Welcome to the Canyon Land
Conservation Fund Website

CLCF Mission Statement:
The Canyon Land Conservation Fund is a local 501(C)-3 organization dedicated to preserving the last remaining wild lands on the western edge of the Cleveland National Forest in Orange County, California.

Background:
The Canyon Land Conservation Fund was founded in 2002 by a small group of residents of Silverado Canyon who for the last 30 years have made a difference in wild land issues that face the rural canyon communities of Silverado, Modjeska and Trabuco. Over the past 8 years, the CLCF has grown to over 400 members and hosts a variety of fundraisers and awareness events such as the OC Tree Hugger’s Ball.
Click here to meet our unique board of directors!
Click here to learn more about Tree Hugger’s Ball

What have we done?
The CLCF has been successful in a recent effort to save a historic landmark of Southern California, Holtz Ranch. The Holtz Ranch is located on a 157 year old Native American homestead and is a major link of Southern California’s Wildlife Corridor system in Silverado Canyon.

We have been very involved with citizens of the City of Orange in their efforts to conserve the rolling hills east of Irvine Lake directly adjacent to the Cleveland National Forest.

Regionally, the CLCF has worked with the Rural Canyon Conservation Fund, the Saddleback Canyons Conservancy, Friends of the Foothills, Saddlecrest Environmental Group and the Friends of Harbor, Beaches and Parks to identify private in-holdings on the western edge of the CNF to be purchased by county and state funds dedicated to permanently protect the environment.

The Holtz Ranch
In 1901 Joseph Holtz purchased 320 acres at the entrance of Silverado Canyon that was a seasonal hunting and acorn gathering site for local Juaneno Indians.  The Holtz family farmed wheat, grew fruit trees and produced honey until the late 1960s.  Since then mountain lions, deer, amphibians and native plants have reappeared on the dormant ranch.

The 2001 development plans to build Equestrian Mansions on the Holtz Ranch proposed by renown Las Vegas Casino developer, Marnell-Corrao (aka CCRC Farms), stirred controversy among local residents, biologists, and environmentalists throughout the County.

The water and biological studies paid for by local residents through donations to the CLCF have provided the much needed information to combat the pro-development environmental review process, which is often times coined as “business as usual” in Orange County.

In 2003, Ray Chandos (Rural Canyon Conservation Fund) won a legal challenge temporarily stopping the Equestrian Mansions from being built. OC Superior Court Judge Jameson ordered CCRC Farms to revise the Environmental Impact Report to more adequately address water quality of run-off into Silverado Creek (which feeds into Irvine Lake drinking water reservoir) and the offset mitigation of endangered Coastal Sage Scrub.

As the County worked on revising the project’s EIR, the spring rains of 2005 brought relief to the watershed and with it an Arroyo Toad population!

The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service confirmed the presence of this nearly extinct, federally protected amphibian on Holtz Ranch, within 400 feet from the proposed development and along Silverado Creek.
Click here to learn more about the Southwestern Arroyo Toad

“County Hid Endangered Silverado Toad, Residents Say”
Click here to read article

What’s happening now? UPDATED 05/02/2009
A showdown on the water quality issues and the arroyo toad is brewing, as the Orange County Board of Supervisors will decide at a public hearing on October 2, 2007, whether the new environmental report meets state law and court standards of adequacy and whether it may suppress the new information of the arroyo toad. The Supervisors’ decision may decide the fate of the multi-million dollar project. The CLCF and other organizations feel that an approval of the project at this point will be a clear violation of both State (CEQA) and Federal law (Endangered Species Act). To help protect the endangered Arroyo Toad and other threatened wildlife, the CLCF along with a host of environmental organizations, is requesting that the County of Orange and CCRC Farms look into conservation alternatives to the original plans for development, and allow the community to look into Measure M and private conservation funds for preservation of this historic land. UPDATE: In October 2007, the Orange County Board of Supervisors gave the okay to start building on the Holtz Ranch. Ray Chandos is currently appealing a March 6, 2009 court decision that backed the County's green light to build. Mr. Chandos' challenge centers on the fact that Environmental Impact Report passed by the Board of Supervisors lacked new significant information about a locally extinct amphibian that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) confirmed was re-discovered on the project site. On March 16, 2009 the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers agreed with Mr. Chandos and instructed the landowner that he will have to consult with the USFWS over how the Endangered Species Act impacts the Federal water permits needed for the project.