EAST COUNTY : Ballot Drive Aims to Protect Forest
Conservationists kicked off a signature drive Wednesday to qualify a ballot initiative that would protect Cleveland National Forest.
With the initiative, a local group of environmentalists is trying to limit development on private land within the Cleveland forest, said Duncan McFetridge, president of the group Save Our Forest and Ranchlands. The group has twice sued the county board of supervisors for approving projects in the county’s part of the forest, he said.
About 55,000 of the forest’s 300,000 acres are now privately held, McFetridge said, and about 60% of the forest lies in East County.
McFetridge claims to have recruited hundreds of volunteers to circulate petitions supporting the initiative. In order to qualify the initiative for a scheduled ballot, 67,000 signatures are required. To qualify for a special election, the group needs 134,000 signatures.
McFetridge estimated it will take six months to collect the requisite number of signatures.
Specifically, the initiative calls for a minimum land parcel size of 40 acres on all privately owned land within the national forest, with the exception of specified towns.
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