Preservation of Wild Cherry gets private funding boost

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• Hope renewed for Montaña de Oro extension

  Hope renewed for Montaña de Oro extension

  Efforts to add 2,400 acres to Montaña de Oro State Park have gotten a new, temporary lease on life.

  Owners of long-term leases on the property have agreed to extend a purchase agreement option for one final time to Sept. 30, 2012. The previous option would have expired at the end of the year, said Kara Blakeslee, who is negotiating to close the deal on behalf of the American Land Conservancy.

  The extension gives the state Public Works Board nine more months to allocate the final $6.9 million of the $21 million purchase price for the Wild Cherry Canyon property behind Avila Beach.

• PG&E walks away from Wild Cherry Canyon park deal

  PG&E walks away from Wild Cherry Canyon park deal

  Four years after the American Land Conservancy began negotiating to add 2,400 acres in Avila Beach to Montaña de Oro State Park, the deal has hit a new snag. PG&E is balking at signing over the title of the land to the State Parks Department.

  Tom Jones, a spokesman for the utility, said PG&E does not have the resources to devote to closing the deal. All of its time and energy is being spent addressing safety concerns with its natural gas pipelines and at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.

  “It is not our goal to be in this position,” he said, adding that earning the trust of its customers is the utility’s highest goal.

• Bouquets and Brickbats: Unravel Wild Cherry Canyon snag

  Bouquets and Brickbats: Unravel Wild Cherry Canyon snag

  Just when it appeared that public acquisition of Wild Cherry Canyon was practically a done deal, along comes another snag. The American Land Conservancy has successfully negotiated purchase of the property from long-term leaseholders, but it turns out that PG&E owns the underlying title to the 2,400 acres near Avila Beach. While PG&E expressed its willingness to deed the land to State Parks early on in the process, now it says the timing isn’t right.

  “Our sole focus is the safety of our gas and electric systems and everything else is on hold,” said spokesman Kory Raftery. We won’t argue that PG&E needs to put safety first. But couldn’t it pencil in Wild Cherry Canyon somewhere on its short-term “to do” list, especially since American Land Conservancy says the bulk of the paperwork for the title transfer is already done? (For the record, PG&E doesn’t quite see it that way.)

  The utility has indicated that it may be able to get to the Wild Cherry Canyon project by next summer, when it expects to be finished

• Donors fill funds gap

  Donors fill funds gap

  For the past five years, hundreds of workers with mules, chainsaws and shovels have built new wooden footbridges on Yosemite National Park’s backcountry hiking trails. They have rerouted popular paths to protect the roots of ancient sequoias in the park’s Mariposa Grove. And they have installed new signs, stone walls and rock staircases across the famed John Muir Trail.

  The $13.5 million job, which was completed this month, is the largest trail restoration project in Yosemite’s history. But most of the funding didn’t come from taxpayers; $10.5 million was paid for with private donations.

  In an era when federal and state budgets are stretched to the breaking point, donations are increasingly the lifelines in the maintenance of some of America’s most popular natural treasures.

• Letters to the Editor 1/2

  Letters to the Editor 1/2

  Lawbreaking pass

  I had always assumed that lawmakers passed laws to protect law-abiding citizens from those who intentionally or unintentionally break laws. Not so in California.

  As of Jan. 1, law enforcement can no longer impound cars at checkpoints if “the motorist’s only offense is being an unlicensed driver.” This law was passed because the current practice hits illegal immigrants especially hard (Tribune, Dec. 27).