For more than a decade steelhead have been dying in Pescadero Creek in December and January.  The Creek has been so altered that it’s not even clear how the stream should behave any longer, reports the County Times.

The last leg in the journey is the most perilous one, when steelhead living in the brackish waters of the lagoon are caught in the influx of saltwater stirred up when the sandbar breaks, letting in the ocean. Scientists now believe the saltwater robs the lagoon of its oxygen in places, choking the fish as they attempt to swim out to sea.

This apparently natural phenomenon may be the result of years of tinkering with the ecosystem by farmers, fishermen and even California State Parks. Officials are now at odds over whether a man-made solution is called for, or whether more human involvement would do more harm than good.

"The system is so altered from all angles that it’s hard to say what would result in better habitat," said Joanne Kerbavaz, a resource ecologist with State Parks.
...
The history of human interference in the creek began in the late 19th century, when local farmers would artificially breach the 40-foot sandbar at the mouth of the creek ahead of nature’s time to prevent the creek from backing up and flooding their farmland.

They built levees along the creek for the same purpose and watered their fields with it. Meanwhile, many ancient redwood stands in the upper watershed were clear-cut to create housing on the Peninsula — around 1906 and again after World War II.

This legacy of logging roads and erodable hillsides continues to push sediment into the creek and its tributaries, interfering with steelhead breeding and changing the creek’s shape.

Fisherman would breach the sandbar so fish could move upstream. State Parks did it to accelate the creek to create marshlands.  And no one is certain how the stream should flow any longer.

Pillar Point Harbor is filling with sand because of its breawakter. At the same time, the force of waves deflected by the breakwater is eroding the cliffs above Surfers Beach, reports the County Times.

When other harbors, such as Oyster Point Marina in South San Francisco, face the same problem, the common solution is to dredge the sand out and dump it on a nearby beach. A growing chorus of voices, surfers among them, suggest this is the perfect solution for both Pillar Point and Surfer’s Beach, which could clearly use the sand.

The problem is, that’s not an option at Surfer’s Beach, which lies within the protected boundaries of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary.

And that’s just the beginning of the complexity.

As part of the effort to create the new General Management Plan for Golden Gate National Recreation Area, we invite you to join members of the National Park Service planning team on a couple of short walks to help develop ideas for the future of key sites in San Mateo County. Two walks are scheduled at Rancho Corral de Tierra — 4,200 acres of open space on the slopes of Montara Mountain managed by Peninsula Open Space Trust which will soon become part of the park. The group will observe the conditions and resources in these areas and share ideas about what they might become in the future. These are excellent opportunities to have your ideas shape the emerging plan. Call (415) 561-4930 to RSVP and get meeting locations.

Rancho Corral de Tierra: North – Saturday March 29 , 10:00am to Noon
Meet representatives from the GGNRA and Peninsula Open Space Trust and explore the area along Martini Creek, between McNee Ranch State Park and the town of Montara. Talk about the area’s future as the southern gateway to the park.

Rancho Corral de Tierra: South – Saturday April 5 , 10:00am to Noon
Similar to the walk scheduled for March 29, but this walk will focus on lower San Vicente and Denniston Creeks between the towns of Moss Beach and El Granada.

Opportunities to discuss the park’s future will also be part of two other popular spring hikes: the "Redwood Ramble" at the Phleger Estate (March 8, led by NPS Ranger George Durgerian), and "Sweeney Ridge Saunter" (March 16, led by Nike veteran David Bridgman). Call (415) 561-4323 for information about these longer hikes.

The park’s website is GGNRA website.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST)  has received a donation of a conservation easement on a 952-acre ranch along Highway 1 south of Half Moon Bay. Landowner Kathleen Scutchfield donated the easement, valued at $7.9 million, to preserve the scenic vistas and rich natural resources on the property, known as Toto Ranch.

"I’ve seen how development has been creeping up and down the coast and feel it’s important to make a statement and save this land just as it is, in its open, natural state," said Scutchfield. "POST has done so much to preserve the character of the Coastside, and I want to see that this beautiful land is protected forever." 

A native of Texas and a longtime supporter of POST, Scutchfield has called California home since 1971. She co-founded the nonprofit Until There’s a Cure Foundation, which raises funds for AIDS vaccine development, care and services for AIDS patients, and AIDS education. She is also a trustee emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet. An avid equestrian, she lives in Woodside, Calif. She purchased Toto Ranch in 1982 with her late husband, Donald.

The land is currently used for open space and grazing. The easement protects five acres of prime agricultural soils as well as grassland and hardwood and mixed evergreen forest. It also preserves a lengthy corridor of watershed along Tunitas Creek and its tributaries, which provide wildlife habitat for the federally threatened steelhead trout and federally endangered Coho salmon, as well as the California red-legged frog, white-tailed kite, peregrine falcon, Cooper’s hawk, sharp-shinned hawk, golden eagle and marbled murrelet.

KQED’s Quest visits Pillar Point Harbor to examine the mysterious, disturbing invasion of the unpleasant Humboldt squid from Mexican waters to northern California and beyond.

A mysterious sea creature up to 7 feet long, with 10 arms, a sharp beak and a ravenous appetite, has invaded ocean waters off Northern California. Packs of fierce Humboldt Squid attack nearly everything they see, from fish to scuba divers. Marine biologists are working to discover why they’ve headed north from their traditional homes off South America.

Developer Charles "Chop" Keenan will be allowed to build 129 new houses on Beachwood and the adjacent Glencree property [pdf of city’s press release] as part of a settlement agreement with the city over the Beachwood lawsuit. This returns the two properties to their planned development states in 1990, and gives Keenan the right to 46 houses beyond Beachwood’s original size of 83.

The settlement is dependent on the passage of AB 1991, which will exempt the development from state and local review, including (presumably) the Coastal Act. The bill is sponsored by assemblyman Gene Mullin and senator Leland Yee.

The city will also put a stoplight at Bayview, which will be paid for by the developer. The cost could be shared with future developments that use Bayview for access.  The city says that this "would also facilitate access to other new developments". This opens the door for the reconfiguration of Pacific Ridge to enable the building of the Foothill Bypass from Highway 1 to Highway 92.

The development will not be subject to the growth limitations of the city’s Measure A, which limits growth in Half Moon Bay to 3% per year.

Keenan will pay the city $2.25 million to offset the city’s costs and for the development rights.  If the legislation fails and the development rights are not granted, the city will owe the Keenan family trusts $18 million.

The city council approved the settlement with a vote of 4 to 1. Council member Jim Grady voted against.

UPDATE: You can download the settlement agreement from Coastsider.

The settlement of the Beachwood case by the city and the property’s owners could be announced at tonight’s Half Moon Bay City Council meeting, reports the County Times:

Attorneys for both Half Moon Bay and Palo Alto developer Charles "Chop" Keenan say that if a settlement is signed today, the details will be presented at the start of the regular City Council meeting following a closed-door session between the two sides.

"I think it’s likely to be at the council meeting. That would be my best guess," said John Knox, an attorney representing the city with the firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Last Wednesday night, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s Board of Directors voted unanimously to award a five-year grazing lease for its Tunitas Creek property to local coastside rancher Doug Edwards.  Mr. Edwards has been running a year-round cow-calf operation on the property since July 2005 under a year-to-year lease with the previous landowner.

The District’s grazing management plan for the Tunitas Creek property is a guide to conservation grazing that is tailored to suit the resource management needs of the land.  Conservation grazing is the use of livestock

At its March 18 meeting, the Half Moon Bay City Council saw a presentation of the County’s Midcoast Parks Plan, announced the resignation of its city attorney, introduced the ordinance that would rezone nursery property for a bird-themed RV park, endorsed the Measure O county tax for parks, began the process of revising its zoning code, heard its midyear budget review, and discuss a no-parking zone near Casa del Mar and the Lutheran church.

• Opening [5 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Presentation of San Mateo County Parks Plan [20 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Announcements [2 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Report out of closed session [2 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Oral communications [10 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Council & Staff reports, consent calendar (includes announcement that city will hire new attorney and says goodbye to outgoing attorney Adam Lindgren) [19 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Birds of Paradise RV park [30 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Parks for the Future (Measure O) endorsement [11 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Zoning code changes (definitions, development standards, permit procedures) [7 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• Budget review and calendar [14 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |
• No parking zone near Casa del Mar, Lutheran church [19 min]  | Quicktime | Flash |

The Coastside Mothers’ Club will host "Chinese Medicine and Women’s Health",  a presentation by Lisa Mandelbaum, licensed acupuncturist and Diplomate of Oriental Medicine who will discuss fundamentals of Chinese pattern diagnosis.

Thursday, April 3, 2008, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. 
The Bell Building, 565 Kelly Street, Half Moon Bay