San Luis Obispo awarded $3 million grant to help protect Miossi Brothers La Cuesta Ranch
–The City of San Luis Obispo announced this week that it was awarded a $3 million grant in the fifth round of the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) by the California Strategic Growth Council as an ongoing effort to conserve agricultural lands.
The grant will go toward the prospective acquisition of a 1,000-acre conservation easement for the Miossi Brothers La Cuesta Ranch just northwest of the city. The easement will ensure the ranch will remain as agriculture and open space use, while protecting important natural resources and wildlife habitat.
“The City of San Luis Obispo is deeply honored and proud to be receiving this important grant funding in furtherance of the city’s long-standing Greenbelt Protection Program goals,” said Bob Hill, Sustainability & Natural Resources Official. “The grant awarded by the Strategic Growth Council this week will be joined with the city’s Open Space funds generated through our local revenue measure and represents the first big step in a long process towards bringing this high priority project to fruition. We look forward to continuing to work collaboratively with the Miossi family towards a successful completion over the course of the next year.”
The SALC Round 5 resulted in a $57 million grant funding projects in 19 California counties. This initiative will fund six planning grants and 31 agricultural conservation easements covering more than 20,000 acres of farm and ranch land across the state.
The SALC program, launched in 2014, collaborates with the Department of Conservation to identify potential projects based on their risk of being converted to other uses, their potential to promote infill development, and their agricultural, economic and ecological values. Since the program began, $180.9 million was awarded to land trusts and local governments to fund conservation efforts, protecting more than 112,500 acres.
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