Open space district buys first land on Coastside Open space district buys first land on Coastside (April 20, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has bought its first land in the recently annexed Coastside Protection Area in San Mateo County.

Meeting for the first time in Half Moon Bay, the board of directors April 6 unanimously voted to buy 183 acres near Half Moon Bay from the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) for $2.25 million.

Board President Larry Hassett hailed the purchase as a key step in preserving the scenic beauty and rural heritage of the Coastside.

"It is a tremendous victory for anyone who cares about the future of this area," he said.

The Post/Forde property, adjacent to Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve, is the first of almost 12,000 acres the district plans to buy over the next 15 years to help protect the Coastside.

The annexation of 220 square miles of the Coastside last September followed years of planning and controversy.

The district, founded in 1972, already protects almost 50,000 acres of open space on the Bayside and in the mountains of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties for open space, habitat and low-intensity recreation.

Audrey Rust, president of POST, congratulated the district on purchasing the property: "It has wonderful recreational, natural and scenic value."

POST, a land trust based in Menlo Park, had acquired the property as part of its "Campaign to Save the Endangered Coast."

The new addition is a natural extension of the Purisima preserve to the south and west. It includes the headwaters of Lobitos Creek, a likely spawning area for threatened steelhead trout, and the scenic top of Irish Ridge, with expansive views of forest, coastal ranches, and the ocean. Its mixed evergreen forests provide home for a variety of wildlife, including deer and mountain lion.

The existing roads and trails on the property offer the opportunity to expand the existing system of public trails, especially a regional trail link that could eventually connect the Bay Area Ridge Trail to the California Coastal Trail through Purisima Canyon. Neighbors are also interested in hiking and horseback riding on the new preserve.

The district will seek $1.93 million in state grant funding to cover 86 percent of the cost of the purchase, through the Habitat Conservation Fund and Proposition 40 bonds passed in 2002.

For information on the open space district, call 691-1200, or go to openspace.org. For POST, call 854-7696, or go to openspacetrust.org.

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