The Conservancy for the Range of the Condor is a land trust. Its mission is to protect land for habitat to be used by the California Condor, but also for the many other wild animals and plants that would naturally live there. We would protect that land by acquiring it, or by establishing protective easements over it.
To help counter the chronic lack of water for our local wildlife we plan to install an automated wildlife-safe water system at three locations on our 300-acre property. Water from the existing well will be pulled up by a solar pump into an enclosed tank, then distributed via underground piping to three locations. The watering trays will be animal-safe. Automated sensors will signal when the water level is too low, opening the valves to pull water from the holding tank. Cameras will be monitoring for security and the comings and goings of wildlife and humans in the area. Expected users will be coyotes, turkeys, rabbits, squirrels, hawks, eagles, quail, lions, pigs, the occasional bear--maybe even some condors--and more. Estimated costs are around $15,000. Any money contributed beyond that amount will be used in fire prevention and other wildland maintenence.
We benefit all of Monterey County, as well as specific ecosystems surrounding our land. Our benefit is that we provide a crowded world land that does its job of cleaning the air and the earth in natural ways, to make up, in part, for the damage our civilization does to the earth: smog, pollution, CO2, depletion of species. We especially benefit the local residences in keeping their surrounding natural and peaceful.
I continue to observe the wonderful success of this small land trust, the Range of the Condor. The volunteer staff and board care deeply about the wild lands of Monterey County (and elsewhere), and they expend a great deal of time and effort for the betterment of the animals and plants who occupy their lands. For example, acquiring two parcels in Big Sur overlooking Bixby Bridge, obtaining conservation easements through the County, and then selling the land with the permanent conservation easements that "run with the land", to then buy other land where the conservation easement process begins again. This effort also helps the people of our region, in that when the natural world thrives, the developed world also benefits. It is my hope that their efforts can expand beyond Monterey County, to include the entire condor range.
- Jerome Burstein, Belmont
