SMMC-MRCA 9/2/2009 to 11/4/2009

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L.A. County Rim of the Valley parks update: Threats and gifts for Sept. to November 2009

HIGHLIGHTS:

THREATS TO THE HILLS ABOVE MALIBU AND EAST SIDE OF CITY OF SANTA CLARITA

PURCHASE AND DONATION OF OVER 150 ACRES IN THE SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS AND SANTA CLARITA/AGUA DULCE/ACTON AREAS

--CRUZAN MESA--Development and preservation of habitat

--80 acre gift in Stokes Canyon, upper Malibu Creek near Calabasas

--150 acre—5 home housing tract proposed in hills above Malibu

SANTA CLARITA VALLEY:

DEVELOPMENT ON CRUZAN MESA VERNAL POOLS HABOITAT--SMMC 10/5/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing a comment letter to Los Angeles County on the Draft Environmental Impact Report for the Skyline Ranch Project, Cruzan Mesa, unincorporated Los Angeles County, sch No. 2004101090. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Attachment] [Comment Letter]

DEVELOPMENT—GENERAL PLAN--SMMC 10/5/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing a comment letter to Los Angeles County on the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Report for the Santa Clarita Valley Area Plan Update - One Valley One Vision, sch No. 2008071119. [Comment Letter] [Resolution] [Attachment] [Attachment 1] [Attachment 1A] [Attachment 2A]

1.6 acre CONSERVATION EASEMENT--MRCA 11/4/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of an approximately 1.6-acre mitigation project conservation easement along Hasley Canyon Creek on APNs 3247-032-035 and 3247-032-051 and acceptance of processing fee, Hasley Canyon, unincorporated Santa Clarita area. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map 1] [Map 2] [Map 3] [Attachment]

74 acres--MRCA 10/7/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing the expenditure of SMM-0742 funds to purchase parcels in Los Angeles County Chapter 8 Agreements 2535 and 2592, unincorporated los Angeles County. [Map 1] [Map 2] [Map 3] [Staff Report] [Resolution]

SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS:

MRCA 9/2/2009--Consideration of resolution amending Resolution No. 09-98 to authorize the use of Proposition A funds for the acquisition of APN 2260-014-006, for the Coastal Slope Trail, City of Malibu. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Attachment] [Map]

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DEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL OF 150 ACRES ABOVE SWEETWATER MESA—CENTRAL MALIBU, BY “THE EDGE”, GUITARIST IN THE BAND U2--SMMC 10/5/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing a comment letter(s) to the California Coastal Commission on the following five related projects and lot line adjustment in the Sweetwater Mesa Road area in the unincorporated Malibu area: (a). Application No. 4-07-067 Lunch Properties lllp; (b) Application No. 4-07-068 Vera Properties lllp; (c) Application No. 4-07-146 Mulryan Properties lllp; (d) Application No. 4-07-147 Morleigh Properties lllp; (e) Application No. 4-07-148 Mulryan Properties lllp and Morleigh Properties lllp, and (f) Application No. 4-08-043 Ronan Properties lllp. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map] [Attachment 1] [Attachment 2] [Comment Letter]

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½ ACRE--MRCA 10/7/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing the acceptance of APN 2290-025-021, approximately 0.5 acres as a donation, Encino area of Los Angeles. [Map 1] [Map 2] [Staff Report] [Resolution]

MRCA 10/7/2009--Consideration of resolution amending Resolution No. 07-155 to refine the list of potential City-owned surplus properties authorized to be acquired in Beverly Glen and authorizing entering into an agreement with the City of Los Angeles assuring that a portion of the City's proceeds shall be used for the acquisition of all or portions of APNs 5565-003-036, 037, 038, 039, 040 and 041 in Laurel Canyon. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map] [Map 2] [Attachment 1] [Attachment 2] [Attachment 3] [Attachment 4]

1.73 ACRES--MRCA 10/7/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing the use of Santa Monica Mountains Open Space Preservation Assessment District No. 2 (Area G) funds to acquire APN 2290-025-020 comprised of 1.73 acres in Encino, City of Los Angeles. Negotiators: David Zanath, Bank of Arizona and Joseph T. Edmiston. Under consideration: price and terms. (This subsection of the item may be heard in closed session pursuant to the Government Code § 54956.8). [Staff Report] [Resolution]

MRCA 11/4/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing acceptance of the offers to dedicate scenic easements associated with Coastal Development Permit No. 5-84-137 and 5-84-732 (J.D. Stout Co.), in and around Escondido Canyon, Malibu. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map 1] [Map 2]

½ ACRE--MRCA 11/4/2009--Consideration resolution authorizing acceptance of an approximately 0.5-acre conservation easement for cross-Mulholland Drive wildlife movement purposes on APN 4385-021-010, Benedict Canyon, City of Los Angeles. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map]

DEVELOPMENT AND LAND GIFT--MRCA 11/4/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing co-application to the California Coastal Commission (application number 4-08-075) for a Coastal Development Permit for redivision of three parcels pursuant to early donation of APN 4438-034-905 as an approximately 10-acre fee-simple mitigation parcel, and acceptance of processing fee, Las Flores Canyon and Topanga Canyon watersheds. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map 1] [Map 2] [Attachment]

80 ACRE DONATION--MRCA 11/4/2009--Consideration of resolution authorizing the acceptance of an 80-acre donation in Stokes Canyon, APNs 4455-014-005 and 4455-027-001, Calabasas. [Staff Report] [Resolution] [Map 1] [Map 2]

FOR BROKEN MRCA LINKS:

9/2/2009: https://web.archive.org/web/20110115052229/http://www.mrca.ca.gov:80/attachment.asp?agendaid=173

10/7/2009: https://web.archive.org/web/20110115052229/http://www.mrca.ca.gov:80/attachment.asp?agendaid=174

11/4/2009: https://web.archive.org/web/20110115052229/http://www.mrca.ca.gov:80/attachment.asp?agendaid=177

 

 

L.A. to buy Hill north of Downtown...

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L.A. City to Buy 20 acres at Elephant Hill northeast of City Hall--first part of 110 acre proposed purchase sought by Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy

On Tuesday, November 3, 2009, the Los Angeles City Council voted to settle a lawsuit filed by developer Monterey Hills Investors (MHI) in 2007 after being required to undertake additional environmental review of a controversial development of 24 luxury homes on Elephant Hill in El Sereno. As part of the settlement, the City agreed to pay MHI $9 million to acquire approximately 20 acres of hillside open space....Additional thanks are in order – first to the hundreds of residents and allies who took action to demand equal environmental protections for our community. To Doug Carstens of Chatten-Brown & Carstens and Tim Grabiel and David Pettit of NRDC for their exceptional, pro-bono legal services.

for full story:

http://saveelephanthills.blogspot.com/2009/11/city-buys-elephant-hills.html

And more from our site:
http://rare-earth-news.blogspot.com/search?q=elephant+hill

Also, an older staff report on it from the SMMC:
http://smmc.ca.gov/pdf/attachment803_Staff%20Report.pdf

and from the L.A. Times:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/11/la-council-votes-to-buy-land-in-el-sereno-for-9-million-to-settle-lawsuit.html


the map above shows the 110 acre Elephant Hill which the City and State are interested in buying to save as parkland. The area within the red border is the 20 acres that was threatened with development and was purchased this week by L.A. City.

WCB 11/2009: State Board to save 12,762 acres for critters in November...

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State is on end-of-the-year land buying spree

After a year of budget crisis, the State's Wildlife habitat purchase board has finally received the cash to do some deals.

SUMMARY:
154 acres-Riverside County
50 acres---Orange county
3268 acres in Humboldt County
2323 acres in Nevada County-near Lake Tahoe
5630 acres in Sonoma County
1337 acres in Monterey County

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WILDLIFE CONSERVATION BOARD
http://wcb.ca.gov

NOTICE OF MEETING
November 17, 2009

MAPS: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=16430

AGENDA ITEMS


Willow Hole Conservation Area—154 acres-- $10,000.00--Riverside County
To consider the acceptance of a U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service grant and the approval to subgrant the federal funds to the Coachella Valley Conservation Commission to acquire two properties totaling 154± acres to protect and enhance existing regional wildlife linkages and aeolian and fluvial sand transport areas within one of four priority areas of the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Preserve areas, east of Desert Hot Springs and north of Highway 10, in Riverside County.
Funding source: Proposition 84

Trabuco Canyon, Expansion I—50 acres $0.00 --Orange County
To consider the acquisition of 50± acres to protect critical low elevation wildlife corridors, California gnatcatcher habitat, provide connectivity to other protected lands in the area and prevent habitat fragmentation located in the foothills of the Santa Ana Mountains, in the community of Trabuco Canyon, in Orange County. All costs associated with this acquisition are being paid by the Santa Margarita Water District to settle additional mitigation obligations as a result of building an expanded water reservoir.

Cosumnes River Wildlife Area –transfer of 617 acre easement to the feds--Oneto/Denier Property, $0.00 --Sacramento County
To consider the consent to the sale of a floodplain easement by The Nature Conservancy over the 617± acre Oneto/Denier property to The Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Six Rivers (Chalk Mountain Ranch)—3268 acre conservation easement-- $35,000--
Humboldt County
a cooperative project with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the North Coast Regional Land Trust wherein the State proposes to accept federal Forest Legacy Program funds, through an interagency agreement with CAL FIRE, and the approval to apply the federal funds to acquire a conservation easement over 3,268± acres in favor of CAL FIRE to protect forest land, important scenic, fish, wildlife, riparian areas and other ecological values, located near the City of Fortuna and community of Bridgeville, in Humboldt County. Funding source: Proposition 12

Truckee Basin (Independence Lake)—2323 acres--$5,510,000--Nevada County
a grant to The Nature Conservancy… for a cooperative project with the Department of Fish and Game, Federal Desert Terminal Lake Fund, California Resources Agency, Morgan Family Foundation and the Sierra Nevada Conservancy to acquire 2,323± acres of riparian forest and meadow stream habitats and to protect habitat for the federally listed Lahontan cutthroat trout, located approximately 10 miles north of the Town of Truckee, in Nevada County. Funding source: Proposition 84

Jenner Headlands—5630 acres-- $8,010,000.00--Sonoma County
To consider the allocation for a grant to the Sonoma Land Trust…to acquire fee title to the 5,630± acre Jenner Headlands property thirty miles northwest of Santa Rosa, immediately north and east of the community of Jenner, in Sonoma County. Funding source: Proposition 84

Los Vaqueros Ranch Conservation Easement—1337 acres--$8,000.00--Monterey County
to protect critical steelhead trout habitat as well as habitat for sensitive wildlife species including the red-legged frog, yellow-legged frog, western pond turtle and intact populations of native fish, oak woodlands and grasslands in Monterey County. Funding source: Proposition 1

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NOTE TO READERS: a board meeting of the Wildlife Conservation Board was also held on September 8, 2009. No properties were purchased.
Minutes of meeting: https://nrm.dfg.ca.gov/FileHandler.ashx?DocumentID=16402&inline=1

Water hogs say Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!

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They've Got balls: Water Hogs set up an "Endangered Species" Protection Group

10/16/2009
excerpted from: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/10/15/state/n172713D94.DTL&type=newsbayarea#ixzz0U7jhrSXJ

...Executive director Craig Manson said the federal agency should classify the threatened smelt as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

Manson said he believes the designation would lead wildlife scientists to find that the smelt are being harmed by a variety of environmental and human threats, including toxic chemicals and invasive species. Pumping out of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta by state and federal water agencies has largely been blamed for the smelt decline.

"They need to stop loading all of the blame onto pumping because that's an easy target," said Manson, who oversaw the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Interior in the Bush administration from 2002 to 2005...

...Westlands Water District was among the water districts that argued the restrictions (on pumping to protect endangered fish) would harm Californians who depend on water from the delta. Its board president, Jean Sagouspe, is also chairman of the board of the endangered species council.

read their press release:
http://news.findlaw.com/prnewswire/20091015/15oct20091837.html

http://bestscience.org/
their goal is to "generate additional support for environmental statutes"

Another Defeat for Bush's Calif. eco policies...

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Fed Judge Overturns Roads Plan for So-Cal National Forests

excerpted from:
http://www.earthjustice.org/news/press/2009/court-rules-that-southern-california-forest-plans-violate-federal-environmental-laws.html

September 30, 2009
San Francisco, CA -- A federal district court judge ruled late Tuesday that U.S. Forest Service management plans for four Southern California national forests did not adequately protect those forests' wildest landscapes. In the ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel agreed with seven environmental groups that the Forest Service failed to assess cumulative damage to those national forests that would be caused by piecemeal road building and other development in most of the forests' roadless areas, in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act. The environmental groups, represented in the suit by Earthjustice attorneys Erin Tobin and Trent Orr, are the Center for Biological Diversity, Los Padres ForestWatch, Sierra Club, Defenders of Wildlife, California Native Plant Society, California Wilderness Coalition, and The Wilderness Society. "Some of the most wild and pristine areas of southern California's national forests were given a second chance with this court decision," said Ileene Anderson of the Center for Biological Diversity. "These areas provide critically important strongholds for endangered species such as steelhead, the California condor and the arroyo toad; especially during this time of climate change." "The decision vindicates the public's right to know how our national forests are managed," said Earthjustice attorney Erin Tobin. "It is a victory for southern California's wild areas and wildlife, healthy forests, and clean drinking water." At issue are more than a million acres of roadless areas within the Angeles, Los Padres, Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests. The four forests, surrounded by some of the most rapidly urbanizing land in the United States, are the last remaining refuge for the region's imperiled species such as the California condor. At the same time, the forests are increasingly subject to disturbances ranging from off-road vehicle abuse to oil and gas development to invasive species, the impacts of many of which are exacerbated by road building. The challenged management plans recommended just 79,000 acres of roadless areas for possible wilderness designation and slotted more than 942,000 acres for possible road building or other development. According to the court's ruling, the Forest Service violated federal environmental law by ignoring the "larger picture" of how allowing more development in roadless areas — while recommending almost no such areas for permanent wilderness protection — would affect the forests' irreplaceable landscapes and wildlife. The court also ruled that the Forest Service's failure to consider alternative approaches for monitoring the health of forests and their wildlife that are harmed by wildfire management, energy development, and substantial off-road vehicle use was a further violation of the law...

Desert Destruction halted...

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Fed Judge Overturns Bush's Plan for the West Mojave Desert

http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2009/mojave-orv-09-29-2009.html

Bush-era Plan Authorizing Off-road Vehicles on Federal Lands in Mojave Desert Found Illegal by Court

9/29/2009--SAN FRANCISCO— Late Monday a federal judge rejected a Bureau of Land Management plan for managing millions of acres of public land in the California desert. In response to a challenge brought by a coalition of conservation groups including the Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and Desert Survivors, the court ruled that the Bush-era West Mojave Plan violated the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and the National Environmental Policy Act by favoring off-road vehicle use over protection of sensitive desert resources such as endangered species and archeological sites.

“This is a huge win for the California desert,” said Lisa Belenky, a senior attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity. “The court’s decision takes the Bureau of Land Management to task for designating thousands of miles of off-road vehicle routes while ignoring the significant damage these vehicles cause to our public lands and the wildlife that depend on these lands for their survival.”

The court rejected the Bureau’s use of a route designation “decision tree” that the agency used to designate areas for off-road vehicles – a decision tree that failed to take into account such legal requirements as the minimization of routes to limit damage to public lands and disruption of wildlife and habitats. The court found that the Bureau failed to provide adequate explanation for many of the route changes and actually added routes beyond the limit expressly set in the agency’s own planning documents.

It also found that the Bureau violated the law by failing to analyze alternatives that would reduce the number or miles of off-road vehicle routes so as to reduce impacts to resources; that the agency’s analysis of impacts of off-road vehicles on air-quality cultural resources, riparian resources, unusual plant assemblages, and sensitive species such as the Mojave fringe-toed lizard was inadequate; and that the Bureau failed to look at the impacts of cattle grazing on sensitive desert soils.

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to read the judge's ruling:
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/programs/public_lands/deserts/california_desert_conservation_area/pdfs/WEMO_NECO_case_order_9-28-09.pdf

"For the foregoing reasons, ...The Court GRANTS summary judgment in favor of plaintiffs on the FLPMA claims, GRANTS summary judgment on some of the NEPA claims in favor of plaintiffs, and GRANTS summary judgment on some of the NEPA claims in favor of defendants, and GRANTS summary judgment in favor of defendants on the ESA claims."

Tejon condor concreting will be decided this Monday...

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UPDATE: Kern County Supervisors Unanimously Rubber-stamp Tejon Mountain development

read the blow-by-blow from the Bakersfield Californian: http://people.bakersfield.com/home/Blog/Jburger/50267

Imagine these hills along the I-5 and Grapevine covered in 3400 homes, plus another 25,000 nearby, all in fragile endangered species habitat along the San Andreas and Garlock earthquake faults! SAVE TEJON RANCH!

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Monday October 5th is Showdown for Sprawl Pavers v. Open Space fans, Drivers, breathers and critters

Will the sprawl of L.A. merge with the sprawl of Palmdale and the sprawl of Bakersfield?

Tell Kern County's Board of Superviser's NO!

WHEN: 9 A.M., Monday October 5th
1115 Truxtun Avenue
Bakersfield, CA 93301 - 4617

E-Mail your opposition to the Tejon Mountain Village development to:
clerkofboard@co.kern.ca.us

You can also watch the hearing here:
http://kern.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=2

Plus--all the staff reports are here: http://www.co.kern.ca.us/planning/pubntces.asp


Map borrowed, (and sprawl outlines added) from http://www.cuddyvalley.org/blogs/nimby/?p=392

Headwaters Forest Dealings not over yet...

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Federal Appeals Court rejects Pacific Lumber Creditor's Bid to overturn the $500 million+ Price Paid by Mendocino Redwoods co in the Bankruptcy battle

9/29/2009

But other issues may get a re-hearing...

I'm not a lawyer (yet) so I can't say what this ruling really means, but it seems that the main issue in the Pacific Lumber bankruptcy dispute has been resolved in favor of the new management that were installed by the lower bankruptcy court.

for the whole ruling:
http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions%5Cpub%5C08/08-40746-CV0.wpd.pdf

"We conclude that the MRC/Marathon plan, insofar as it paid the
Noteholders the allowed amount of their secured claim, did not violate the
absolute priority rule, was fair and equitable, satisfies 11 U.S.C.
§ 1129(b)(2)(A)(iii), and yielded a fair value of the Noteholders’ secured claim."

and how the court ruled on all the issues:

"We hold that equitable mootness does not bar review of issues raised on appeal concerning the treatment of the Noteholders’ secured claims; nor does it bar re-evaluation of whether their administrative priority claim was correctly calculated; nor does it bar review of the plan’s release clauses insulating multiple parties from liability. Equitable mootness does foreclose our review of issues related to the treatment of impaired and unsecured classes. Finally, we reject the Noteholders’ complaints against the plan’s payout of cash in full for their allowed secured claim, but we remand the administrative priority claim. We also reverse in part the broad non-debtor releases."

Oct. 2009 Nat-Geo Walks the Redwood Coast...

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National Geographic Explores California's Redwoods

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/10/redwoods/bourne-text

The article also features info on the threat of more redwood destruction by Green Diamond in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties.

What the maps show is that 18% of the historic range of the Coast Redwoods is protected in public or privately preserved lands.

That means that 82% of the historic range of the trees is open for logging.

However, 80% of the ancient or "second growth" redwoods are preserved.

CLICK ON MAPS TO ENLARGE!!

ABOVE: SANTA CRUZ TO THE OREGON BORDER

ABOVE: THE BIG SUR COAST TO MUIR WOODS (OVERLAPS WITH THE TOP MAP)

PArks Linkage Bill proposed in east Mojave desert...

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Senator Feinstein is Drafting Bill to Link Joshua Tree and East Mojave Parks

excerpted from http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_S_monument16.447149a.html

9/16/2009--...Earlier this year, preservationists said they sought Feinstein's support to create a 2.4 million-acre preserve to protect public land from military use and energy development. The area would be called the "Mother Road National Monument" because it would include 70 miles of historic Route 66...

One supporter said Tuesday that the senator now is working on a more modest plan than initially discussed. ..

Elden Hughes, a member of the Sierra Club California/Nevada Desert Committee and a Joshua Tree resident, said Feinstein is crafting legislation for a smaller monument than envisioned earlier by conservationists.

He said he hopes the Schwarzenegger administration doesn't stop Feinstein's effort, because a monument designation would protect corridors for wildlife to move between Joshua Tree National Park and Mojave National Preserve. Such swaths of undisturbed land will be especially important as global warming changes habitat, he said.

"Severing the desert would be a huge mistake," Hughes said. "We need the wildlife and plant corridors to remain open."