Environmentalists hit jackpot

By Keri Brenner, Marin Independent Journal
Saturday, March 11, 2006

SONOMA - Some 2,400 acres along Highway 37 once earmarked for an Indian gaming casino would be transformed into a model of tidal wetlands restoration and watershed management under a proposal unveiled Friday.

"If the casino issue hadn't happened, this (project) would not be here," said John Brosnan of the Sonoma Land Trust, the tract's owner and project organizer. "The casino really just galvanized the entire community behind getting this land to be preserved as it is."

Brosnan was one of a series of speakers Friday at a three-hour presentation before about 80 neighbors, ranchers, environmentalists, donors and other stakeholders at the Sonoma Community Center.

The plan, still in the preliminary stages, would result in a dramatic open space preservation area at the property, known as Sears Point. The site, about two miles east of Marin, straddles Highway 37 at Lakeville Highway just west of Infineon Raceway.

"We're excited about the progress being made to further secure open space for the citizens of Northern California, specifically Sonoma and Marin counties," said Lorelle Ross of the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria. The group donated its purchase option on the land to the Sonoma Land Trust instead of building a casino after a controversy more than two years ago.

"We're happy there's a partnership that our tribe is collaborating in," Ross added. "We chose to gift our option for 1,700 acres, and that made this all possible."

Ross declined comment on the tribe's efforts to build a casino in Rohnert Park.

Peter Mattson, board chairman of the Sonoma Land Trust, said preserving open space at the baylands was "the number one priority of the Sonoma Land Trust" and "it means so much to the North Bay - Sonoma, Napa and Marin."

He said the greatest benefit of the plan will be that "we're preserving the whole landscape where Sonoma County meets the bay as open space."

The trust's proposal calls for a two-part plan:

- On the 1,000-acre tract north of Highway 37, watershed management improvements such as plantings, ponds and habitat preservation measures would be added, along with continued cattle grazing operations.

- On the approximately 1,400 acres south of Highway 37, a $15 million to $25 million system of new, relocated flood control levees would be built to allow tidal flows onto the land while also protecting the railroad tracks and the highway. Several miles of new public hiking trails also would be built.

Brosnan said the tidal wetlands restoration portion was still under study to see if the whole area south of Highway 37 would be subject to full tidal flows, or just the portion south of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad tracks.

He said the property, which the trust bought in two purchases in November 2004 and January 2005 at a total cost of about $17 million, was one of the largest undeveloped wetlands tracts in the Bay Area.

"The lack of any urban infrastructure" will make it easier to restore as tidal wetlands, he said. Financial backing for the project is coming from a mix of individual donations and federal, state and local grants, he said.

The Graton Rancheria tribe first announced plans to build a casino in 2003, but changed its mind after overwhelming community opposition in both Marin and Sonoma counties.

After further revisions and the public comments are incorporated into the trust's plan, Brosnan said the proposal will be subject to an environmental impact report through the California Department of Fish and Game. After that process, a series of permit applications will be necessary before levee construction starts, possibly by 2009, he said.

The levee construction could take two to three years, he said.

"Levees have become a much bigger part of the public consciousness recently," Brosnan said. "This will be a much stronger, larger network."

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SEARS POINT REPORT

For more information on the draft preliminary Sears Point Restoration Plan, see www.sonomalandtrust.org