This letter is in response to the Jan. 29 guest commentary about the status of the Sutter Creek bypass property.
There appears to be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about this project. While I agree that the city would benefit from more parks, it simply cannot happen on this property. Unfortunately, this fact is it's out of the hands of both the city of Sutter Creek and the Mother Lode Land Trust (formerly known as the Amador Land Trust).
In 2003 the California Department of Transportation asked the city of Sutter Creek to take ownership of this property after MLLT declined ownership. At the time, the land trust simply did not have the capacity to own land. Caltrans was required by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Army Corps of Engineers to mitigate for the loss of oaks and wetlands (habitat for sensitive species like the red legged frog and others) that occurred during construction of the bypass. This mitigation also required the property be protected through a conservation easement to ensure that the oaks and wetlands were maintained, monitored, and protected in perpetuity.
MLLT has been holding and monitoring conservation easements in Amador County for 17 years and was asked to hold the easement for this property as well. In late 2007, Sutter Creek decided that it had no interest in managing land.
At this point, the land trust offered to take on the majority of the responsibilities of maintaining and monitoring the site. The expense to the tax payer will be minimal for this project. The city will be responsible for the development of a trail and the responsibilities associated with that, such as trash pick up, and law enforcement. All other costs and responsibilities will fall on the land trust, including but not limited to hiring a biologist to conduct quarterly surveys, reporting to the state and federal regulatory agencies and annual monitoring of the property to ensure that fences are being maintained and trash cleaned.
California environmental laws require certain mitigation requirements for the destruction of natural resources. That is just the way it is.
MLLT does not exist to support or oppose these environmental laws or specific mitigation plans. The land trust simply exists to assist our county in preserving our rural quality of life. We can all imagine the number of oak trees that had to be removed for the bypass. And I am sure we have all looked nostalgically from our car windows as we have driven on the bypass remembering the pristine hills, oak trees, and cows that use to be our view.
If 187 acres adjacent to the bypass can help us retain this quality of life that much longer, this land trust is all for it.