Build on success of preserving Bay Area land

Editorial
Sunday, June 11, 2006

ONE OF THE FINEST achievements of conservationists anywhere is the preservation of more than 1 million acres of open space in the highly urban Bay Area. A group of 55 organizations known as the Bay Area Open Space Council did a survey of preserved land in the nine-county Bay Area and found that about 1.1 million acres have been saved from development.

That is an amazing achievement in what is now the nation's fourth-largest metropolitan area with about 7 million people. Not only has the Bay Area grown considerably since land-preservation efforts began, but land values have skyrocketed as have demands for highly profitable construction.

Despite the economic and population pressures, conservationists have been at least as successful in setting aside open space here as they have been anywhere in the nation.

More than 125,000 acres have been preserved in Contra Costa County and nearly 116,000 acres in Alameda County. In the nine counties, about 1,700 square miles of land is off limits to developers. That's about 23 percent of the total.

However, the BAOSC wants to double that over the next several decades, to 2 million acres or about 46 percent of the land. Such an ambitious goal should not be considered a fantasy. In fact, if we are to safeguard our quality of life as the Bay Area population grows, protecting open space is a necessity.

Once land is developed, it is gone from open space forever. That is why it is so important for all of the conservation groups as well as local, regional and state officials to make a strong effort to protect land.

Even with 46 percent of the land preserved as open space, enough space will be left to accommodate a growing population as long as we practice intelligent growth policies.

If conservation efforts in the past were successful, they can continue to be in the future. In the early years of land preservation, few organizations were dedicated to saving land. Some of the more successful efforts, such as those by the East Bay Regional Park District, moved ahead during the depth of the Depression when money was scarce and few people lived east of Oakland.

Yet the vision conservation-minded people had at that time created one of today's finest urban park districts in the world.

Today, the challenges are different. Land prices have risen exponentially, the region's population continues to grow, and economic pressure to develop has never been greater.

On the other hand, conservation groups are more numerous and better organized today than in the past. Also, Bay Area residents and political leaders have had a growing awareness that saving open space is one of the most important issues facing the region.

But it will take more than public support of open space to preserve more of it. Large amounts of revenue will be needed from state, regional, county and local public sources and from private donations of money and land.

In November, California voters will have an opportunity to pass a $5.4 billion state water and parks bond measure. It would provide $108 million for Bay Area parks and natural areas. There would be $400 million for state parks and another $400 million for local and regional parks throughout the state.

Passage of the bond measure would be a good addition, but continued measures to raise money at all levels of government will be needed, perhaps for decades, if another 1 million acres is to be preserved in the Bay Area.

In the end, it is the will and generosity of the public that will be the deciding factor in the success of any land preservation program.

We trust that when Bay Area residents consider past achievements in saving open spaces they will be willing to make the effort necessary for continued success well into the future.