The Revolutionary Pen - beta

A Summary of How a Small Non-Profit Was Targeted for Destruction by the City of Rancho Cucamonga, the County of San Bernardino, and a Consortium of Developers

A Brief History - How a Small Land Trust Obtained a 309-Acre Nature Sanctuary

• In the nineties, the County of San Bernardino approves a large (originally conceived to be 1100 acres) project development on the Etiwanda Fan known as “University/Crest Rancho Etiwanda”.
• The land is owned by the University of California system.
• At least two federally listed species, over 40 species of concern, and a globally imperiled natural community called Riversidian Alluvial Fan Sage Scrub are adversely and significantly impacted.
• County requires 675 acres of offsite mitigation lands (OML) as a Condition of Approval.
• University of California sells it holdings. Two separate and independent transactions result in the transfer of roughly 800 acres to SunCal (Rancho Etiwanda Project) and 252 acres to A & J Resources (Rancho Etiwanda Estates Project).
• Sun-Cal completes first phase of Rancho Etiwanda Project providing a mere 39 acres of OML, completely inconsistent with the admonitions of wildlife agencies.
• The Spirit of the Sage Council (a Pasadena-based environmental advocacy group) sues Sun Cal for insufficient mitigation of environmental impacts.
• An out-of-court settlement results in an additional 135 acres of OML along with an endowment of $148,000 to mange the land on an ongoing basis. The award is in favor of the Sage Council.
• Since the Sage Council was not equipped to take the land, Leeona Klippstein (the Executive Director of Sage Council) founds a small land conservancy called The Habitat Trust (THT) to acquire and conserve the land in fee title.
• Initially, THT is an independent conservation project of Sage Council’s parent organization – Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs (SEE).
• In 2002, THT formally obtains status as a 501 [c] (3) non-profit corporation, changing its name to The Habitat Trust for Wildlife. It also becomes a member in good standing of the Land Trust Alliance, a nationally recognized organization.
• In keeping with its mission statement (Giving Nature Sanctuary), the East Etiwanda Creek Nature Sanctuary is established.
• The University project is reconstituted and new project developments are proposed including the 252-acre Rancho Etiwanda Estates.
• An EIR is prepared and the project is conditioned by the County.
• A &J Resources (project proponent of Rancho Etiwanda Estates) applies to the City of Rancho Cucamonga seeking better terms. City annexes project site and applicant proposes using a disjunct 110-acre parcel as mitigation along with purchasing a half share of an already existing Flood Control Easement (a highly questionable tactic called double-dipping).
• The Sage Council sues the City and project proponent forcing a new EIR. Project proponent ultimately sets aside roughly 175 acres and conveys title to the County (Service Area). Another two parcels totaling 164 acres (along with an undisclosed endowment) are transferred to The Habitat Trust for Wildlife as part of an out-of-court settlement.
• The parcels are added to the East Etiwanda Creek Nature Sanctuary.

Background - The City’s Abiding Hatred of the Sage Council and Its Role in the Demise of The Habitat Trust for Wildlife

• The City of Rancho Cucamonga lies on a massive alluvial fan that contains some of the rarest and most threatened plant and animal communities found anywhere.
• No matter, the City does not recognize the science and is rabidly anti-conservation. It has a long and undeniable record of rebuffing state and federal wildlife agencies who have consistently recommended that destroyed habitat be replaced (by permanently conserving land elsewhere).
• In its more than 30-year history, the City has required mitigation lands just once, a small property that it refused to take ownership of. The developer ultimately sold the property to a private landholder.
• Environmental advocates are marginalized, ignored, or just plain reviled.
• Major environmental groups do not expend resources in the City. Most view their efforts here as futile.
• The glaring exception is the Spirit of the Sage Council which has been a thorn in the City’s side since the early nineties.
• The Sage Council actually has had the temerity to sue and has done so on multiple occasions. (Apparently, the California Environmental Quality Act imposes some limits on what policymakers can and can not do).
• While state and federal wildlife agencies are merely dismissed as feckless, it’s safe to say that City considers the Sage Council an existential impediment to unrestrained development of the remaining wild natural open spaces of the West Valley foothills. The City does not hide its belief that the Sage Council’s Executive Director, Leeona Klippstein, is an extortionist.
• This enmity has led to aggressive efforts by the City to discredit the Sage Council and her sister non-profit organization, The Habitat Trust for Wildlife.
• A devastating and vindictive shot was delivered in 2004 when the City Council unanimously voted that The Habitat Trust was not a qualified conservation entity for the purpose of receiving habitat mitigation.
• The reasons: They didn’t have an office with paid staff in Rancho Cucamonga and didn’t have a record of independent financial audits. (State & federal law does not require charities to have offices in every city they work in. Nor are charities required to have paid staff. Moreover, California Non-Profit law does not require an independent audit until the charity has income of over $1 million annually. The City also purported that The Habitat Trust didn’t have a complete Management Plan for the 86-acres. THT countered that biological surveys were attempted but the developer did not permit the biologists that they had retained to enter the property)

The Setup - How The Habitat Land Trust for Wildlife Lost Their Nature Sanctuary to Developers