COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

Environmental Services Agency

 

DATE:

April 10, 2006

BOARD MEETING DATE:

May 2, 2006

SPECIAL NOTICE/HEARING:

None

VOTE REQUIRED:

Majority

 

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Marcia Raines, Director, Environmental Services Agency

SUBJECT:

Approval of a Land and Water Conservation Fund Program Grant Application in the Amount of $50,000 for the Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve Interpretive Center Project

 

RECOMMENDATION:

Adopt a resolution approving the submittal of a Land and Water Conservation Fund Program grant application in the amount of $50,000 for the Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve Interpretive Center and authorizing the Director of the Environmental Services Agency, or other designee of the County, to execute and submit the grant application and any other subsequent documents related to the grant.

 

VISION ALIGNMENT:

Commitment: Preserve and provide people access to our natural environment.

Goal 14: Important natural resources are preserved and enhanced through environmental stewardship.

 

This grant application for funds for the Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve Interpretive Center (Center) contributes to the goal of preserving and enhancing important natural resources through environmental stewardship as the Center will serve as an educational focal point of the park for visitors.

 

BACKGROUND:

The Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF), a federal grant program, provides funds to all fifty states. The California State Department of Parks and Recreation administers the funds allocated to California. The State’s allocation for this year is expected to be approximately $2 million, of which $1.2 million will be available for competitive grants to local jurisdictions. Southern California will receive about $720,000 and Northern California will receive about $480,000. This is a substantial decrease in the amount of available funds from previous years and State Parks and Recreation is strongly encouraging applicants to apply for a maximum amount of $50,000 in grant funds. The application packet requires a resolution from the governing body authorizing submission of the application.

 

DISCUSSION:

If this grant application is approved, the funds will be used in concert with other funds to construct an Interpretive Center at Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve. The Preserve, an area approximately one square mile, is known for its remarkable species richness - 480 different plant species have been identified within it. The Preserve has three plant species that are federally listed as endangered or threatened. The federally threatened Bay checkerspot butterfly’s habitat at the Preserve was compromised by an invasion of non-native grasses. However, habitat restoration efforts are being made and there are plans to re-introduce the butterfly in 2007.

Annual attendance at the park exceeds 125,000 visits. Edgewood supporters continue to look for ways to share their knowledge with visitors and for ways to teach people how to protect this unique area of biodiversity. Docents for the Preserve believe strongly that an interpretive center will help develop a stewardship ethic in all who visit the Preserve by raising people’s awareness that environmental stewardship begins with them, and that it will increase the number of people who actively participate in Edgewood’s restoration and preservation.

The Center will be located in a developed area at the Preserve’s main entrance. Designed to fit with the natural surroundings, the building is 1,200 square feet in size and has additional outdoor amphitheaters and a deck. Displays in the exhibit room can be moved to allow the Center to double as space for meetings or training. It will be a "green building" using recycled materials and incorporating active and passive solar energy into the design.

This effort is the culmination of work begun in 2001. The County’s Parks and Recreation Foundation has raised $700,000 in funds that have been spent on the concept plan, designs and drawings, environmental review and construction of the entrance improvements recently completed for the Center. The improvements included restoration of the creek, paving the overflow dirt parking lot with porous asphalt and the installation of a certified sustainably-grown timber pedestrian bridge so students will not have to use the vehicular bridge as the entrance.

The Foundation is now actively raising the remaining $1.1 million needed to fund the building construction and exhibits. The schedule expects construction of the building in summer 2007 and to have the Center fully operational by the 2008 wildflower walk season.

 

FISCAL IMPACT:

LWCF guidelines require the applicant agency to finance the entire project cost. Should the LWCF provide funding for the Edgewood County Park and Natural Preserve Interpretive Center, fifty percent of the actual expenditures up to the grant amount will be reimbursed when the project has been completed. Half of the state's administrative costs surcharge is paid by the grant recipient and will be deducted from the reimbursement. The surcharge amount is based on the amount of the grant and as a result cannot be determined at this time. The funds to finance the portion not covered by this grant, if approved, will be provided by the Foundation.

Maintenance of the center would be a future fiscal impact and the Foundation’s intent is to seed a maintenance endowment for the Center.