On a visit to Hollister last week, San Luis Wildlife Refuge Complex manager Kim Forrest talked about current easements and prospects for others under the federal government’s proposed California Foothills Legacy voluntary program. Her office currently manages nearly 200 easements – they usually involve the government paying landowners a certain amount per acre to follow certain requirements – for duck-hunting clubs.
If the Foothills Legacy program goes forward, Forrest’s office would manage those new easements, too. She was available to the public at a recent open house coinciding with the release of a key environmental document outlining objectives in the Foothills Legacy plan.
Developed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the unfunded habitat conservation plan covers an overall span of 14 million acres of Central Valley rangeland and strives to obtain easements on up to 200,000 acres in the region. Scaled back from its initial, stated goal of obtaining 900,000 acres in easements, the proposal’s broader objective is to prevent development on those properties and, thus, related damage to many species’ habitats.
For conservationists, Forrest called the program a “very inexpensive” way to retain wildlife habitat when considering the easements are one-time payments that would permanently ban development on those rangelands. She said the idea of using easements is gaining popularity “mainly because it’s so economical.”
“As conservationists,” said Forrest, from the Hollister Community Center on Aug. 9, “we have our cake and eat it, too. For a one-time payment, wildlife habitat and the species’ richness and the values of wildlife are maintained, but the landowner does own out.”
Forrest mentioned the Hollister visit was her fifth open house on the recent tour. Those open houses were chances for residents to discuss the proposal with officials from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Residents milled around at the community center, talking with agency employees on hand, chatting with other local visitors, or taking part in a series of stations allowing for hand-written comments about the project.
“I’ve talked to a lot of landowners,” Forrest said. “It’s been very positive feedback. Any negative feedback is not necessarily from the landowners.”
Apparently, Forrest hadn’t had a chance to talk with county rancher John Eade, who was among the three dozen or so residents at the open house.
Eade was critical that the federal government didn’t hold itself to the same standard to which others in the public are often held – by going through with the full environmental impact review, as opposed to merely doing the environmental assessment, the next level down when it comes to bureaucratic steps.
“Why shouldn’t a government agency that impacts a whole county – how can they get by with a little in-house environmental assessment?”
Frank Zgragen is a county rancher, on the other hand, who supports the Foothills Legacy program. He said he likes that individual landowners such as him have the choice on easements. He is against the idea of larger organizations, such as the local and state cattlemen’s associations, which opposed it, coming out against the program.
“It shouldn’t be up to any organizations,” he said.
As for the speculated implication from critics that the federal government might pursue more land later, Zgragen said, “I don’t see that.”
Lynn Overtree of San Juan Bautista said she was there because she values open spaces and wildlife habitat. She supports the easement program for another reason, too, the same one cited by Zgragen.
“I’m supportive of the program here,” she said, “because it offers the choice.”
