Isn't it interesting that we can't get our recreation areas properly funded and yet the OHV fund has money to pay for land preservation!

I received this article via email today and I've read and re-read the article and cannot believe what I think I'm reading and of course I will get it confirmed before I blow a gasket... but it looks to me like OHV funds paid for this acquisition.

If I'm right, off-highway vehicle funds paid for an area that will prohibit off-highway vehicle use and won't even require an OHV to reach it, and we'll need to find out exactly how that could happen without the OHV community knowing about it.

For now, read the article and see if you see what I see.

Conservancy buys Deer Creek Hills land
By Mary Lynne Vellinga -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published October 3, 2003)

A local land preservation group has acquired 4,060 acres of oak woodlands and rolling meadows in eastern Sacramento County for $11.4 million -- three years after voters rejected a developer's effort to build a senior development and golf course there.

The Sacramento Valley Conservancy's purchase of Deer Creek Hills adds a piece of land nearly the size of the American River Parkway to the region's open space inventory. It is a major coup for the grass-roots group that has just three part-time staff members. Nearly all the money used to buy the land came from government sources.

For now, public access to the property will remain limited to docent-led tours. But within three years, the conservancy aims to raise enough money to complete a management plan, build a parking lot and open up hiking trails for general use.

"The conservancy's acquisition preserved land that will provide recreational and scenic opportunities for generations of Sacramentans," Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Niello said in a prepared statement. Niello co-chaired the fund-raising effort.

The deal ensures that at least one sizable chunk of the grazing lands south of Highway 50 will remain in its current state.

Deer Creek Hills, just north of Rancho Murieta, lies far outside the county's urban growth boundary, created in 1993 to rein in growth. But speculators have nonetheless snapped up much of the surrounding grazing land, hoping that it will one day be opened up for building.

"One just has to look north of Highway 50 to see what's happening, and to realize the importance of preserving open space if we're going to have any open space left," said Al Wright, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Board, an independent board within the state Department of Fish and Game. The board contributed $4 million of state park bond money.

Leaders of the conservancy announced the purchase Thursday evening to jubilant supporters attending the group's annual fund-raising picnic at the Sacramento Yacht Club.

"It's a tremendous accomplishment showing the power of a few dedicated staff and lots of committed volunteers. I hope they open a big bottle of champagne," said Mike Eaton, director of The Nature Conservancy's Cosumnes River and Delta project. Eaton was a founding board member of the 13-year-old Sacramento Valley Conservancy.

Two years ago, when the effort began, it seemed like a long shot.

Developer C.C. Myers had lost badly at the ballot box despite spending more than $2 million in an effort to win voter approval of his senior development, which had been rejected by the county Board of Supervisors. Myers had bought the property for more than $20 million in 1990 from a group led by Los Angeles investor Hal Taines.

With no prospects for building, Myers returned the land to the Taines group, to whom he still owed millions of dollars. Approached by the conservancy, the Taines group was willing to sell. But it wanted $2,800 an acre -- far more than the normal price for grazing land.

"This was 10 times the size of any deal we'd ever done, money-wise," said Aimee Rutledge, the conservancy's executive director.

The organization was founded 13 years ago by North Sacramento developer Robert Slobe, who said he modeled it on the Bay Area's Peninsula Open Space Trust, which has preserved about 50,000 acres on the San Francisco peninsula.

As of 2001, when it kicked off the campaign for Deer Creek Hills, the conservancy had preserved about 1,000 acres.

"When I first announced that we had gotten an option on the property at our fund-raiser, and then I announced the amount we had to raise ... it was the biggest moment of silence I've ever heard at a public speaking engagement," Rutledge recalled.

"It kind of freaked me out."

In the end, the purchase came down to the wire. The group cobbled together enough money to buy the first half of the property last year. But the final $1.9 million needed to close the second half of the deal didn't come through until just in time to meet Tuesday's deadline.

Last summer, an expected infusion of money fell through when Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, blocked a federal allocation of $2.6 million, citing concern about the county's investment in the land during a tight budget time. The county contributed $3.7 million in state bond money to the deal and is a minority owner of the property.

In the end, the conservancy located the final chunk of money it needed at the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which operates the Prairie City State Vehicular Recreation Area off of Highway 50.

Fearing nearby development would eventually encroach on the off-road vehicle park, the department had earmarked up to $10 million in fees paid by off-road vehicle users to buy buffer lands nearby. Even though Deer Creek Hills is five miles away, the department decided it was a good purchase anyway because of the parcel's value for habitat and open space.

"It's just a good piece of property for parks," said department spokesman Steve Capps.

Various other state and federal agencies contributed to the effort as well.

Just $260,000 of the money came from private individuals, foundations and local corporations, a pittance compared to the millions in private money raised for open space in the Bay Area.

But the private contributions played a crucial role because government money could not be used to maintain the option on the property, Rutledge said.

"There was an overwhelming wish on the part of the community to get this property preserved," she said.

About the Writer
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The Bee's Mary Lynne Vellinga can be reached at (916) 321-1094 or
mlvellinga@sacbee.com