"Under the agreement, the Palo Alto-based non-profit Peninsula Open Space Trust will pay $23.04 million to Sargent Ranch Partners LLC, a San Diego development group, to purchase 2,284 acres of the bucolic ranch, one of the largest remaining pieces of undeveloped private property in Santa Clara County and home to mountain lions, bald eagles and steelhead trout. It's classic California, said Gordon Clark, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust. Beautiful rolling hills, iconic oaks, creeks, wetlands and dramatic vistas."
"I'm so elated, said Ed Ketchum, chairman of the Amah Mutsun, a group of roughly 600 people who trace their ancestry back to Ohlone villages in the area they call Juristac. From when I was a child, the elders would always say this is a special place that needs to be protected. It was meant not to be developed."
Peninsula Open Space Trust acquired major parcels of Sargent Ranch, including a $23.04 million purchase of 2,284 acres, contributing to a total conservation holding of 6,114 acres valued at $63.7 million. The acquisition eliminates plans for a proposed 403-acre open-pit sand-and-gravel quarry that was first proposed in 2015. The ranch contains mountain lions, bald eagles, steelhead trout, rolling hills, oak woodlands, creeks and wetlands. Opposition to the quarry included environmental groups, several city councils and the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, who regard the area, called Juristac, as culturally significant and not meant for development.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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