Land Trust announces purchase of 80-acre Eagle Ridge Property

Thursday April 14, 2011

An 80-acre portion of the Eagle Ridge property in Lake Arrowhead, which went into default in October 2008, was purchased Wednesday afternoon by the SBMLT FOREST LAND LLC, a subsidiary of the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust.

“This property was not something the Land Trust had considered buying at first,” said President Bill Engs, “at least not before receiving an unexpected contact from a real estate office connected with the owners.”

“It appears that the defaulted 80 acres had failed to attract any of the usual buyers of development property,” said SBMLT’s Projects Manager, Kevin Kellems. “Inquiries went out to land conservancies, and SBMLT was invited to make an offer.”

“The invitation was what prompted us to look at this land as a serious acquisition prospect,” said Engs.

Three promising factors attracted the Land Trust:  1) The property had formerly been public land but got traded away in an unpopular land exchange; 2) The site is the last remaining large area of natural open space left in the Lake Arrowhead area; and 3) The community in the past showed a strong interest in saving the land for public use.

Land Trust staff carefully inspected the extent of landscape disturbance caused by the unfinished construction work in the 5-acre entrance area.  After extensive evaluation, it was decided a purchase would provide a unique opportunity for the community of Lake Arrowhead to consider some new form of public open space or recreational use for the site.

After suspending a potential deal on land in a remote backcountry area, SBMLT entered into a purchase agreement with a consortium of banks that held title to the foreclosed property.

Normally the principal role of the Land Trust is to help enhance the natural conservation land base of our local National Forest.  Private land holdings are most often purchased in wildland areas, where they readily qualify for re-sale to the National Forest.  They are bought by SBMLT with a revolving acquisition fund that is later replenished upon each re-sale to the Forest Service.  The replenished acquisition fund is then recycled into the next conservation purchase.

However, with the Eagle Ridge property, the Land Trust will seek a different conservation buyer, since the land is not Forest Service qualified.  While the Land Trust has some potential ideas, it will confer with the community for assistance, input and suggestions in finding the best eventual owner of the property for the greatest public benefit.

LAND TRUST BUYS ROYAL RANGERS 50-ACRE PROPERTY  

Monday, February 28, 2011

Today the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust announced the purchase of a 50.31-acre property adjacent to Strawberry Peak in the Twin Peaks area of the San Bernardino National Forest.  The sale, which had been in escrow since December 17, will close today.

The land was purchased from the Assemblies of God Church, after the church decided to withdraw plans to construct a Royal Rangers Adventure Camp at the site.

“The site has been on the list of Land Trust acquisition priorities for over ten years,” said Kevin Kellems, the Projects Manager for the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust.  “It lies within a major wildlife corridor and features critical habitat for rare species; it also forms a natural boundary between the national forest open space of Strawberry Peak and State Highway 189.”

Aware that the camp proposal was a subject of local controversy, the Land Trust sent a letter to the Assemblies of God Church in October 2009 to inquire whether there was interest in selling the property.  The church originally demurred, but later expressed interest in exploring the prospect in July 2010.

“The Assemblies of God Church proved to be a very courteous and conscientious landowner to do business with,” said Kellems.

The Land Trust will offer to re-sell the property to the Forest Service to become part of the National Forest.  “That’s the most obvious and logical use for this land, given its location and prominent public benefits,” said Bill Engs, the Land Trust President.

Engs added that, “the Land Trust cannot hold onto the property –our role is to facilitate key acquisitions by the Forest Service that improve the overall management and benefits of the National Forest.”  He also explained that “the officers of the Land Trust are custodians of a revolving acquisition fund.  That money needs to come back to us and be recycled into other projects so it can achieve on-going maximum effectiveness.”

Congress has a specially authorized fund, derived from offshore oil royalties, that is specifically dedicated to the purchase of lands within the boundaries of our National Parks and Forests.  It is called the Land & Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).  LWCF has been in use since 1965 and has funded many land purchases in the San Bernardino National Forest, which is one of the most heavily-used of all public lands in the country.

LAND TRUST ACQUIRES 260 ACRES on CAJON RIDGE

Cajon Ridge, where SBMLT recently bought 260 acres, adding to 110 acres already owned. (San Gabriel Mountains in background

Progress on Cajon Ridge Project

December 2010 the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust (SBMLT) completed an acquisition of two adjacent properties totaling 260 acres on Cajon Ridge in the San Bernardino National Forest.

            Bill Engs, President of the Land Trust, noted in a SBMLT press release that “These two properties, along with 110 acres on the same ridge by Sugarpine Mountain (acquired by the Land Trust in 2008), are key additions to the Land Trust’s mission of protecting critical forest open space and wildlife habitat in the National Forest.”

            Located on the ridge top east of the Cajon Pass, the two properties are about 3.5 miles southwest of Lake Silverwood.  The property is accessed by Forest Service Road 2N49, a primitive dirt road that winds through the area from Silverwood Lake to Cedar Pines Park.

Site of Fire Lookout Tower

            Cajon Mountain is the site of a former Forest Service lookout tower, which may someday be restored.  Access to the site goes through the Land Trust property.

            For at least ten years these lands have been on the Land Trust’s watch list of important acquisition priorities.  Our primary goal is to acquire private land inholdings in the local National Forest that help safeguard wildlife, protect significant mountain ecosystems, and improve the overall management integrity of these public lands.

            Inholdings are privately-owned lands that are inside the boundary of a public land unit, such as a National Park or Forest –in this case, our local forest.  They often are completely surrounded by public lands.  In our forest they are generally subject to county jurisdiction instead of Forest Service oversight.

Cajon Pass Wildlife Linkage

SBMLT has been working to purchase wildlife open space parcels along Cajon Ridge, which are in unprotected private ownership.  These lands are part of a critical wildlife travel route.

   Cajon Ridge descends to Cleghorn Creek, which provides the primary wildlife linkage between the San Gabriel Mountains and the San Bernardino Mountains.  The creek flows under a large overpass of the Interstate 15 Freeway, at an area that was in private ownership until recently acquired by the Wildlands Conservancy.

Map of 3 SBMLT Parcels between Cajon Mtn & Sugarpine Mtn

Land Trust transfers 826 acres to Cleveland National Forest 

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

LAKE ARROWHEAD – The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust announced today the transfer of two parcels of private land, totaling 826 acres, to Cleveland National Forest.

The transfer was completed due to the work of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who secured a $3 million appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a 45-year-old federal program which assists the National Forest Service and other government agencies in acquiring land and easements. 

This is the first time that an appropriation from the conservation fund has been used in the Santa Ana Mountains. 

“This has been a team effort between the land trust, Sen. Feinstein’s office, the Wildlands Conservancy, the Trust for Public Land and the forest service,” said Peter Jorris, executive director of the San Bernardino Mountain Land Trust. “We have also had excellent support from the Santa Ana Mountains Task Force and other recreational groups.”

The 826 acres are part of a larger conservation campaign, known as Save the Saints, to fill in missing pieces of national forest land in Los Angeles County, the Inland Empire and Orange County. The campaign derives its name from the tall mountain peaks named in Spanish for Catholic saints – the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Santa Ana mountains – which surround the greater Los Angeles basin.

Two separate parcels were part of the transfer. The first, called Yaeger Mesa, encompasses 186 acres and was an old mining claim filed in the late nineteenth century.  Yaeger Mesa sits above Trabuco Canyon in one of the most scenic and popular areas of Cleveland National Forest.  It took seven years to complete the transfer.

 “The mesa is an idyllic fern-covered meadow surrounded by a thick stand of conifer forest, a unique and scenic spot in these popular mountains,” said Debra Clarke, trails manager for Cleveland National Forest.

The second parcel - known as Eagle Canyon and totaling 640 acres - is adjacent to the city of Corona and will assist the forest service with fire protection. The parcel provides habitat for golden eagle nesting sites and contains two streams feeding into the municipal water supply.

The federal Land and Water Conservation Fund was enacted in 1965 and provides funding for the acquisition of private land within national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and Bureau of Land Management areas. Government royalties from offshore gas and oil leases are used to fund the program. Each year, a percentage of the revenue generated from this source is used to conserve land for recreation and open space.

About San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust:

Founded in 1996, the San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust is dedicated to the acquisition and protection of open space and wildlife habitat primarily within the San Bernardino National Forest. The land trust has protected more than 9,000 acres of land in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Cleveland National Forests.

About the Save the Saints Campaign:

The three national forests in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and Santa Ana mountains are the most heavily-used public lands in the nation. Two-thirds of all Californians live within a two-hour drive of these popular public lands. 

The San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust and Wildlands Conservancy, in Oak Glen, have partnered to protect undeveloped land holdings in the mountains before they are lost to urbanization.

More information: www.wildlandsconservancy.org/projects_saints.html.

Contact: 

Peter Jorris, executive director, San Bernardino Mountains Land Trust, 

(909) 867-3536, pjorris@verizon.net 

Debra Clarke, trails manager, Cleveland National Forest,

(951) 736-1811, ext. 3227 

640-acre Eagle Canyon property above Corona, recently added to the Cleveland National Forest 

Debra Clarke of USFS and Peter Jorris of the SB Mtns Land Trust at Yaeger Mesa

Overview of Yaeger Mesa in the distance