Conservation Plan Alarms Landowners

Riverside County's ambitious plan to map out land usedesignations for wildlife preservation, housing and transportationcorridors has caused concern among local landowners and city officialsin the area. With an expected 1.3 million people moving into the areaover the next couple of decades, county officials are tagging areas forconservation in efforts to appease federal wildlife officials so thatother land can be used to build new roads to ease gridlock. Countyofficials state that landowners will be compensated for their land atmarket value, but many are unhappy at the prospect of having torelinquish their property. Some city officials are concerned that landthey had earmarked for housing could be designated as conservation landby the county. Public meetings will be held throughout the planningprocess to allow all opinions to be considered, county officials stated.

Thanks to California 2000 Project