Autumn in the Heritage Valley of the Santa Clara River, the area upstream of Santa Paula and down stream of Piru, is beautiful this time of year.

The mornings are cool and damp. The afternoon temperatures often dip to near tolerable double-digit levels and the smell of freshly tilled dirt is prevalent on the subtle breeze.

Orderly rows of petite greens, herbs and celery, begin to emerge in the fields, lovers of the cool damp mornings that dry into bright sunny afternoons, the same growing conditions that have been ideal for citrus the last 150 years.

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.