Critical Link in Carmel River Parkway Secured
The Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT) has completed a key land acquisition deal that secures a critical segment of the Carmel River Parkway, a priority project for the Land Trust and its community partners. Just west of Rancho San Carlos Road and Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, the acquisition will provide for important habitat protection, a river education center, and an approximately two-mile-long public trail, bringing BSLT closer to its long-term goal of benefiting the local community by knitting together a tapestry of protected lands along the Carmel River.
With the acquisition of Odello Ranch in 2000 and Palo Corona Ranch in 2002, BSLT staked out a major role in accomplishing the future of restoration and stewardship of the Carmel River. The Land Trust subsequently recognized it could build on these efforts to recruit the local community to imagine a future in which the Carmel River served as the backbone of a regional system of parklands, trails, restored natural areas and centers for connection and learning. The Carmel River Parkway plan was born, the culmination of a planning effort involving neighborhood groups, local businesses, public agencies, planners and preservation groups. BSLT views the Carmel River Parkway project as the central strategy to connect community to the river and to build long-term support for its protection and restoration.
Following the purchase of the 13-acre Carmel River Songbird Preserve at Schulte Road and the 32-acre fee land purchase of Moo Land near Carmel Valley Village, this latest acquisition includes three important components: accepting donation of the 1.5 mile “Quail Meadows” segment of the river trail and an accompanying 10-acre conservation easement, and purchase of a 3-acre education facility and access trail to the river near Rancho San Carlos Road. Funding for the $1.13 million acquisition was provided by private donations and a major lead gift from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the California Coastal Conservancy. Quail Lodge, Inc. donated the conservation and trail easements.
“The conservation easement is an important dedication,” said Lawson Little, President of Quail Lodge, Inc., “and will ensure that the natural processes of the Carmel River are protected for fish and wildlife, community enjoyment, and public safety.”
The 3-acre property has an existing building that is currently used by the Santa Lucia Conservancy as office space and a nature education facility. While BSLT will continue to lease the building to the Conservancy over the next several years, the long-term vision is to transform the facility into a river education center and to collaborate on Carmel River Parkway-related education programs that showcase the cultural and natural history of the Carmel River.
Even as the Land Trust works to complete further key acquisitions in order to bring the Carmel River Parkway to fruition, efforts are already underway to restore the natural function of the river, protect and revive river habitats, restore natural floodplains, and replant trees and other native plants. BSLT is currently restoring portions of the 32-acre Moo Land property adjacent to Garland Park that it purchased in 2006 as another critical link in the Parkway, and is also overseeing a Lower Carmel River Floodplain Restoration Project on the Land Trust’s Odello East property, which will help restore the natural floodplain at the mouth of the river, increasing wetlands and providing added flood management for nearby businesses and neighborhoods.
Future steps include completing a key acquisition in the lower Carmel River Parkway floodway, followed by trail construction and the opening of over four miles of public trails, and beginning the process of working with landowners and communities to plan for extending the Parkway concept upstream from the lower valley.
With each acquisition, BSLT and its partners are closer to creating a vital and vibrant Parkway that will protect and restore the Carmel River for people and nature. “The Carmel River Parkway is a priority project for The Big Sur Land Trust,” remarks Bill Leahy, Executive Director of BSLT. “Its focus is to reconnect people with the lands and waters of the community in which they live and to expand opportunities for people to become directly involved in long-term stewardship of the Carmel River, its habitats, fish and wildlife. By conserving important riverfront property, providing a space to support public education and outreach about the river, and securing access to an important future trail connection, this latest acquisition completes another major step in realizing the community’s vision for the Parkway.”
