 129 and 101, from the Santa Cruz Mountains to the Gabilan Range to the south. Giving wide-ranging animals like mountain lions room to roam is critical to the long-term survival of these top-of-the-food-chain predators (see pages 4-5 for more on the Gabilan Wildlife Corridor project). he Keep Santa Cruz Wild campaign builds on the work of those who came before us. We are providing safe passage between the wild places protected by others decades ago. And we are reaching out to landowners whose lands are wild enough to be used by wildlife hoping we can reach agreements to keep their land wild too. he efort also builds on the importance of mountain lions to the health of wildlands (see page 5), and on their adaptability and resilience. he wildlife tunnel will be built soon, but it will take years to secure a safe passage for wildlife out of the Santa Cruz Mountains. For some of us, it will be work completed by those who come ater us. It is how Santa Cruz County has always been kept wild by the year-ater-year work of those who love it.
ALL OUR WORK Over the past few months, I ve talked to a lot of Land Trust supporters at our events at Star Creek during our irst campout, at our 40th Anniversary Celebration on our Watsonville Slough Farm, and at San Vicente Redwoods, where we hosted the Conservation Circle in September. he phrase I heard most oten was, hanks for all your work or I love all your projects. he phrase captures something unusual about the Land Trust: we are working on a wider variety of projects than most land trusts. We don t expect everyone to like everything, but many clearly do like multiple projects, if not all of them the Wildlife Crossing and the Rail Trail, or building trails and protecting farmland. And many like it all. his summer we asked our members, and non-members, to tell us which projects they valued the most. More than 300 members responded and the results are summarized in the chart below. he survey shows that most of our supporters like most of what we do. hey are wildly supportive of the Land Trust being good stewards of the land, protecting wetlands, LAND TRUST MEMBER SURVEY RESULTS Extremely or very important Not your usual land trust Little or no importance Good stewards of the land 95% 1% Protecting wetlands 87% 3% Highway 17 Wildlife Tunnel 87% 1% Increased habitat connectivity 87% 1% Protecting rare Sandhills 72% 2% Protecting farmland 70% 1% Protecting working timberland 61% 3% Building the Rail Trail ASAP 54% 20% Building trails at San Vicente Redwoods 48% 10% Building trails at Watsonville Slough Farm 40% 12% and protecting wildlife. More than two-thirds think protecting farmland is very important. Trails of all types score lower and, no surprise here, the Rail Trail is the only Land Trust project that a sizable chunk of our members (20%) don t think is important, though a majority think it is extremely or very important. As Lincoln said, you can t please all the people all the time, but we are glad to see that we re pleasing most of our members most of the time which is a good thing since our donors make all our work possible. Babies I have to say something about babies. hey seem to be everywhere these days. Staf members have had two babies in the past year and a third is on the way. A dozen babies came to our Bee Barn Bash (well, were brought to it by their parents). It thrills all of us. I m of grandfather age but not status (yet), so I m predisposed to melt at the sight of tiny toes. But I think it s more than that. We all melt, some faster than others. New life, especially in times like these, is a sign of hope. To have children, to melt in their presence, is to feel and feed that hope. We do what we do for them. hey are the future generations we talk about. Stephen Slade Executive Director 2 Landmarks Fall 2018
Last Call of the Wild Final steps to building the Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing The timeline tells the story. It began in 2011, with our Conservation Blueprint s call to connect the great wild places of our county, and continues as we protect land and get Caltrans buy-in. What seemed like a long-shot, someday project seven years ago is now on the verge of being completed. All that s let is raising the inal construction funds. Earlier this year Caltrans chose a bridge, not a tunnel design which means the roadway is turned into a bridge as Caltrans digs out the ill beneath the road. his gives wildlife a wide and inviting route under the highway. he next stage is for Caltrans to inalize the engineering, then to put the project out for bid. Before the project goes to bid, Caltrans needs to have the funds committed for construction including the $3 million the Land Trust pledged. (See page 7 for a summary of the campaign.) So here we are, at the step before the inal steps. Fund, bid, build. 2016 A new state mitigation process is established between Caltrans and the Department of Fish and Wildlife making our wildlife crossing and others possible. 2016 Santa Cruz County voters approve Measure D, which includes funds for the Wildlife Crossing. 2018 Caltrans releases design choice and begins engineering work. TUNNEL TIMELINE 2011 Conservation Blueprint identiies roads as a major barrier to wildlife connectivity. 2012-2013 Land Trust staf meet with Caltrans, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and others on the possibility of a wildlife crossing. 2014 Land Trust protects two properties totaling 287 acres east of Laurel Curve on Highway 17 with funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, the Resources Legacy Fund, and our Opportunity Fund. 2015 Land Trust accepts a donated easement on 256 acres near Laurel Curve. 2017 California Transportation Commission approves $3.1 million for tunnel design and engineering. The Land Trust commits $3 million toward construction as part of the request. 2017 Land Trust purchases an easement on 167 acres west of Laurel Curve. 2019 Land Trust secures inal funds. 2020 Construction begins! Bobcat photos in this issue by Ahíga Snyder. Fall 2018 Landmarks 3
SAN VICENTE REDWOODS HIGHWAY 17 WILDLIFE CROSSING Where the Wildlife Roam From one end of the county to the other - and beyond We have over 30 wildlife cameras on our properties, from San Vicente Redwoods in the north, to Watsonville Slough Farm and Star Creek Ranch in the south. he cameras snap a photo anytime wildlife (or people) pass. We get about 100 pictures a DAY which is one way of measuring the unseen wildlife all around us. Bobcats, foxes, coyote, deer, turkeys, boar, mountain lions we get to see them all (you can too on our website). Another way of getting a feel for the wild world around us is through tracking collars on mountain lions and bobcats, work being done by the Puma Project at UC Santa Cruz, under contract with the Land Trust. he maps generated by this data show how far the wildlife roam. Mountain lions have the biggest range up to hundreds of square miles. he maps based on collar data also show that as wild as Santa Cruz County is, the stamp of our presence threatens the long-term survival of mountain lions, the ecosystem s keystone species (see sidebar). he Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing will help them cross that highway, but they must cross several more before they can leave the Santa Cruz Mountains and cross into the Gabilan Range to the south. Already researchers see signs of diminished genetic diversity in mountain lions isolated within the Santa Cruz Mountains. Gabilan Wildlife Corridor In April 2015, our Projects Director, Dan Medeiros, helped the Puma Project collar a mountain lion at Laurel Curve on Highway 17. he puma s movement over the next 14 months shows the importance of keeping wild lands wild it moved through Nisene Marks State Park and into the Pajaro Hills, crossing and recrossing our Star Creek Ranch. He successfully crossed Highway 129 and passed through the Granite Rock quarry. he signal stopped at Highway 101. he collar was found damaged and it is highly likely the lion was killed on the highway. he ability to cross those two highways is critical to the genetic diversity of the species and that is what our Gabilan Wildlife Corridor Project is about. We re going about it the same way we went about the Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing project. First we document that wildlife is already there and trying to move from one range to another. We ve contracted with the same people who did this work on Highway 17. We also partnered with the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) on a bobcat collar study to supplement the mountain lion data we have. All 4 Landmarks Fall 2018
WHY PUMAS MATTER It s not just their animal magnetism GABILAN WILDLIFE CORRIDOR PROTECTED WILD LANDS this research will be completed in 2019. We are reaching out now to landowners in the area. We are, in other words, following the playbook we wrote on the Highway 17 project. And, just like with Highway 17, a small critical property became available and we jumped on it. It s 11 acres alongside Highway 129 and the Pajaro River, across the highway from Pescadero Creek, which lows through our Star Creek Ranch. What makes this a critical piece is the large culvert that wildlife are already using to avoid the highway. On our irst visit to the property, our staf found a mountain lion paw print in the mud outside the culvert. here is much work to do to provide safe passage out of the isolation of the Santa Cruz Mountains just as there was much to be done ater our irst purchase of property for the Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing. Already we have spent $170,000 and the real expense lies ahead, as we seek to keep critical lands wild enough for wildlife to roam. We have included $750,000 in the Keep Santa Cruz Wild campaign to give us the ability to act quickly to any opportunities that emerge in the irst few years of a project that could save mountain lions here and the ecology of the Santa Cruz Mountains that depends on them. Later, we will seek state and foundation grants to help fund easements and acquisitions, but it is the early seed money that launches new projects and that comes from the people who care the most. We hope you re one of them. People raising money to protect mountain lions know them as charismatic megafauna, which means that people are drawn to them. The Bald Eagle had a starring role in the environmental awakening in the 1970s. People who study mountain lions call them a keystone species, which means they have a big impact despite their small numbers and near invisibility to most of us. Their impact comes from what they eat, mostly deer. Without mountain lions to check their growth, deer can consume all the edible vegetation and prevent regrowth, efectively destroying an ecosystem. As vegetation disappears, so do those species dependent on that plant life for food, nesting sites, and other uses. The loss of each species in turn severs a strand in the web that connects species to one another and to their habitat. It s called the web of life for a reason, and mountain lions are a critical part of it. Sometimes the damage to the web is dramatic. The current landscape of Zion National Park was shaped by humans driving of the mountain lions in the canyon in the early 1900s. The deer population exploded and cottonwood growth was stunted, which increased bank erosion along the river. It s a similar story in Yosemite National Park. Mountain lions left when people arrived, deer populations grew and the black oak trees started disappearing changing the ecology of the world-famous valley forever. Because mountain lions have such a large impact, they are also are also known as an umbrella species because protecting habitat suicient to support such a wide-ranging animal also protects the land for other species. That s just what we re trying to do protect wildlands for wildlife. UCSC s Puma Project is a great source of information on mountain lions in our county: www.santacruzpumas.org Fall 2018 Landmarks 5
THE COST OF WILDNESS The day our Executive Committee approved the Keep Santa Cruz Wild campaign, Jordan Lewis came by our oice. Her mother and younger sister were with her. She brought a plastic bag with $21.55 in it. She and her friends Hazel and Olive collected it a dollar at a time. She said, We don t want any more animals killed. We re treating that $21.55 as the irst donation to the campaign. he Land Trust has already spent $6.4 million protecting over 700 acres of land around the Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing. Caltrans will spend more than $3 million on design and engineering, and construction is expected to cost $5-6 million (though bids are coming in very high for all construction projects). he inal construction funds will come from the Land Trust and from Measure D funds. In addition to inishing the Wildlife Crossing, the campaign includes Phase 1 funding for our newest project the Gabilan Wildlife Corridor and for stewardship and core operating expenses. 15% 15% 10% 60% PROJECT Highway 17 Wildlife Crossing $3,000,000 Gabilan Wildlife Corridor $750,000 Stewardship $750,000 Core Operating $500,000 LEAVING A LASTING LEGACY EXPENSES If your estate plans include a git to the Land Trust, please let us know. We'd like to thank you and honor your wishes. If you wish to name the Land Trust in your will or estate plan, we should be named as: Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, a nonproit corporation, organized and existing under the laws of the state of California, with principal business address of 617 Water Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. EST. 1978 Who We Are, What We Do Our Mission The mission of the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County is to protect, care for, and connect people to the extraordinary lands that make this area special. What we ve done The Land Trust was founded in 1978 and has protected more than 14,000 acres of land. We have protected redwood forests, rare Sandhills habitat, wetlands at the heart of the Watsonville Sloughs, farmland in the Pajaro Valley, and oak woodlands in the Pajaro Hills. We own and lease 250 acres of farmland outside Watsonville and own and log a 400-acre forest in Corralitos. What we re doing now We re protecting land AND helping build a wildlife tunnel, 50 miles of new trails, and the 32-mile Rail Trail that will help transform how people get around Santa Cruz County. Who funds our work Our work is funded by donations from individuals, foundation and government grants which multiply the impact of individual gifts, and by revenues from the working lands we own. Our tax identiication number is: 94-2431856. Land Trust of Santa Cruz County is tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. 6 Landmarks Fall 2018 Please contact Planned Giving Oicer Kathleen Rose Hughes with any questions: kathleen.hughes@landtrustsantacruz.org or (831) 600-5451. Our Board The Land Trust is a 501(c)(3) nonproit under the Internal Revenue Service Code (tax ID # 94-2431856) and is governed by a Board of Trustees. Find out more at LandTrustSantaCruz.org
Board of Tru stees Donna Murphy, Chair Tom Burns, Vice Chair Thomas Jacob, Secretary Jefrey Werner, Treasurer Mary Culley Ana Espinoza Bill Gielow John Gilchrist Rogelio Ponce, Jr. Kathleen Rose Marieke Rothschild Melody Sharp Joyce Shimizu Robert Stephens Emily Thomas staff Stephen Slade Executive Director Bryan Largay Conservation Director Dan Medeiros Projects Director Lisa Larson Chief Financial Oficer Calah Pasley Development & Communications Director Carie Thompson Access Manager Lynn Overtree Stewardship Manager Barry Baker Easement Manager Maddie Nehf Events Manager Laura Wilson Development & Communications Manager Kathleen Rose Hughes Planned Giving Oficer Brendan Quirk Access Assistant Nico de Palo Byrne-Milliron Caretaker Landmarks Stephen Slade, Writing Calah Pasley, Editing Lisa Zaretsky, Design Community Printers, Printing Printed on recycled paper Land Trust Oice 617 Water Street Santa Cruz, CA 95060 (831) 429-6116 fax: (831) 429-1166 info@landtrustsantacruz.org www.landtrustsantacruz.org PROJECT UPDATES Our Great Land & Trail Campaign provided funds to launch a wide variety of projects. Here s an update on some of them. San Vicente Redwoods Trails Ater four years of planning, permits to build up to 38 miles of trails are under review by the County. If all goes well, we could begin construction on the irst 10 miles of trails next year. Glenwood Preserve Trails hree miles of multi-use trails have been built on the west side of the Glenwood Preserve and ive to six miles of trails on the east side are being laid out and are expected to be open next year. Watsonville Slough Farm Trails Trail planning is just getting underway with construction tentatively scheduled for 2020. Coastal Rail Trail he irst segment of the Rail Trail, through the Westside of Santa Cruz, is expected to be complete in 2019, to be followed by the North Coast segment for which the Land Trust has committed $3 million in matching funds. Work is expected to begin on the Santa Cruz to Live Oak segment next summer. Farmland Protection We are working to protect a 120+ acre farm on Highway 129, the 19th farm we ve protected in the past ten years. Stewardship Year ater year, the Land Trust spends close to half its operating budget on good old-fashioned stewardship cleaning up trash, maintaining trails, removing invasive weeds, and all the other things that come with the responsibility of owning and managing land. Fall 2018 Landmarks 7
EST. 1978 Land Trust of Santa Cruz County 617 Water Street Santa Cruz, California 95060 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT NO. 95 SANTA CRUZ, CA JOIN US! Celebrate Learn Hike Camp Explore You keep Santa Cruz Wild! www.landtrustsantacruz.org