Editorial: Private land ethic

In the rapidly growing Sacramento region, it's impossible to set aside as public space all land with natural features worth preserving -- in parks, monuments, refuges and nature preserves, to name a few.

Much of that land already has and, in the future, could be developed for residential housing and other uses. What's needed is a private land ethic.

Unfortunately, it seems that such an ethic is under siege.

Friday's report in The Bee of the saga of Mark and Janet Thew in the St. Francis Woods subdivision of Loomis is a case in point. They bought a 1.3-acre property in a setting that had woods, wetlands and wildlife in the 100-square-mile Dry Creek watershed.

Aguilar Creek, a small creek that flows into Secret Ravine by Sierra College, runs through their yard. The Thews were enchanted by a family of beavers that maintained a dam in the creek, a sign that this was indeed a healthy wildlife corridor running between the Sacramento Valley and the Sierra Nevada foothills.

They were encouraged, too, that the subdivision had "covenants, conditions and restrictions" (CC&Rs) that came with each property, signed by property owners, preventing activity in wetlands areas and calling for annual monitoring of environmentally sensitive areas by a consultant.

When they bought the property, the Thews knew that the subdivision was in the 100-year floodplain. They built a raised structure and understood the importance of the area's wetlands for reducing the size and destructiveness of floods. Wetland loss exacerbates flood damage, as seen in the floods of 1986 and 1995 in the Roseville area of Placer County. For those floods, portions of the Dry Creek watershed near Roseville were designated federal disaster areas.

California has lost 85 percent to 90 percent of its wetlands, the greatest percentage loss in the nation. That's why Janet Thew says, "Our little piece is thus priceless to us."

The Thews see their property as an important cog and wheel in the larger ecosystem. They thought property owners in the St. Francis Woods community shared that view.

But the words on paper didn't match the land ethic of some of the neighbors, who the Thews complain built in protected wetland areas, routinely used pesticides within 25 feet of designated wetlands and wanted the beavers and the beaver dam removed.

Advocates of a private land ethic need to step forward and reach out to the St. Francis Woods community and others in the Dry Creek watershed.

As rapid urbanization and population growth continue in the Sacramento region, a land ethic embraced by private property owners is essential to preserve the values that make semirural property so attractive in the first place.