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Landowners have long recognized the importance of preserving natural habitats and unique properties. Over the past few years, significant strides have been made with landowners and conservation groups coming to consensus about how to preserve and protect such places. Working in partnership with local governments and environmental groups, our members have helped craft land use agreements that have created some of the largest conservation preserves in the West.
These case studies offer some guiding principles on the importance of protecting unique habitats and how conservation can benefit local communities and landowners.
The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project is the largest tidal wetland restoration project on the West Coast. When complete, the project will restore 15,100 acres of industrial salt ponds to a rich mosaic of tidal wetlands and other habitats.
Under the leadership of Senator Dianne Feinstein, the South Bay Salt Ponds were purchased in 2003 from Cargill Inc. Funds for the purchase were provided by federal and state resource agencies and several private foundations. The 15,100 acre purchase represents the largest single acquisition in a larger campaign to restore 40,000 acres of lost tidal wetlands to San Francisco Bay.
Restoration of the South Bay salt ponds provides an opportunity to begin to restore tidal marsh habitats and improve water quality, by improving the health of San Francisco Bay for years to come. This project will also provide wildlife-oriented public access and recreation, and flood management in the South Bay.
Shortly after the property was purchased, the California Department of Fish and Game, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the California Coastal Conservancy launched a four- year public process to design a restoration plan for the property.
The final plan was adopted in 2008 and the first phase of restoration started later that year. The plan serves as a blueprint for habitat restoration, flood protection, and the construction of new trails, viewing platforms and other public access amenities along the Bay.
The Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement
Tejon Ranch is a living treasure whose heritage dates back before California was even a state. From its very origins in 1843, the Ranch's beautiful and magnificent landscape has been carefully protected by its owners.
Tejon Ranch is committed to continuing its 165-year history of responsible stewardship of its land by placing the principles of conservation and good stewardship at the core of everything it does.
The Ranch's beautiful tapestry of rugged mountains, steep canyons, oak covered rolling hills, and broad valleys has played a vital role in the history and development of California and we believe it's important to maintain the fabric and feel of this special part of the Golden State. From establishing huge conservation areas, to using the latest environmentally sensitive practices in our ranching, farming and development operation, Tejon Ranch is committed to Preserving California's Legacy.
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The Florida Panther Protection Program
Florida Panther Protection Program has been proposed by a broad coalition of leading conservation organizations and Eastern Collier landowners. Together, these stakeholders are committed to setting the endangered Florida panther on a path to recovery. This collaborative approach suggests the protection of a significant, contiguous range of panther habitat - potentially as much as 2,500,000 acres in public and private lands in Southwest Florida. In addition, it calls for the establishment of the Paul J. Marinelli Panther Protection Fund, a source of private funds from well planned, sustainable real estate development in Eastern Collier County that could make significant funding available for conservation efforts over decades to come.
Rural landowners would be incentivized through the generation of restoration credits to create, enhance and restore the panther corridors. The Florida Panther Protection Program would secure a contiguous range of panther habitat connecting the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge and Big Cypress National Preserve though Camp Keais Strand and Okaloacoochee Slough with Corkscrew Marsh and adjacent lands in the region.
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DC Ranch's McDowell Sonoran Preserve
DC Ranch is a community where regional architecture, thoughtful planning and a sense of community are observed and felt by residents and visitors alike. While these aspects were thoughtfully initiated and implemented by DMB, DC Ranch’s developer, and further defined and embraced by residents, the value of this community is also firmly rooted in its natural assets, namely its backdrop of the Sonoran Desert, the McDowell Mountains and the McDowell Sonoran Preserve.
Such a backdrop is and ever will be an invaluable amenity and a point of pride for both residents of DC Ranch and the City of Scottsdale, thanks to DMB's desire to walk a path of sustainability and allow its development dream to also support the City of Scottsdale’s dream for the McDowell Sonoran Preserve as envisioned by the McDowell Sonoran Conservancy.
The same year DC Ranch received approval for planning and zoning, the Scottsdale City Council established the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. The vision for the Preserve consisted of purchasing 16,640 acres of land with monies raised from a ballot measure approved by Scottsdale voters.
Understanding the value of the land and the potential impact of development and preservation, DMB partner Drew Brown announced in that DMB would give the City time to create a plan to buy any parts of DC Ranch that lay within the proposed preserve. In 1998, the City of Scottsdale announced its purchase of 2,675 acres of DC Ranch for preservation.
To further demonstrate its support of conservation, DMB then donated 1,918 acres of DC Ranch land to the Preserve and rezoned its community to create 672 additional acres of open space. Today, 4,600 acres (more than one-half) of the 8,300-acre DC Ranch are committed to permanent desert open space - something of which community residents, DMB and the City of Scottsdale are proud.
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