MROSD to consider purchase of Elkus Ranch uplands August 12

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is holding a public meeting in Half Moon Bay August 12 to consider purchasing the uplands area of Elkus Ranch, located south of Half Moon Bay.

Wednesday, August 12, 2009
6:30 p.m.
Elkus Ranch Retreat Center
1500 Purisima Creek Road
Half Moon Bay, CA. 94019
   
The District’s board of directors will consider purchase of this 450-acre property from the University of California, who would retain the 150-acre lower portion of the property including buildings that house a retreat center, environmental education and 4H programs.  The District’s purchase of the uplands would help sustain these programs, which provide hands-on environmental science, California history, animal care and agricultural education to over 6,000 youth and adults from the greater San Francisco Bay Area each year.

Purchase of this property would also provide opportunities to preserve the Coastside’s scenic beauty, rural character, cattle grazing, wildlife habitat and the potential for future public recreation. If purchased, the Elkus Ranch uplands will continue to be grazed, and remain closed until a public planning process looks at opportunities for public access balanced with agriculture, grazing, cultural and environmental preservation

The property is adjacent to the District’s existing Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve and is an important link in the District’s goal to connect "Purisima to the Sea" by preserving a corridor of public open space and agricultural land from Skyline Ridge to the coast. The District purchased the nearby 260-acre Bluebrush Canyon property from POST in June, and anticipates obtaining POST’s Lobitos Ridge property and the uplands of Purisima Farms, both adjacent to Elkus Ranch, within the next two years.

Prior to the meeting, additional information and the agenda will be posted to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District’s Web site at www.openspace.org.