A Small Victory from Tehama County, California-- A Very RED Area

[XemaSab]

Conservancy group buys family’s 1,400-acre ranch in Tehama County

CHILD'S MEADOW -- A Tehama County ranch that might have been sold to a developer who wanted to build a golf course and resort homes has been purchased by the Nature Conservancy.

"Basically it'll keep doing what it's been doing for so many decades rather than be developed," said Jake Jacobson, Lassen foothills project director in the conservancy's Chico office.

The 1,400-acre property is on Highway 36 between Mineral and Chester near Lassen Volcanic National Park.

An out-of-state developer had wanted to turn the ranch into an executive escape, complete with a golf course and resort homes.

http://www.redding.com/news/2007/nov/01/conservancy-group-buys/

My favorite quote: "The proposed development "was just not the spirit of Northern California."" :bounce:

Edit: picture!



There's already a small "resort" in the area consisting of a few small cabins, but nothing like the proposed development would have been.

http://www.childsmeadowresort.com

[Semi_subversive]

1. I travel this stretch of Hwy 36 a few times a year

I'm so glad it's now protected.

[XemaSab]

2. I didn't even know it was threatened until I read the article in the penlight.

I'm glad I didn't know 'cause I would have worried about it. :(

[pigdog_infidel]

3. Red Area

I am a Republican and this is how conservation should be done. Let private organizations like the Nature Conservancy buy it with donations. I much prefer this to the heavy hand of government coming in and stealing someones land telling them they can't build on it. Plus we can do a lot better managment of these lands then the Forest Service can.

[losthills]

4. The Forest Service will do a better job

under a Democratic Administration. The only problem with the Forest Service is that it's being run by Bush Administration appointees for the benefit of their corporate cronies.

The Nature Conservancy is cool in many ways, but in the long run they are a business, and not accountable to the voters. Sometimes they have been known to swap land to developers, and the voters have no say in the matter...

[XemaSab]

5. I have amibivalent feelings about what you're saying

The land has been grazed for decades, and the Nature Conservancy has an anti-grazing history that has meant some poor land-use decisions in the past (cough, cough, Vina Plains, cough). Their lands are also not public lands, so for example, you can't hike around parts of Santa Cruz Island without a guide, which is sort of weak. I'm hoping the Nature Conservancy will retain public access to the land and not totally fence it off.

That being said, takings are wrong and one would hope that the Forest Service would give fair market value for this or similar properties. I'd trust them to do a better job of managing this area than the Nature Conservancy, frankly, if only because they have a history of giving grazing allotments in the area, which is what has turned the meadow into the area it is today. Also, I'm a strong believer in public lands FOR the public.

/environmental blasphemy

(Welcome to DU, and be cool man!)