The Threat to Arana Gulch:
Current Status

April 24, 2013 - Santa Cruz City Council approves plans for Arana Gulch Master Plan paved bicycle routes and fencing for grazing.

April 23, 2013 - First meeting of the Arana Gulch Adaptive Management Working Group (AMWG). FOAG was instrumental in forcing City Parks and Recreation Department to open all AMWG meetings to the public.

April 19, 2013 - Santa Cruz City submits Habitat Management Plan and engineered blueprints to the California Coastal Commission for comment and eventual approval.

December 5, 2011 - The California Coastal Commission voted 10 - 1 to approve the Arana Gulch Master Plan, including the paved Boradway-Brommer Bicycle-Pedestrian project, expanded with a paved route from Agnes Street entrance, and extensive fencing for cattle grazing.

October 2011 - Santa Cruz City Parks and Recreation Department implements FOAG recommendations for tarplant management in Arana Gulch, based on our study of Watsonville Wetlands Watch tarplant management at Tarplant Hill in Watsonville.

August 25, 2011 - FOAG submits "New Restoration Strategies for Holocarpha macradenia in light of 2011 Field Studies" to Parks & Recreation resource managers. Read HERE.

November 29, 2010 - Suggestion to the City for Collaboration Read it here

October 16, 2010 - Blueprint for a Resolution to the Arana Gulch Controversy Read it here

October 15, 2010 - CITY APPLICATION GETS A SECOND CHANCE
Commissioner Mark Stone has placed on item on the agenda for the November Coastal Commission meeting in Santa Monica, asking for a waiver of the rule that prevents a developer (the City) from resubmitting an application for six months after a project is denied by the Commission. This means that the City could resubmit the same application and be on the agenda as early as the December meeting (San Francisco). FOAG questions the waiver. Click here to read.

October 14, 2010 - COASTAL COMMISSION REJECTS CITY'S ARANA GUCLH MASTER PLAN APPLICATION - The Coastal Commission saw through the myths and addressed the facts. The City is now free to concentrate on crafting a Master Plan that follows the direction of the City's own General Plan to protect the sensitive species of Arana Gulch and manage for the restoration of tarplant habitat.

March 11, 2010 - COASTAL COMMISSION VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO CONTINUE DECISION ON ARANA GULCH MASTER PLAN! Commissioner Mark Stone made the motion, saying, "We would like to give this project another shot and look to see if there is any alternative that satisfies the commission." Stone and a majority of other commissioners indicated they would vote against the project as proposed because they believed it was clearly a transportation project made to look like a conservation plan.

December 15, 2009 - The City of Santa Cruz submitted an application for a development permit for the Broadway-Brommer Bicycle-Pedestrian Path Connection to the California Coastal Commission (CCC). The CCC has until January 15, 2010 to reply to the City as to the adequacy of its permit application.

August 26, 2009 - 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rules for the City. Read the Sentinel article here.

California Native Plant Society and Friends of Arana Gulch offer our gratitude to Parkin and Wittwer for their efforts in court on behalf of Arana Gulch.

June 25, 2009 - Our lawyer presented oral arguments today in the 6th Appellate Court of California. A decision will be forthcoming within 90 days.

May, 2008: The Friends of Arana Gulch fund appeal reached its goal. The lawsuit appeal filed in November of 2007 continues.

Friends of Arana Gulch is supporting a law suit by the California Native Plant Society against the city over violations of the Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area and Critical Habitat designations for Arana Gulch.