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| Congress funds transfer of Rancho land From staff reports Published/Last Modified on Monday, November 16, 2009 3:22 PM PST Congress has approved $5 million from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund for protection of 4,262-acre Rancho Corral de Tierra near Montara, according to a Monday press release from the Peninsula Open Space Trust. The payment is the third installment of appropriations necessary to complete the transfer of Rancho Corral de Tierra, which is currently owned by POST, to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. To date, Congress has set aside a total of $11 million in appropriations for eventual federal protection of this property. In 2001, POST acquired Rancho Corral de Tierra, one of the largest pieces of undeveloped land on the San Mateo County coast, for $29.75 million. It was part of the trust’s four-year Saving the Endangered Coast campaign. POST plans to transfer the land to the National Park Service through sale of the property for approximately half the original purchase price. “With this funding, Rancho Corral de Tierra is now on the fast track for transfer to the National Park Service as the new southern gateway into the GGNRA, the phenomenal complex of national park lands right here in our own backyard,” said POST President Audrey Rust in the release. Four years ago, the Interior Department supported the expansion of the GGNRA to include Rancho Corral de Tierra within its boundaries. |