Santa Barbara County Land Trust--
Land Action Lowdown
September 2010
The Hibbits family will protect the scenic and agricultural value of their land through a voluntary conservation agreement with the Land Trust.--395 acre conservation easement
The Hibbits Ranch is the largest single land holding within a block of scenic and highly productive farmland framed by the City of Lompoc, the Santa Ynez River and Santa Rosa Hills, and La Purisima Mission State Park.
The Land Trust was recently granted funds for a conservation easement on the Hibbits Ranch by the USDA Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program. A matching grant is pending from the California Farmland Conservancy Program and the Land Trust will need to raise an additional $150,000 in local funds to complete the transaction. More Hibbits Ranch information is located on our website:
http://www.sblandtrust.org/hibbitsranch.html
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UC Santa Barbara and the Land Trust recently announced that a 68-acre tract of coastal university property known as the South Parcel has been permanently set aside as open space under a conservation easement agreement
Plans for the South Parcel open space include restoration of native wetland and riparian grassland, coastal scrub habitat, and improved public trails.
"What was a dream of protecting and restoring the Ellwood-Devereux Coast is now becoming a reality," said Michael Feeney in a press statement. "Many people worked hard for many years –– our community should be proud and thankful." Visit our website for details about the project:
http://www.sblandtrust.org/southparcel.html
In 2007, the California Coastal Commission directed UCSB to permanently restrict development on the South Parcel if it planned to build more faculty housing nearby. As a result, the Land Trust and the university negotiated a conservation easement allowing only developments with public benefit, improved walking trails, interpretative signage, and an amphitheatre for outdoor education, as well as ecological improvements. This conservation agreement was permanently put into place in the spring of 2010.
Because the South Parcel property is a portion of land bordered by the Ocean Meadows Golf Course, Coal Oil Point Reserve, Devereux Slough, and Ellwood Mesa, it serves as a local conservation keystone, connecting various open space areas under different ownership and jurisdictions. By linking all of these properties, protection of the South Parcel will create a continuous open space totaling over 650 acres.
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