POST launches $200 million campaign to save the Coast POST launches $200 million campaign to save the Coast (April 25, 2001)

**Packard and Moore foundations put up $50 million each.

By Marion Softky

With the San Mateo County Coast one of the most valuable and endangered natural areas in the world, it will take a world-class effort to save it from the development that threatens to creep south from Pacifica, and spill over the hills from Silicon Valley.

The Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) has just launched such an effort. Last week it announced a three-year, $200,000 million campaign to preserve more than 20,000 acres of the "Endangered Coast" that are threatened by development and expected to change hands in the next three years.

"This land is the only remaining undeveloped coast next to a major metropolitan area left in the world," said Audrey Rust, president of the Menlo Park-based land trust. "It's beautiful, it's spectacular, and it has incredible value in terms of recreation, agriculture, and natural resources." "Saving the Endangered Coast is the largest land conservation effort ever undertaken by a local land trust in the United States," POST officials said. It is also getting off to a fast start thanks to two of the largest gifts ever given to a local land trust.

The David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation have each given $50 million to jump-start the campaign.

Mr. Moore, co-founder of Intel, has long been a POST supporter. He and Mrs. Moore live just north of Woodside on a property carved out from the Phleger estate, one of POST's most spectacular acquisitions. Just last fall, they established the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to support education, science and conservation, especially in the Bay Area.

While POST has not announced its shopping list, it is targeting properties with certain characteristics. These include: threat of development; strategic location; critical habitat; scenic views and recreation opportunities; and productive farmland.

Three key coastal properties on which POST acquired options within the last year will be purchased with funds from the campaign. These are: three acres just south of the Pigeon Point Lighthouse, for $2.65 million; Bolsa Point Ranches, 1,719 acres south of Pescadero, for $39 million; and an addition to the Johnston Ranch, 215 acres just south of Half Moon Bay, for $3.05 million.

For more information, call Audrey Rust at POST, 854-7696; Sherry Bartolucci at the Moore Foundation, 415-561-7700; or John Walker at the Packard Foundation, 948-7658.