| Click here for the full text of the Initiative |
 fter many, long years working toward the
preservation of San Diego County's magnificent back country, Save Our Forests
& Ranchlands (SOFAR) is pleased to announce that the Rural Heritage
& Watershed Initiative has been filed, to begin the process of collecting
signatures required for placement on the November, 1998 ballot.
 Just as SOFAR offered the citizens
of San Diego the opportunity to protect the Cleveland National Forest in
1993 (via the successful Forest Conservation Initiative), SOFAR is now presenting
an opportunity to protect San Diego's remaining back country via this initiative.
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It's the water
Water is the most precious and essential resource
in our semi-arid home. Industry can't function and we can't live here without
a secure and clean source of drinking water. The backcountry is a vast wilderness
watershed that provides free drinking water to our reservoirs, saving millions
of dollars a year that otherwise would have to be paid for imported water.
Development of the backcountry destroys the natural flora that keeps water
clean as it runs into rivers and streams. More concrete and asphalt in the
backcountry means more polluted water flowing into our reservoirs and ultimately,
our beaches. |
The history of San Diego County is synonymous
with ranching, agriculture and a rural way of life rooted in our mountains,
foothills, deserts and valleys. The wilderness of oak woodlands, pine-covered
slopes, alpine meadows and sweeping Savannah is an integral part of that
heritage. San Diego County's past lives on today in the back country. But
will it be there for the next generation? Anyone who has lived here ten
years ago - or even five - and has watched haphazard urban growth begin
to overtake places like Alpine and Ramona should be worried. San Diego County
is on the brink of becoming another Los Angeles or Orange County, a destiny
we must avoid.
Poised on the threshold of the new millennium,
San Diego County's remaining wild lands, agricultural lands and watershed
are threatened by the same menace as its cities: urban sprawl. Finite tax
dollars that are needed to replace decaying infrastructure within urban
areas are being used, instead, to subsidize new infrastructure for inappropriately-located
developments that are destroying our rural back country.
The Rural Heritage & Watershed Initiative
solves the problem of urban sprawl by effectively creating an urban/rural
boundary, as is called for in the County General Plan. On one side of the
boundary, misplaced urban zoning in the back country would be replaced,
by the Initiative, with proper rural zoning that prevents costly, inappropriate
development. On the other side of the boundary, scarce tax dollars can be
redirected to rebuilding and improving our urban areas. |
Tourism, too
Tourism is one of our country's biggest industries,
pumping billions of dollars into the local economy and employing tens of
thousands of people. More and more people in the hospitality industry are
recognizing the money-making potential of ecotourism in our county. But
it's not just our beautiful beaches that draw people from around the world:
our mountains, deserts and valleys, and the wildlife, forests and rural
living that thrive there are equally attractive.
World renowned biologists agree that a fully
viable wilderness will not survive as disconnected islands amid a sea of
development. Our backcountry wilderness is unique because of its abundant
diversity of plants and animals, many of which exist only here. This wilderness,
once destroyed, can never be replaced. Continued unrestrained development
of the backcountry will destroy the rural habitat that constitutes the last
of our wilderness. |
Agricultural, watershed and wilderness
lands outside of the County Water Authority line, in the 18, 19, and 20
Use Designator lands lying in the area called Rural Development (RDA) in
the County General Plan, would be zoned for 40-acre minimum parcel size.
The 18, 19 and 20 Designator lands lying in the area called Environmentally
Constrained (ECA) would be zoned for 80-acre minimum parcel size. Existing
parcels in both areas would have no other constraints on their use.
The simple and elegant approach of the
Initiative, creating a clear boundary between our rural and urban areas,
will protect the watershed, agricultural, wildlife and scenic values of
our San Diego County back country. At the same time, it will allow our urban
areas to be revitalized as magnets for the continuing growth of our population.
The Initiative is based on the understanding
that the healthy flow of pure water from our mountain watersheds to our
reservoirs, beaches, and ocean is the binding element that links our rural
and urban areas. Protecting the watershed will enhance the quality of life
for citizens and visitors of both our cities and back country. It will benefit
two of our largest industries: tourism and agriculture. The urban areas
will remain business, industrial and residential centers; the rural areas
will continue, as they ought, to be watershed, agricultural, wilderness
and "spiritual renewal" centers. The Initiative will create a
harmony flowing between our livable cities and our sustainable back country.
The choice is not if San Diego will
grow; the choice is how San Diego will grow. The Rural Heritage & Watershed
Initiative gives the people of San Diego County an unparalleled opportunity
to plan for our own future, to shape the environment our children will inherit,
and to set an example for every growing urban area. The choice is ours. |
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The critical process of signature-gathering
is beginning, and your help is needed in every way. SOFAR has rented office
space at 8380 Hercules Street, Suite N, in La Mesa. If you can help with
fund-raising, signature-gathering, phoning, typing, graphics work, events-planning,
speaking or office work, please let us know.
Please call (619) 515-4411 to receive
copies of petitions or to help in any way. Send contributions to: P.O. Box
1298, La Mesa, CA 91944.  |
