TECC helps save 100 acres in Elfin Forest Reserve!

A 100-acre expanse of chaparral in the middle of the Elfin Forest Recreational Reserve will be set aside as open space, now that the county has purchased the parcel for $2.8 million from a developer who had slated it for construction of 17 homes.

The purchase, brokered in cooperation with The Escondido Creek Conservancy, The Conservation Fund and Olivenhain Municipal Water District, closed Nov. 5, officials said. The conservancy donated an additional 45 acres, bringing the total acquisition to 145 acres in the middle of the reserve.

The reserve, founded in 1992, includes 784 acres of oak woodlands, mixed chaparral and coastal sage, and has attracted 60,000 visitors a year, officials said. It’s a key piece in a system of interconnected coastal sage and chaparral habitat, and is home to endangered or sensitive species such as the California gnatcatcher, California horned lizard and San Diego horned lizard, officials said.

“This is a biological hot spot in the world, and most people don’t appreciate it,” said Steve Barker, president of the conservancy.

However, the recently purchased parcel, known as Cielo Azul, formed a privately held inholding that was long planned for residential development.

“It would have been horrible for the park to have 17 homes in the middle of the reserve,” said Jeff Anderson, a parks department supervisor for the water district.

Barker said the conservancy had eyed the parcel for preservation since the organization was formed two decades ago, hoping to complete the network of protected land. The conservancy recently saw an opportunity when the owner approached The Conservation Fund about selling the property, said Southern California director Scott Ferguson.

The fund negotiated the agreement and provided bridge financing for the county, which purchased the parcel earlier this month.

The water district, which maintains hiking trails throughout the reserve, will also manage the newly acquired land, tapping into $100,000 in county money as needed to remove non-native plants, control erosion and improve trials, Anderson said. The new parcel will be added to the district’s recreation efforts at no extra cost to ratepayers, said board member Gerald Varty.

“So this is a win for the parks, a win for ratepayers and a win for our environment, preserving this as open space,” said Kimberly Thorner, general manager of the water district.

Barker said the conservancy would like to further conservation efforts in the area with the possible introduction of steelhead trout to the Escondido Creek and the addition of more land, including a 400-acre stretch of coastal sage scrub named Cielo del Norte, owned by the same developer who sold Cielo Azul.