SF Chronicle: Legislation could add nearly 900 acres to Golden Gate National Recreation Area
By Annie Vainshtein
An 896-acre parcel of land behind the town of Half Moon Bay that’s never been open to the public before could be added to the sprawling Golden Gate National Recreation Area under new legislation introduced Tuesday.
Legislation from U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., and Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto, would allow the National Park Service to expand the boundary of an already huge site called Rancho Corral de Tierra in San Mateo County. That 3,858-acre property is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which includes more than 80,000 acres across three counties.
If the legislation passes, which could happen within the year, the National Park Service could acquire Scarper Ridge, which had been held by the Peninsula Open Space Trust since 2014.
“We do not have the staff to maintain these areas for public access and recreation and enjoyment,” said Walter Moore, president of the Peninsula Open Space Trust, a private nonprofit land conservation organization that works to acquire lands and eventually transfer them into public ownership. “Whereas the National Park Service and other public agencies do.”
In order to purchase Scarper Ridge, the National Park Service needed a legislative boundary adjustment. Scarper Ridge is an open grassland area that contains a number of natural habitats and species.
The expansion of the park’s boundary would allow the National Park Service to help protect “critically threatened and endangered plants and wildlife,” Padilla said in a statement.
Rancho Corral de Tierra became a national recreation area in 2011 and is one of the largest undeveloped sections of land on the San Mateo Peninsula, according to park service officials.
The area includes four watersheds. The property also supports federally listed threatened, rare and endangered plant and animal species including the Montara manzanita, the San Francisco garter snake, the San Bruno elfin butterfly and the peregrine falcon.
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