Supes approve Conway easement
At Dartmouth College, many moons ago, before the institution became coeducational, there was an old saying which went, “Dartmouth – where the men are men … and the sheep are nervous.”
Here in Mono County, the sheep are nervous, too. What makes the sheep nervous? Wildlife biologists.
At the Mono County Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Supervisors and Mono County Counsel Marshall Rudolph hashed through the final Conway Ranch conservation easement document before approving it by a 4-1 vote.
Approval does not necessarily mean implementation.
Three stakeholders (CalTrans, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and California State Parks) helped fund Mono County’s purchase of the property some 15 years ago. Mono County granted these stakeholders certain rights (almost like CC & Rs) in exchange for their monetary contributions.
So, technically, one of these “funders” could reject the approved easement.
The point of the conservation easement is to preserve the County’s rural character while not locking up the land for compatible uses.
On Tuesday, the bulk of the discussion regarded a domestic sheep grazing allotment on part of the 1,035-acre ranch. Why? It appears that California Fish and Wildlife may be appealing to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to exert pressure on the county to remove the sheep grazing allotment at Conway.
State wildlife biologists are very concerned about the potential for contact between domestic sheep herds and local Bighorn populations.
Tom Stephenson, Senior Wildlife Scientist for California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife testified quite directly that it’s been identified in the Bighorn Sheep recovery plan that domestic sheep grazing needs to stop on conservation easements.
He said a future grazing permit renewal would trigger a new CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) analysis.
Dr. Virginia Chadwick, a Board member of the Bighorn Sheep Foundation, testified that where there is contact, (between domestics and Bighorns), Bighorns die.
Former District 4 Supervisor Tim Hansen deadpanned, “There’s just got to be a connection between ebola [in here] somewhere.”
Supervisor Tim Alpers said some of the property is grazed just nine days a year. Surely, he said, we can come up with a management plan that can make everyone happy.
Supervisor Fred Stump noted that the recovery of the Bighorns over the past two decades (from 100 to an estimated 500) has occurred at the same time domestic sheep grazing has occurred.
Stephenson partly attributed Bighorn population gains to the removal of domestic grazing allotments elsewhere.
Marianne Fulstone, whose family has controlled the sheep grazing allotment at Conway for 28 years, said the reason the Bighorns aren’t flourishing as much here as in other places is related to a lack of winter range.
Shockingly, no one, either pro- or anti-domestic sheep grazing appeared to change their minds during the two-plus hours of discussion on that topic alone.
Board Chair Larry Johnston floated some ideas regarding the limitation of certain uses (snowmobiling, hunting) on the property, but he was overruled by his cohorts.
Tim Fesko ultimately voted against the conservation easement because he felt that the further the county has traveled down this road, the more rules, regulations and byzantine conditions that have also been suggested.
He referred to the sheer volume of documents associated with Conway Ranch as a “lawyer’s wet dream.”
He also believes the sheer amount of regulation will preclude any operator from ever resurrecting the fish hatchery.
In obtaining passage of the easement, Supervisor Byng Hunt credited the Rotarian bond between he and Tom Hallenbeck of CalTrans in getting the deal done.
In the audience, Tim Hansen privately said he didn’t disagree with Hunt on that point.
