Mill Bend: A Story of Community, Heroes, and Magic Fairy Dust
While we fell asleep in one world and woke up in another, the magic fairy waved her wand on our local Redwood Coast Land Conservancy (RCLC) to raise $2.1 million of the $2.7 million needed to acquire the 113-acre Mill Bend property on the Gualala River estuary. Now, as the sparkling fairy dust hangs in the air over Mill Bend, RCLC looks to the community and a few heroes to contribute the remaining $205,000 needed to close escrow on the property.
Almost three years ago when Mill Bend was listed for sale, Kathleen Chasey, RCLC’s volunteer project director for Mill Bend, and the Mill Bend Coalition had the vision and determination to acquire this property for conservation. Conservation means to save this precious, living, breathing land from further development and restore it to benefit the flora, wildlife, our community, and well-being of the Earth.
Like a deer in headlights, the idea of raising such a huge amount of money necessary to purchase Mill Bend was daunting. In the world of land trust organizations, RCLC is considered small. Yet, with a belief and trust in Kathleen Chasey, her drive and her enthusiasm, RCLC pressed forward to find a way to acquire Mill Bend.
A forum in November of 2017 was held for the community to develop a vision and direction for Mill Bend. After the forum, a Mill Bend Coalition was formed with team members John Walton, Jeanne Jackson, Kathleen Chasey, Laurie Mueller, Charlie Ivor and Joel Chaban.
Then in 2018 – and with a little bit of magic fairy dust -- The Allemall Foundation stepped forward and offered to be a conservation buyer for the property and to give RCLC the time needed to find funding to reimburse The Allemall Foundation. With RCLC’s $1.8 million commitment to The Allemall Foundation, the search for funding became a serious endeavor. In addition, as a former mill site, Mill Bend had to undergo testing for potential soil contamination. Although the testing process was lengthy and complicated, realtor Cindy Kennedy and Kathleen successfully held the negotiations together until the property was finally acquired by The Allemall Foundation in September 2019.
RCLC looked to three organizations for major grant funding: The US Fish and Wildlife Service, the California Natural Resources Agency, and the California State Coastal Conservancy. These organizations, realizing the importance of Mill Bend as a prime habitat for young steelhead and salmon waiting to migrate from the river to the ocean, provided optimism and encouragement. They also stipulated that RCLC needed to raise $600,000 to steward the property. What started out as a daunting effort to raise $1.8 million, now appeared to be insurmountable: RCLC now had to raise $2.4 million.
Understand that stewardship requires lots of planning: scientific resource assessments and site investigations, development of public access trails, estuary enhancements, public meetings, a preservation plan – all requiring scientific studies. Such a plan must be prepared by a team of professionals -- scientists and environmental planners – and costs upwards of $300,000 thus pushing RCLC’s funding requirement now to $2.7 million.
Last month, and with lots of magic fairy dust, RCLC received grants from those three major funders totaling $2.1 million to pay for the $1.8 million acquisition of Mill Bend and for the required $300,000 professional planning. In addition, over the course of the past eight months, RCLC President, Tina Batt, Kathleen Chasey and other volunteers spoke with key donors and obtained $395,00 in lead gifts, pledges, and community contributions to go towards the $600,000 needed for stewardship of the property.
This leaves only $205,000 to be raised. When it’s raised, RCLC will be able to close escrow on the property and begin working with professional planners and the community for the long-term preservation and restoration of the Mill Bend site. It takes a village, hard work and a lot of heroes – and magic fairy dust.
For more information and to donate, visit RCLC’s new website at https://www.rclc.org. No gift is too small. RCLC welcomes you to be a part of the village that creates our newest park.
Images courtesy of Craig Tooley
