(November 2007)

We live in a very special place. This region is amongst the most productive agriculture lands in the world, and it is considered one of the 25 biological “Hot Spots” on the planet. It is also under increasing development and recreational pressures from the growing Bay Area and Sacramento metropolitan regions.

What will these lands be like in 50, 100 and 500 years? Most of us when asked will reply that we want the region to look then much as it looks today. But, that will not happen if we do not act. The landscape will slowly be fragmented piece by piece. Ranchettes and subdivisions over time will erode both our wild heritage and our agricultural heritage. Not acting has consequences, and simply wishing it will stay as it is, is unrealistic.

The Blue Ridge Berryessa Region is a mosaic of over 800,000 acres of public and private lands located in Solano, Napa, Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties. The public lands are managed by the Mendocino National Forest, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, California Department of Fish and Game, the UC Reserve System and local parks of various counties and agencies. Much of the private lands are large intact ranches that make up the working landscape.

The region is a result of plate tectonics with blind trust faults; steeply titled sandstones and shales that make up the Blue Ridge and Cortina Ridge; and a Franciscan mélange containing serpentine soils that were once part of the ocean crust. Putah and Cache creeks flow through this diverse place giving it life. Blue oak woodlands, chaparral plant communities, and the rare and endemic plants found on serpentine soils together with tule elk, black bear, mountain lion, bald eagles, falcons, osprey, river otters many more animals and birds that live in the oak woodlands make up this biological Hot Spot.

The large, active, private ranches and farms within the region represent our agricultural heritage. To protect that agricultural heritage we must protect the land and the water that they need; help to ensure their economic viability; protect an agricultural infrastructure; and train future ranchers and farmers. It is important to who we are as a People that we are successful in that effort. It helps to define our sense of place.

Tuleyome is working to designate this region as the Blue Ridge Berryessa National Conservation Area (BRB NCA.) With this designation congress recognizes that these lands are important; it will establish a multi-agency management plan and a Public Advisory Committee; and, we feel that it will focus additional funds in the region for conservation and land management improvements. Our goals in doing this are to protect the natural and environmental resources, ensure a thriving working landscape into the future, enhance recreational opportunities consistent with those goals and help our local economies.

The BRB NCA will help the many government entities to work together in a coordinated manner to manage the region. And, the Public Advisory Committee will ensure that stakeholders and the public have a real seat at the table. It can mean a formalized commitment to protecting our region from continued sprawl, thoughtless development, and unmanaged recreational impacts.

To be clear, a BRB NCA will not have any jurisdiction over local government decision making authority and it will not have any authority over private property. If landowners choose not to participate, the NCA will not affect them. But, for those that do choose to participate we feel that it will prioritize conservation resources and land management funds to our region. And, it will provide a structure for working with the various agencies. When we speak together about our region people will listen.

Proposition 84 is a parks and water bond measure, recently passed in California. The Sierra Nevada, San Joaquin River, Santa Monica Mountains and other deserving places were all prioritized for funding. The Blue Ridge Berryessa region was ignored and left out. We are still the “hidden landscape.”

But, more folks are coming to visit and to live here. They are coming. If we do not plan for the future we will be overrun with the influx. The plants and animals will lose, ranchers and farmers will be impacted, and the public will lose. Good planning and management, in a coordinated structure will lead to a better future for us all.

This is our vision for the future of the upper Putah and Cache Creek watersheds. We hope that as you learn more you will support the Blue Ridge Berryessa National Conservation Area proposal. Please check Tuleyome’s web page at www.tulyome.org for additional information and email info@tulyeome.org or call 530-304-6215 if you have questions. We have begun outreach to small groups on this proposal and we are also available for presentations to your groups and organizations.

Bob Schneider