Meet the newest member of the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District: The Joyce Stevens Monterey Pine Forest Reserve.
On Monday, Dec. 1, the MPRPD board approved the purchase of the 851-acre Rancho Aguajito property from Pebble Beach Company. The forested ridge is next door to one of the district's most beloved parks, the 950-acre Jacks Peak.
The $7.45 million price tag, plus closing costs, will be funded by Proposition 117. The purchase agreement allows the district to pay Pebble Beach in increments of about $1.5 million per year for four years, after an initial payment of $500,000.
The board also voted to name the district's new property in honor of Joyce Stevens, a lifelong conservation activist and a champion of the Monterey pine forest in particular. The acquisition will bring the area of protected Monterey pine forest at Jacks Peak to about 1,800 acres.
In an Oct. 27 letter to the MPRPD board and General Manager Rafael Payan, fellow pine forest activist Nikki Nedeff and Maggie Hardy nominated Stevens for the honor.
"For the past 23 years, Joyce has been the primary impetus behind efforts to preserve significant portions of the peninsula's Monterey pine forest habitat and has raised our community's consciousness about the rarity of this forest type," they write.
The nomination is supported by some pretty impressive names: U.S. Rep. Sam Farr (D-Carmel), State Assemblyman Mark Stone (D-Santa Cruz), Monterey County Supervisor Dave Potter, Carmel Mayor Jason Burnett and retired PBC executive Mark Stilwell. Actor and activist Robert Redford has also praised Stevens for her environmental leadership.