Protect San Benito County!

Sustainability Now! on KSQD.org

San Benito County is one of the unsung jewels of the Central California Coast. Most people know of San Juan Bautista and the Pinnacles, but there is much, much more. Two mountain ranges, broad valleys, rangelands, farmlands and biodiversity. But the Highway 101 corridor, which runs through a corner of the county, provides access to Silicon Valley and the SF Bay and people are moving south in search of cheaper housing. Malls and sprawls are not far behind. Now, a local movement is seeking to limit development with an initiative to require a public vote if agricultural, rural or range land is rezoned to residential, commercial or industrial use, a strategy already applied in several other California counties. Join host Ronnie Lipschutz to hear from Andy Hsia-Coron of Protect San Benito County, one of the activists behind the initiative, Chris Wilmers of UCSC, who studies cougars and bobcats that want to cross the road, Seth Adams from Save Mount Diablo, a land trust active across the County, and Val Lopez, Chair of the Amah Mutsun, whose ancestral lands cover much of the County.