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September 25, 2002
To: Thomas A. McCue, Senior Planner, Monterey
County Planning Dept.
From: Carol McCarthy, Concerned Residents of
Pebble Beach and Monterey County, Advisory Committee
(831-393-7333)
Date: September 25, 2002
RE: Areas of Concern: Public Scoping Meeting
&endash; EIR on Pebble Beach Co. Development Projects in Del
Monte Forest
Development of an equestrian center at
Sawmill Gulch
Sawmill Gulch has two easements, a 1986 conservation and
scenic easement in the Lower Gulch and a 1987 conservation
easement in the Upper Gulch. The easements were conditions
of approval for the PB Spanish Bay project and to ensure
that the those areas were permanently made a contiguous part
of the natural resources and envirionmentally sensitive
habitats in the adjacent SFB Botanical Preserve and Gowen
Cypress area, which includes a unique pygmy forest.
One of the most disturbing issues of Measure A is Pebble
Beach Co's insistence to develop high-intensity use,
full-service equestrian center at Sawmill Gulch. When asked
about the easements, Pebble Beach Co. replies it'll just
relocate them to some other area in the Del Monte Forest.
The Coastal Commission has raised concerns that if such a
relocation were considered, the substitute easement area
would have to be as environmentally sensitive as the Sawmill
Gulch area and that the commitment by Pebble Beach to
reforest the land they mined for the Spanish Bay has not
been met. To my knowledge, a substitute easement area has so
far not been revealed by Pebble Beach to the public.
Comparative study of easement areas
A complete, comparative study of the proposed substitute
easement area vs the proposed Sawmill Gulch development site
needs to be done as part of the EIR. Some important points
of comparison are:
- Compare the existence of wetlands in the two
areas. In order for the substitute easement area to
qualify, it should have at least the same acreage and
quality of protected wetlands in the Upper and Lower
Gulches. The County did a wetland study, but failed to
document the corner of the wetland that has been covered
by logs dumped by Pebble Beach Co. The wetland in the
Upper Gulch would be substantially impacted by
high-intensity activities and events in the various
arenas and buildings to be crowded into that area. The
Lower Gulch would be substantially impacted by the use of
the area as a combined polo field and 1,500-vehicle
"special event" parking lot.
- Compare the environmental sensitivity of the
surrounding area. Is the substitute easement area an
isolated patch of forest. Is it a contiguous part of a
larger, environmentally sensitive area, as is Sawmill
Gulch? The Upper Sawmill Gulch was made a permanent part
of the 500-acre Huckleberry Hill Natural Habitat area in
the 1987 easement. It is adjacent to the SFB Botanical
Preserve, and the Bishop pine and Gowen cypress groves,
including a unique pygmy forest.
*
- Compare the wildlife and plant life. Does the
substitute area have the same abundance of wildlife and
threatened status plants as Sawmill Gulch? In my walks at
Sawmill Gulch I have seen Great Blue Heron and frogs in
the wetland, a young mountain lion, deer, rabbits, foxes
and coyotes. The Gowen cypress is threatened status.
- *
There are only a few places in the world that have the
unique acidic, high-clay soil that supports a pygmy
forest. The pygmy forest is right across from upper
end of the the Upper Gulch. Despite the fact that the
pygmy forest is considered a unique, natural treasure,
the existence of the pygmy forest has been ignored in
previous EIRs for the Del Monte Forest. This time the
EIR needs to do a thorough study of the pygmy forest
by a specialist in the field (not a general
biologist), including its extension into the Upper
Gulch. I suspect what has been observed as stunted or
retarded growth of trees in that area is actually an
extension of the pygmy forest.
A point of
interest...Gowen cypress (regular-sized and pygmy) the
US Environmental Protection Agency Register lists the
"Notice of Availability of a Draft Recovery Plan for
Five Plants from Monterey County, CA, for Review and
Commentary," Federal Register May 13,2002 (Volume 67,
Number 92), which states:
"These plants
are threatened by one or more of the following:
alteration, destruction, and fragmentation of habitat
resulting from urban and golf course development;
recreational activities; competition with nonnative
plant species; herbivory from native or nonnative
species; demographic stochasticity; and disruption of
natural fire cycles due to fire suppression associated
with increasing residential development around and
within occupied habitat."
REF:
http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-SPECIES/2002/May/Day-13/e11802.htm
SEE ALSO:
"What's So Special About Huckleberry Hill on the
Monterey Peninsula in Forest Heritage, A Natural
History of the Del Monte Forest, compiled by Beatrice
Howitt, California Native Plant Society, Berkeley, CA,
1972.
Damage assessment of surrounding
environmentally-sensitive areas
Add to the EIR the following:
- The damaging effects on the plants, trees and
wildlife adjacent to the SFB Morse Botanical Preserve and
the Gowen Cypress areas caused by thousands of persons
with their horses and campers/trailers attending
week-long events at the equestrian center, plus the daily
trips of boarded horses on the trails there need to be
evaluated in the EIR.
- The increase in potential fire damage and erosion due
to increased high-traffic events and persons exploring
the Huckleberry Hill area.
- A complete count of the various species of trees that
would be cut down for the Sawmill Gulch needs to be
clearly presented in the EIR.
Development of a proposed driving
range, training center, and parking lot at Spanish Bay
(8C)
A complete EIR needs to be done on the following:
- The damaging effect of golf balls hitting the wetland
and the upper end of the proposed range.
- The impact on the wildlife in that area.
Total assessment of trees cut down for
buildout
The total amount a trees to be cut down for the entire
Del Monte Forest buildout needs to be presented in an
easy-to-find table in the EIR so the entire effect of the
project is apparent.
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