West Placer Habitat Protection Program
Preserving vernal pools and other important habitat in Western Placer County
Placer Land Trust’s West Placer Habitat Protection Program (WPHPP) is designed to permanently preserve critical vernal pool habitat in western Placer County.
Primary funding for the WPHPP is provided by conveyance fees on home sales in the West Roseville Specific Plan (WRSP), and was created through a collaborative agreement between environmental groups, public agencies, and developers.
The goals of the program are to work with willing landowners to preserve over 4,000 acres of vernal pool habitat in western Placer County over a 25-year period. Other important lands – such as working farms and ranches, annual grasslands, and riparian areas – may also be protected by the program. Very often vernal pool habitat coexists nicely with grazing land, offering multiple benefits to the Placer County environment, economy, and quality of life.
“This program is a major step forward for land conservation in western Placer County,” said Jeff Darlington, Placer Land Trust Executive Director. “The willingness of developers, environmental groups, and public agencies to come together in support of land conservation is truly commendable and will provide a major boost to conservation in a region where property values are increasingly prohibitive.”
Placer Land Trust preserved the first two properties as part of the WPHPP in April 2005, the 427-acre Doty Ravine Preserve and the 469-acre Swainson’s Grassland Preserve, both north of Lincoln. In August 2005, we completed the third WPHPP project with the recordation of the 223-acre Reason Farms conservation easement. This project is part of the City of Roseville’s 1,700-acre Reason Farms Environmental Preserve, including vernal pool grassland and riparian habitat along Pleasant Grove Creek near Roseville.
In 2006, we preserved 1,000 acres at the Toad Hill Ranch north of Roseville. This property is adjacent to the Reason Farms Environmental Preserve and forms a block of open space and habitat in excess of 2,900 acres.
Placer Land Trust was chosen to lead this land conservation program as part of a 2004 settlement agreement regarding the WRSP. Environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Sierra Foothills Audubon Society, Defenders of Wildlife, and the Butte Environmental Council resolved differences with WRSP developers and local and federal government agencies to create the program.
In 2004, as part of the settlement agreement, the City of Roseville annexed 3,162 acres west of Fiddyment Road (the WRSP area) to be developed into a new community of 8,400 homes amid hundreds of acres of open space.
Assisting Placer Land Trust in planning and implementation of the WPHPP are numerous individuals, organizations, and agencies that help us make the most effective use of these funds by leveraging them with other funded efforts. Our Advisory Board members Loren Clark, John Ranlett, Gregg McKenzie, Ed Pandolfino, and Mark Morse (among others) have assisted us with the program.
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