The mountain tops of Jumbo Valley sparkle and shimmer with pure and untouched snow. A blanket of clean white covers the entire wild valley. Wild grizzly bears, a population that has been extinct in California since 1922, call this valley home. Here in Jumbo Valley, they live peacefully, uninterrupted by the loud and obnoxious presence of humans. For now.
A battle that has raged since 1990 centers around architect Oberto Oberti and his team’s plans to turn Jumbo Valley into a year-round ski resort) “Jumbo Glacier Resort” is planned to include townhouses, hotels, condos, ski lifts, access roads, and more. Developer Oberto Oberti believes he will be creating a beautiful architectural masterpiece in Jumbo Valley. He believes that Jumbo Valley can become an economic boost and major ski resort.
The proposed project was supposed to be completed in 2015, yet construction has not even begun. Why? The residents living near Jumbo Valley decided they would fight back. They were against the building of Jumbo Glacier Resort, and they fought Oberto Oberti to keep Jumbo wild.
A wild valley is not the same as a tamed one. Once humans begin to dig into the earth of Jumbo, installing rides and building houses, the valley will no longer be the same. The valley will lose its natural mystique, and most of all, one of the world’s most valuable wild places will be gone forever. And with the disappearance of this ecosystem, the demise of the wildlife species that it supports will follow suit.
Because of the importance of Jumbo Valley as a critical wildlife habitat, environmentalists are also involved in the struggle to prevent Jumbo Glacier Resort from becoming a reality. In fact, environmentalists have called attention to the fact that if a ski resort were built in Jumbo Valley, the grizzly bear population would most likely decline quickly. That’s because Jumbo Valley is a critical part of one of North America’s most important wildlife corridors. The resort would fragment the grizzly bear population, making it very difficult for a sufficient number of bears to meet and mate, and thereby, seal the grizzlies’ fate by sending them down the path towards extinction. This is what biologist Dr.Michael Procter says about the effect that fragmentation in Jumbo Valley will have on the grizzly population:
“Keeping this core anchor sub-population healthy, intact and un-fragmented is likely essential to maintaining the long-term self-sustainability of the larger Canadian regional Purcell-Selkirk grizzly as well as maintaining the international grizzly bear distribution extending directly south into the United States.”
Furthermore, there is a Native American group known as Ktunaxa who have laid claims to the Purcell Mountains, the mountain range in which Jumbo Valley is located. They believe that the area is where the Grizzly Bear Spirit was born and heals itself for its eventual return to the spirit world. The Ktunaxa have lived in the area they call Qat’muk since before the Europeans’ arrival. They, too, have been fighting to prevent Oberti from claiming the land and building on it.
A FAMILIAR PATTERN
The outcome of the Jumbo Wild land use struggle is a critical one as pristine wild places such as Jumbo Valley have been disappearing at a rapid clip, and along with their demise, life-sustaining ecosystems shrink and the survival of wildlife is jeopardized. In the case of Jumbo Valley, grizzlies will be the first to vanish if developers win. Unfortunately, this pattern is repeated over and over again wherever the same constellation of factors converge: Driven by the profit motive, developers gobble up open spaces by promising jobs and perks to local communities, sometimes uprooting existing residents. Local politicians, often driven by the tantalizing prospect of future campaign contributions from developers, promises of a larger tax base, and pressure from the building trades, frequently end up supporting the project, despite opposition from local residents and their allies. The result? Long-time residents are often displaced and replaced by droves of newcomers who bring traffic congestion and demands for city services such as school accomodations, wildlife species lose their habitats, and the community loses valuable open space. Everyone is impoverished because of the land grab—everyone, except for the developers and their enablers who laugh all the way to the bank.
THE CURRENT HARBOR VIEW STRUGGLE IN REDWOOD CITY
A current struggle over land use involves the Harbor View complex proposed by developers in Redwood City, CA. This looming battle was discussed at our February Environmental Stewardship seminar. Gita Dev, our Sustainable Land Use chair, presented the facts of the case: The Harbor View project is a proposed office complex north of highway 101 that will bring in more than 4500 employees and possibly more. It is remote from transit and will exacerbate traffic congestion on Highway 101 and the jobs/housing imbalance. Most important to us, it will put pressure on developing the Cargill salt ponds across the street, once again, for housing. The Cargill salt ponds constitute an area that has been designated to be part of the Don Edwards Wildlife Refuge. The entire Refuge is home to a wide variety of resident and migrating birds, and the Cargill salt ponds, abandoned decades ago, have been inhabited by flocks of birds for years. The developers and their supporters on the city council argue for the mammoth development by invoking the familiar mantra of increasing both the city’s tax base, providing some funding for freeway improvements, etc., and providing union construction jobs, albeit temporarily. So, the classic pattern prevails: money and temporary increase in jobs vs. residents’ quality of life and the survival of critical habitats that support wildlife. Local residents and environmental activists oppose it. The conflict continues to rage and it is uncertain when a resolution will be reached.
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For more information about the Harbor View project in Redwood City, and to see if you can help, please contact Gita Dev gd@devarchitects.com
To learn more details about the long raging conflict between keeping Jumbo Valley wild and creating Jumbo Glacier Resort, you can watch the film Jumbo Wild, which we did during our February Environmental Stewardship Program meeting. You can also go to this page to offer your support and sign up for updates on the Jumbo Wild struggle.
At our Environmental Stewardship meetings, we watch films such as this one, listen to presentations, and engage in discussions afterwards, because it is essential for us to stay informed and educated about the many environmental struggles raging around us—battles to save our remaining wildlands and wildlife which are rapidly disappearing. To inquire about our Environmental Stewardship Program, click here. https://www.sierraclub.org/loma-prieta/environmental-stewardship-program-50-2018-2019