Ranch owners to pay $1.1 million for destroying vernal pools; Nature Conservancy gets $795,000

RED BLUFF, Calif. — Ranch owners here who were accused of destroying wetlands on their property have agreed to pay $1.1 million in a legal settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Anchordoguy and Co., which owns and operates the 1,036-acre Anchordoguy Ranch south of here, will pay $795,000 for wetlands preservation and $300,000 in penalties for allegedly destroying 80 acres of vernal pool wetlands and damaging two acres of a creek that crosses the ranch, according to an EPA news release. Between 2008 and 2010, the ranchers deep-ripped 872 acres of the ranch to make room for orchards without obtaining a needed Clean Water Act permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the EPA asserts. Under the agreement, the ranch owners will offset ecological losses of the destroyed vernal pool wetlands and streams by giving $795,000 to the Nature Conservancy to preserve vernal pool and salmon habitats in the Sacramento River watershed, the EPA's release explains. The funding will include the purchase of a conservation easement on the 515-acre Foor Ranch, a unique property connected to the vernal pool-rich Vina Plains preserve, according to the release...more