CIR Raises Over 1.3 Million Dollars to
Save the San Marcos Foothills
A Western Meadowlark at the San Marcos Foothills. Photo by Mark Bright.
A Short-Eared Owl flies over the West Mesa of the San Marcos Foothills. This sensitive habitat contains an abundance of rare wildlife.
By Ken Owen, Executive Director
In an amazing outpouring of support for the natural world and for the value of open space, CIR has received over 1.3 million dollars in donations and pledges to purchase a portion of the San Marcos Foothills. Most of that funding ($1,035,556 as of this writing) was donated in cash, while $263,228 has been “pledged” to the campaign.
All the donations, including a single $1,000,000 donation from an anonymous donor, will be returned if the sale of the property does not happen.
The San Marcos Foothills is a stretch of undeveloped land, located between Santa Barbara and Goleta, north of the urban boundary, in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains.
After many proposals to develop the area were turned down by the County of Santa Barbara, in 2005 the developer at that time donated 200 acres of the property for preservation.
That property became the San Marcos Foothills Preserve, which is owned by the County and protected forever. At the same time, a proposal to develop the adjacent unprotected land to the north and south with upscale condominiums and luxury houses was approved by the County.
Starting in 2010, CIR began restoring habitat on the Preserve, including along creek corridors, and in recent years, in the grasslands. We brought sheep to the Preserve to control non-native plants, that ruin the ecology of native grasslands. Throughout this process, we were aware that the largest and most biologically important grasslands on the Foothills is actually outside the Preserve (at the north end of Via Gaitero Road) on property slated for development.
In fact, it is one of the largest and most productive grasslands in Santa Barbara County, and the habitat is precious for animal species that depend on native grasslands for survival.
This led CIR to investigate whether the developer would sell the property for conservation purposes. A preliminary appraisal valued the lots at 5.5 million dollars. CIR approached the developer to see if he was willing to sell. He said he would consider selling, but he felt the value of the land was closer to 16 million dollars.
With development imminent, CIR began a campaign to purchase the property. This included producing a video and stories in local media, and we consulted with several professionals in the land conservation field.
Within weeks, we had raised over a million dollars! However, final permits are close at hand and construction apparently will start before the end of the year!
Where does that leave the campaign? The price that the developer wants makes moving forward difficult. However, we have not given up on the dream. CIR will keep working to raise the money to buy the property.
We will keep the web portal online, so people can continue to donate or pledge until we either raise enough money or until construction begins. We are most grateful for the outpouring of support to save the property from the community and from our members.
Please donate or pledge at bit.ly/buyTheSMF.
Donate to CIR today to help fund our habitat restoration and environmental education.
