POST preserves farming on another ranch near San Gregorio POST preserves farming on another ranch near San Gregorio (December 01, 2004)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

For the second time within a month, the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has preserved a ranch in the scenic San Gregorio valley for farming in perpetuity without actually buying it.

After months of negotiations, the Menlo Park-based land conservancy has agreed to purchase a land preservation agreement from Greg and Amanda Jones of Redwood City for $1 million. The agreement, also called a conservation easement, ensures that the 624-acre Redgate Ranch will remain open and not be developed.

Besides selling the easement at considerably below market value, the Joneses offered to donate a trail easement. This will allow expansion of the public trail network over some of their property, which is adjacent to the Driscoll Ranch, also owned by POST.

"We hope this is just the beginning," Mr. Jones said. "We are looking forward to a long and successful working relationship with POST."

This is the second land preservation agreement that POST has secured in the valley. In October, it announced an arrangement to protect 1,312 acres of ranchland in San Gregorio belonging to the Arata family.

Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements between landowners and qualified conservation organizations. They allow landowners to preserve natural resources, continue farming, and restrict development, while retaining private ownership of the land.

"This is one more opportunity for us to work in partnership with private landowners as we develop this important conservation technique and preserve the tremendous natural resources in our own back yard," said Audrey Rust, president of POST.

The Joneses will continue to farm Redgate Ranch, which they acquired in 2000, and use it as a weekend retreat for their family. They raise red oats on about 150 acres, and say they are committed to restoring grasslands for wildlife habitat on the rest of the property.

The preservation agreement will protect the highly visible stretch of land along scenic Highway 84. With a major ridge and narrow valley, Redgate Ranch contains open grasslands, coastal scrub, oaks, and mixed woodlands. It is bounded by two tributaries to San Gregorio Creek, which harbor habitats for rare species such as the federally threatened steelhead trout.

POST, a private nonprofit land trust, has saved almost 55,000 acres of Peninsula landscape since 1977 as permanent open space or parks. About 13,400 acres of that total have been protected in the last three years under POST's $200 million campaign to "Save the Endangered Coast."

For more information, call Kendra Muscarella at 854-7696.

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