Logger’s axe spared at Loma Mar property

By Lennie Roberts, Legislative Advocate

In a happy outcome for the long-term future of our redwood forests and outdoor education for school kids, the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors voted in January to acquire a beautiful forested site near Loma Mar as an addition to Memorial Park.

This 174-acre property had been purchased in 1976 by the County Office of Education that envisioned building a large outdoor education center there.  Some $1.5 million was raised from taxpayers and building plans were created. Then the whole enterprise hit a snag due to insufficient water for such a large complex, and worries that sewage from the facility could pollute nearby Pescadero Creek.

Fortunately for the county’s school kids, the Office of Education worked out an alternative year-by-year arrangement with the nearby YMCA Camp Jones Gulch, and was able to continue its outdoor education programs on a year-to-year basis.

But what to do with the Loma Mar property?  The Office of Education, squeezed by state budget cuts in the 1980’s, turned to logging the redwood and Douglas fir forest as a revenue source.  Initial harvesting of part of the property in 1984 and 1988 led to more ambitious revenue-producing logging plans. 

In 2002, the County Superintendent of Schools signed an agreement with Big Creek Lumber Company to prepare a “forever” logging plan, called a Nonindustrial Timber Management Plan (NTMP) for the Loma Mar forest.  This plan, once approved, would have allowed the Office of Education to log the property — in perpetuity — as often as every 15 years. 

Committee for Green Foothills and others objected to the Office of Education going into the logging business, arguing that commercial timber harvesting was inconsistent with the stewardship of our forests.   Fortunately, the County Superintendent of Schools withdrew this ill-conceived plan, and began negotiations with Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) to protect the land through acquiring it for park purposes instead of logging it.

It has taken a decade, but those negotiations have resulted in an agreement whereby POST will provide $3.9 million from private donations to acquire the Loma Mar property and transfer it to San Mateo County Parks.  The property’s location adjacent to Memorial County Park make this site a high priority for County Parks to accommodate more visitors by providing trails, picnic areas, and dispersed camping.  Protection of this forested land from logging or other development will help create future habitat for the federally threatened marbled murrelet, a small seabird that nests on the horizontal branches of old-growth redwood trees.  The murrelet is known to nest in Memorial County Park, and scientists are hoping that as the second growth forest reaches maturity, the murrelets will have increased nesting opportunities.

Coincidentally, in 2006 the YMCA had also prepared an NTMP to log the Camp Jones Gulch forest, in order to raise funds to upgrade the buildings at the camp.   After an outpouring of opposition, including many people who had camped there thanks to the county’s outdoor education program, the YMCA withdrew their NTMP.

Instead of logging the forest, the YMCA is now pursuing a partnership with Sempervirens Fund that could help with its capital needs.   CGF hopes that the funds from the sale of the Loma Mar property can be used to help upgrade the facilities at Camp Jones Gulch, as well as to ensure a long-term future for outdoor education there.

Just as ripples spread into ever-expanding circles from a pebble dropped into a pool of water, these innovative partnerships will not only protect two beautiful forests, but will also benefit future visitors at Memorial Park, and generations of kids at Camp Jones Gulch.

For more than 30 years, Lennie Roberts has been the voice of Committee for Green Foothills in San Mateo County. One of the Bay Area’s most respected environmental leaders, Lennie has led CGF in a number of critical open space battles on the San Mateo Coast and along Skyline.