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POST buys 204 acres near El Granada

From staff reports
Published/Last Modified on Tuesday, Nov 27, 2007 - 09:29:12 am PST

The Peninsula Open Space Trust announced Tuesday the purchase of 204 acres of hillside land near El Granada. The property is surrounded by the 4,262-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra property, acquired by POST in 2001. Managers hope to include the entire property as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area some day.

"This purchase helps complete an important and much larger conservation picture along this part of the San Mateo coast," said POST President Audrey Rust. "It provides new options to connect Rancho Corral de Tierra to surrounding protected lands and greatly expands opportunities for the region's network of scenic hiking trails."

In an agreement finalized Nov. 19, POST bought the ridge-top property for $3 million from Daniel and Virginia Gregerson, who owned the land since the mid-1980s. The purchase fills in a natural gap along the eastern boundary of Rancho Corral de Tierra, which Congress voted to include within the GGNRA in 2005. POST is now working to secure $15 million in federal appropriations so it can transfer ownership of Rancho Corral de Tierra to the National Park Service, which owns and manages the GGNRA.

The new acquisition by POST is visible not only from Rancho Corral de Tierra but also from San Francisco watershed land to the east and POST's 461-acre Wicklow property to the southwest. With more than 27,000 acres of protected open space in the area, this latest purchase helps prevent inappropriate development from occurring next to these sensitive natural lands.

In addition to its strategic location, POST's newest property contains a portion of the Denniston Creek watershed as well as a tributary to Locks Creek in the Frenchman's Creek watershed.

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