PORTIONS OF THE LAND WILL BE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC?????????????????????? And who pray tell decides who and where?? And who will have access to the part that the public is not allowed????

More land taken off the property tax rolls. Great idea! Let's turn a revenue source into a government expense. We certainly don't need any economic growth in the county. Next thing someone will be trying to save the salmon.

well JonGreen, sounds like you want concrete and homes everywhere, I prefer mixed use, as I think most do. Perhaps you can move to an area already devoid of any open space. I do wonder who is paying for maint etc on the property once it is acquired. Hidden Falls is a beautiful park, and a nice job has been done.

Bruin Ranch on the Bear River contains some of the most spectacular river scenery in California and currently is not accessible to the public.

auburnite, there are one million acres of land in Placer County. 70% to 80% depending on whose figures you want to believe are owned by the government and are open space. I have not lived in a typical urban neighborhood since 1969. I like open space. I think we have enough.

I hope tax dollars are not going to pay for this. If a private entity like Placer Land Trust wants it, let them pay for it with private funds.

JonGreen: Spoken like a true Republican who can't see past his wallet (not all are this way). It's called PRESERVATION of land that will never be the same after the profit motive has done its damage to it.

Where exactly is this ranch? East or west of Highway 49? A map or an assessor's parcel number would be nice.

Never mind, I re-read the article, and it apparently is somewhere near Hidden Falls, thus at the far West side of the county.

PLT clarification, part 1

Sad that ignorance and negativity dominates these online forums but I'm happy to clarify...

Placer Land Trust is a private nonprofit - we're not affiliated with the County. You may be thinking of Placer Legacy, the County program - we have similar objectives and the word "Placer" in our names, so the confusion is understandable. We receive donations from folks in our community that support our mission to work with willing landowners to preserve land for public benefit. I appreciate Realist's polite post about private funding; PLT occasionally (though not lately) receives grant funding from public programs that are set up for land conservation, such as the State's Wildlife Conservation Board (www.wcb.ca.gov). So we use voter-approved tax dollars when they are granted to us and as long as the voters of CA support funding land conservation, we'll use those funds when we can. Regarding land ownership, thankfully we live in America where we have private property rights. In those occasions where we purchase land, we become the landowners and have just as much rights to manage the property as you do to manage your own place. The only difference is that our management of the property is for the public - not private - benefit. Regarding taxes, since we're a private landowner and not the government, the property is not "taken off the tax rolls" and there is no government expense in the land ownership/mgmt.

PLT clarification, part 2

Getting back to private property rights, if we want to open up our private land to public access, we have the right to do so. This is sometimes one of the public benefits that we provide, depending on the project. In this case, we will offer the majority of Bruin Ranch for public recreation, because we believe outdoor recreation makes this County a better place to live, work and play. But there will also be areas of the property that are off limits to the public in order to maintain the grazing operation or to secure sensitive areas – fuel load reduction and the protection of agriculture and wildlife habitat are also important public benefits. Maintenance of the property will be paid for by the landowner (PLT) unless we contract it out. Anyway, hope this clarification was helpful.

WHO is WE? You keep say we. Where you appointed, if so by Who? So I guess if you don't want to open to public access we won't.

watchit: The WE is Placer Land Trust a private nonprofit orgnization. They have a board of directors and at least one paid staff member. If you want to read more about their history and founding, just google Placer Land Trust. I am so grateful that they exist to help preserve some of our local natural beauty and habitat. When private developers come in and meet resistance, one of the things that is said to people who protest a developers use of the land is "If you want to preserve land as open space, then you should have bought it yourself." Of course very few of us have the means to do that - so people like me donate money to Placer Land Trust.

I can see the conservatives out in force in the early comments. I guess in order to be right wing, you really have to HATE undisturbed nature. Beauty only exists if there is a mega-wealthy, "core group" fat-cat sucking anything of value out of it. Like a hog slopping at its trough of rescources. They hate anything that can't be controlled. Like the IRS (the stuff of nightmares), payroll day for the workers, and nature-made beauty. I think an obscenely wealthy person must see a different picture. Like seeing the negative, where everything is the opposite. "Why haven't those mountains and that valley been exploited yet? Which of my core group dropped the ball here? This view could have been made beautiful after six months work with the bulldozers. Hundreds of millions in profits is a terrible thing to waste." I think the greed disease has warped their thought processes so badly that they've lost all truly important values. And the more thay have the more they HOARD. Just ask a waitress.

Who is it that uses the words HATE, fat-cat suckingt,hog slopping, greed disease and HOARD???? Take a deep breath nick and have a good day.

Nicklbag, Ask Carol at the Newcastle Denny's about me.

nicklbag: Your description is correct; the truth can be a cruel B!tch to some around here.

Who uses those words? Someone who's disgusted having witnessed what they are describing. I've witnessed and experienced the greed-disease. Unfortunately, I've had to interact with people across the spectrum. JonGreen, I doubt that you have the money to qualify for the social status I'm describing. (and yes...stereotyping...get over it) I'm not talking about successful people whose "ship has come in". Someone could be worth several million and still have their soul intact. I'm talking about the SUPER wealthy. The greed disease makes people become more obsessed with their holdings the more they have. They lose any concept of what happiness the little joys of life can bring. A friend and I, at about nine or ten years old, did an experiment in sociology. In our working class neighborhood we would get a mixed bag of candy on Halloween night. We thought we would try the "fabulous 40s" neighborhood where we would certainly get nothing but the big, 25-cent candy bars. No such luck. Most people would not answer their doors, (it IS a handout with no tax write-off, after all) and those few who did gave penny candies, like lemon drops. The NEXT year we thought we'd try a somewhat lower class neighborhood on C street near the Capitol City Freeway. Every house gave the big candy bars, and they were truly enjoying the night. Yeah, I HATE fat-cats, for what they do to our quality of life. And the word HOARD bothers you? Why? You aint' seen nothin' yet.

nickibag, my uber rich, super wealthy, pay income tax in the millions, friends are nothing like you describe. Most of them have moved out of California. Nickibag name one of the super wealthy that acts as you describe that you know personally and not from the media who only talks and writes about super wealthy crooks. Gates and Jobs fit your description? Were you a waiter who did not get tips?

Oh yeah...like I'm really stupid enough to name names. Fat Cats (FCs) can be very litigious when it comes to defending their bigger-than-life egos. I lived in the neighborhood west of Sutter Memorial Hospital, just across "J" street from the "fab 40s". I went to Kit Carson junior high school with the children of "ritch bitch row". Many of my good friends lived there and I spent many hours in their mansions. One family owned a very large business and when our mutual friends were old enough they got jobs at the "factory" through their "conection" with the family. They had nothing but horror stories about employer abuses, many which would never be tolerated today. Like working for Sam Walton. Do you admire him, too? To be fair, I agree that not every single one is like that. But one out of, say, 30 or 40 is not a stat to be proud of. Ron Sellers, whose family owns Coca Cola of N. Cal has been a close friend of mine since he was 16. He died last year after spending most of his life in a wheelchair. He had class and didn't worship at the throne of the almighty dollar. He was the "one" out of 30. I theorize that he had experienced enough adversity in his life to allow him to exude humility and grace. He wasn't a tightwad. He wasn't an embarrassment when it came to leaving a tip. He didn't haul his smelly, dripping household garbage across town in the back of his $60K SUV to a construction site to avoid the $7 per month (in the 80s) (CON'T)

(CON'T) garbage collection fee his city charged. I have stories that go on and on. My nephew seems obsessed with money, despite the advice I would pass on from my dad. "Never be a tightwad." and "Always pay your way and show some class." So trust me, Jon, this didn't come from the media's influence. And I feel sorry for FCs on many levels. They usually are lacking in charisma. Leading a sheltered life of privelege doesn't teach you the basics for developing a personality. Lacking colorful life experiences tends to make them a "dud" when the story-telling begins. And they rarely have REAL friends. They never know who is a friend out of the scores of people who are kiss-asses. It must serve the ego well, but that must be a very sad way to live. So, Jon, maybe you're "lucky" enough to be one of them. Maybe you're a wanna-be. But I answered your question. You're tactic was used on the wrong person. "Finish your food...there are children starving in Africa." Your answer would be, "Yeah, name TWO of them." We just feel differently, that's all.

I'm sorry you had a bad time in junior high school. Last year two of my grand daughters asked me if I was rich. They were 11 and 12. I asked them what they meant by "Rich" They responded with a question, "Do you have a lot of money?" I told them that money did not make a person rich. What makes a person rich is having a good family with caring parents, and good friends.

Michael Jackson was not rich.

PS: My mom used the starving people in China. I have to admit that after hearing this 1000 times, I did say name one. It was a shot at my mom not starving people.

Nick: I recall having slamed you in a recent thread, I hope it was such a minor thing to you that it didn't get your attention...thanks for your insight. The PLT project referenced above is very worthy.