San Marcos Foothills Preserve Reaches Endowment Goal of $1 Million
Funds to Act as Source for Grants to Maintain County-Owned Preserve, Leverage for Other Funding from Other Sources
Foothills Forever — whose grassroots fundraising campaign two years ago saved a hundred acres of the San Marcos foothills from development — just finished raising another $1 million for an endowment, the nonprofit announced on December 21. The endowment will be a source for grants to maintain the county-owned preserve, as well as a means to leverage other funding from other sources, explained Nancy Weiss, one of the nonprofit’s joyful volunteers.
The battle to save the green expanse of the San Marcos foothills literally came down to a faceoff between bulldozers and activists in 2021, some of whom chained themselves to the gate that, if it opened, would have allowed the dozers to come in and start scraping the earth for roads. The activists, a number of them members of area Chumash tribes, stayed put while negotiations between the developer and Foothills Forever negotiated a $18 million pricetag for the 101 acres to be raised within a short 90 days.
The hard bargaining was followed by an enormous and enormously popular public and private outreach campaign that succeeded in preserving the West Mesa adjacent to an existing 200-acre preserve, which the developer had granted in 2005, and what locals call the Bridge to Nowhere now stretches over the 154 to the San Marcos Foothills Preserve.
Since then, Foothills Forever has been engaged in a quiet campaign to raise funds for an endowment to return the area to native grasses, partner with Chumash tribes to ensure their history is part of the preserve, remove invasive species, preserve habitat, develop educational programs, and keep the trails that meander across the acres free to foot traffic in perpetuity, said Geoff Green, who is among the many volunteering their skills to the group as he departs the Santa Barbara City College Foundation before taking the reins of the California Association of Nonprofits in January.
Peter Schuyler, who co-chaired the 18-month fundraising campaign, said, “We are beyond grateful and excited to reach our goal! We have been quietly raising money from a small group of very generous individuals and foundations this past year,” he said, adding, “This is a wonderful and generous community!”