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There are a number of way to help and donate to Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy: 1. Help by registering and using your credit card through ESCRIP
2. Help by donating your unwanted or non-operational car, truck, rv, or boat Some years ago the Conservancy completed a complex lease-option-to purchase agreement of a 37 acre property located at the gateway to Quail Ridge Reserve. It was and continues to be our intention to transform this property--whose lands had been degraded by overgrazing--into a visitor and interpretive center for the public. We have had to put a great deal of time and money into restoring the house and other structures and for the time being have helped meet our monthly mortgage obligations by renting out the renovated house. This income helps defray, but does not actually cover, our monthly expenses in maintaining the property. And gifts or pledges (gifts over a designated period of time) to help us keep this property going would be greatly welcome. Since QRWC is a 501(c)3 organization registered with the IRS, any such gifts or pledges would be fully tax deductible.
Additionally we need volunteers to help with weeding and restoration of
Quail Ridge Wilderness Conservancy (QRWC) is a nonprofit land trust that has been working for two decades to save open space and watershed in our state. We have many stories to tell about our efforts, often successful, to negotiate land purchases with a variety of owners in order to protect parcels on a beautiful stretch of land overlooking Lake Berryessa in Napa County. The lands that we have protected—in recent years with the collaboration and support of the Land Trust of Napa County, the Bureau of Land Management, the Bureau of Reclamation the Department of Fish & Game, and the UC Natural Reserve System—is now known as Quail Ridge Reserve, and it comprises nearly 2000 acres of near pristine oak-savannah Inner Coast Range habitat. At present, QRWC has recently purchased an additional beautiful parcel (120 acres) adjacent to the Reserve that has just come out of escrow, Thus we have for the time being staved off yet another developer, but at some cost (see below). Here are some essential facts:
--Seven parcels on the northeast corner of the peninsula on which Quail Ridge Reserve is located have been at potential risk of development of years, and this has at last come to a head. If some or all of these parcels are developed, the new human activity will destroy the untouched sanctuary of most of the northern end of the Reserve.
--A critical 120-acre parcel, by far the largest in the northeast corner and destined
for purchase by a developer. This parcel was purchased in 12/04 by a conservation lender to hold for one year after the close of escrow at no interest. The purchase price was $700,000.
--We are now looking for a donor or donors to cover the $700,000; or
a conservation purchaser who would buy and own the property and place a conservation easement on it. [ A conservation easement is an addendum to a land deed, protecting that parcel in perpetuity. ]
--Quail Ridge Reserve is part of the Natural Reserve System of the University of
California and thus serves students, researchers, and the general public from all over the state as well as other parts of the country and the world. It is an utterly unique reserve that shelters many species of oak trees (including some unusual hybrid species such as oracle oak), 14 species of perennial bunchgrasses, as well as many other forms of plant life and a rich inventory of animal species (please see our brochure and other handouts). WE ARE THUS LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO COME FORWARD AND HELP US SAVE THIS BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA.
If you would like more information on how to contribute to this open space project, please contact Frank W Maurer (QRWC Executive Director) at:
Thirty-seven acres of oak woodland savannah in Napa County, a good-sized house and two smaller buildings are the basis of QRWC's future visitor center, which will be an environmental education resource for northern California and beyond.
The property is located at the southern entry to the nearly 2000-acre Quail Ridge Reserve on Lake Berryessa. The Nature Conservancy has recently characterized the Reserve as one of the finest examples of preserved Coast Ranges in all of California.
QRWC purchased this property in 1994. WE have been persistently fundraising since then to pay down the $300,000 mortgage, and have succeeded in reducing it to $37,000 -- this means the end is in sight!
We would greatly appreciate a pledge in any amount toward this project, as well as networking to bring it to the attention of others concerned with preserving California's native landscapes and wildlife, and with educating future generations as to the importance of these.
Your recent stimulus check from the U.S. Treasury would be a wonderful way to assist this project which has been undertaken by a local land trust for the benefit of the citizens of California. Please note that contributions to QRWC are tax-deductible: we are a 501(c)3 organization, Tax ID#68-0184037.
e-mail: frankmaurer41@gmail.com |
