Los Osos preserve faces deadline to spend grant

Facing a looming deadline, the Morro Coast Audubon Society will hurry over the next six weeks to spend the rest of a $100,000 grant to develop the long-awaited East Sweet Springs Nature Preserve in Los Osos.

The grant must be spent by year’s end, or it will be lost.

After six years of plant restoration and navigating an arduous permitting process, the Audubon Society had hoped to break ground on amenities planned for the 8-acre East Sweet Springs preserve.

But construction has been halted until the project receives a “take” permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service — in response to the preserve’s native population of an endangered species of snail that could be affected by the project.

So far, the society has spent $50,000 on removing non-native plants and planting indigenous species.

It had hoped to spend the other half of the grant to build a handicap-accessible boardwalk, interpretive signs and a bird-watching platform at the end of a trail overlooking Morro Bay. Now it plans to spend that $50,000 on a construction plan and late-phase items.

The east preserve property was purchased from the county for $2.1 million in 2008 by the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Wildlife Conservation Board and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and gifted to the Audubon Society for the purpose of the project.

The property abuts the 24-acre Sweet Springs Preserve that the society has managed since 1988. The preserve offers views of Morro Bay and Morro Rock, and its wetlands, mudflats, eucalyptus groves and coastal scrub provide critical habitat for dozens of varieties of birds. Local birders reported spotting a bald eagle at the preserve this year.

When the east preserve property was purchased, construction of the boardwalk and other amenities was expected to be undertaken quickly.

Several hurdles, including the Great Recession, blocked that progress.

Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must sign off on an incidental take permit for the Morro shoulderband snail before construction can begin.

The snail is a federally listed endangered species native to San Luis Obispo County. Identified in 1911 in Cayucos, the snails’ range has decreased considerably as a result of habitat destruction and degradation, according to the State Parks.

Construction of the boardwalk will likely have some effect on the snail population, said Jan Surbey, a Morro Coast Audubon Society board member. Surbey was board president when the land was purchased in 2008 and has been deeply involved in the process since then.

Once construction begins, crews will need to remain aware of the critters and safely relocate them if they are discovered.

 “We’re not going to lose any money,” Surbey said. “We are in a hurry, and the money’s going to be spent a little differently than anticipated, but we were going to have to spend money on these things anyway.”

Foremost among those expenses, she said, is a detailed construction plan and the creation of signs identifying native plant and animal species that will be installed along the preserve’s trails and boardwalk.

Tim Duff, project manager for the California Coastal Conservancy, said terms of the grant dictate that it must be used by 2015. The Audubon Society has already been given two extensions, he said.

“The state Coastal Conservancy has been more than willing to work with us,” Surbey said. “Unfortunately, asking them to extend the grant any further is not an option.”

Surbey said once the take permit is approved, the Audubon Society will ramp up fundraising efforts from its members and the community. Though they have funds saved for the project, Surbey said, the society does not have enough to pay for the entire construction, which is estimated to cost between $200,000 and $300,000.

“It’s been six years, and I think people have sort of lost interest,” Surbey said. “We’re hoping that members will once again get excited about the (project).”

She said the society is also looking for more grant opportunities.

“We’re optimistic,” she said.

The take permit is expected to be approved in the spring. If that happens and funding is in place, construction could begin in 

July when weather is at its driest, to avoid the endangered snail.

“Once they get that permit,0 hopefully by then they’ll be ready to go,” Duff said.

This story was originally published November 23, 2014 at 11:48 PM with the headline "Los Osos preserve faces deadline to spend grant."