The Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy shares this good news:
Dear AFC Friend,
You did it! With your help, and with a big boost from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, we bought the first of the remaining private parcels in historic Rubio Canyon today.
Thanks to you, we are now closer to completing the preservation of the entire canyon, located in the foothills above Altadena. As you know, we acquired 20 acres in the canyon in 2009, and the owner offered us the remaining 21 acres earlier this year, in two parcels - the ~3 acre parcel, which we bought today, was to have been turned into a five home development. With the land we acquired today – the land that was most vulnerable to development – we have only 18 acres to go.
To complete this purchase, we plan to rely primarily on grants, but we need to raise about $50,000 from you, our supporters, by the end of the year to push us over the top – allowing us to save the land for substantially less than the appraised value.
This is a goal we can reach, though it will take all of us to get there. I personally have doubled my contribution to AFC, and I hope you will consider increasing your contribution before the end of 2010.
Visit www.arroyosfoothills.org to make an online donation or send a check to: Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy / P.O. Box 3 / Altadena, CA 91003-0003.
Thanks for all your help. And congratulations on reaching this milestone!
Nancy Steele
President, Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy
UPDATE: Nancy Steele sent out the following addendum:
[W]e need to give proper thanks to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority which awarded the funds that allowed us to purchase this land, in a deal that involves MRCA and SMMC working together with us. The details are a bit complex, but the results are not - we purchased the land at a steep discount because the agencies were able to work quickly, cutting through paperwork in record time. It has been an amazing collaboration. I also need to call out our new [Executive Director], John Howell, who has worked tirelessly to get this done and meet the deadline. Working together, we can do it!
