UC Merced a consensus planning success story? Carol W. Witham, VernalPools.Org
History of the 10 th UC campus and how it ended up in Merced 1988 UC Regents initiated planning for a new campus Focused on the San Joaquin Valley 85 initial sites 20 candidate sites 8 preferred sites 3 finalist sites No one has been able to reproduce the site selection process 1995 UC Regents selected the Lake Yosemite site in Merced County as their preferred location
Why the Lake Yosemite site? and why no one complained at the time Two trusts were willing to donate 2000 acres Partnering with the trusts provided a unique opportunity to help fund scholarships to the underserved students of the San Joaquin Valley The trusts were going to profit from building a whole new town around the campus Early documents suggested the town would be the size of Berkeley In 1995, California was broke and no one envisioned a new campus was going to happen
Project put on fast-track track in 2000 and serious environmental concerns were raised UC officials initially claim the campus a done deal Governor Gray Davis allocates $30 million for conservation easements to serve as mitigation Conservation organizations and many UC faculty are enraged by the environmental consequences of the campus Regulators warn that the proposed location could not be permitted The campus and community are moved a bit south Packard Foundation puts up $11 million to buy the land from the trusts and purchase an adjacent parcel
VernalPools.Org originated in 2000 to fight UC Merced While CNPS played a large and important role in the movement to move UC Merced, their focus is on plants and it was the presence of endangered fairy shrimp that was going to make a difference.
Piecemealed EIR in 2001-20022002 campus, community and parkway Three separate environmental review documents Sneaky release just before Christmas 2001 with a minimum comment period Planned d to open the first phase of the campus on a former golf course to avoid doing NEPA Hundreds of pages of comment letters from dozens of conservation organizations CEQA lawsuit against the UC failed in both the trial and appellate courts Who would rule against something the governor wanted?
UC Merced opens in 2005 with a golden bobcat as its mascot
Talks also began in 2005 between UCM and conservation NGOs 1 st meeting arranged by US Fish & Wildlife Service The first year and a half of meetings were fruitless June 2006 the US Army Corps of Engineers released and then retracted a draft EIS Corps staff publicly stated that the campus could not be permitted as proposed UCM began to take the environmental community more seriously We began working together on a Conservation Strategy for the entire eastern Merced County region
2007 brings another draft EIS but this one was never released UC Merced officials decide that it is time cut a deal with the regulators and the environmental community UCM, NGOs and the regulatory agencies reached a consensus on a reduced d footprint t that t also shifted the campus further south UCM and NGOs also reached an agreement about how we would work together to achieve certain specific conservation goals on and around the new campus November 2008 a new draft EIS/EIR was released for a 60 day public comment period
New footprint conservation benefits for species and habitat 721 acres of pristine vernal pool grasslands avoided and protected in perpetuity 120 wetted acres of vernal pools, swales and clay playas 2 breeding pools for California Tiger Salamander 8 pools supporting Midvalley Fairy Shrimp 104 pools supporting Vernal Pool Fairy Shrimp 70 pools supporting Succulent Owl s Clover
Other benefits resulting directly or indirectly 32,000 acres of vernal pool grasslands have been placed under conservation easement in Merced County Eastern Merced County has a strong conservation strategy that can be used to guide future projects UCM and NGOs continue to work together UCM has set a new standard for clarity and readability of their environmental documents Other large projects are contacting the environmental community early in their projects
The burning question in all of our minds is Did we do the right thing?
VernalPools.Org dedicated to saving California s vernal pool landscapes For additional information, contact: Carol W. Witham VernalPools.Org Info@vernalpools.org