David Van Cleve has many ties to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and Anza-Borrego Foundation. In the 1980s, he was an environmental scientist in the San Diego regional office, where he collaborated with park staff on many significant natural resource projects. In 1989, he was selected to serve as the superintendent of the state park. In 1994, his responsibilities were expanded to include management of six other state parks (Mt. San Jacinto, Cuyamaca Rancho, Palomar Mountain, Salton Sea, Picacho, and Indio Hills) in addition to Anza-Borrego. After retiring from state service, he worked for The Nature Conservancy as Ecoregional Director for the South Coast Ecoregion and added over 1,000 acres to the park. Currently Dave serves as the President of Anza-Borrego Foundation. Each month, Dave will fill in some important issues in the history Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, which often dove-tail with the history of ABF. We are grateful for his wealth of knowledge of the Park and willingness to share with us! 

Focus on Connectivity

For the first 27 years of ABF (1967-1994), board members, along with the help of state park staff, worked on “filling in” park inholdings, privately owned parcels located within the Park’s boundary. Generally, inholdings of 5, 10, or larger parcels were purchased by or donated to ABF. Only properties that had a willing seller were considered. Neither ABF nor the Par has, nor does it today, the ability to take land without the owner’s consent. Often, these parcels were remote, and although there was a legal description of the lot, there were no markers on the ground denoting property lines.

These lands, once acquired, were transferred to the Park and from then forward considered part of the Park, officially. State park staff had responsibility for managing them. “Transfer” sometimes meant they were gifted to the state, sometimes they were sold at the price that ABF had paid, and sometimes they were sold at a discount. Of course, since fundraising efforts were modest, ABF relied on full state reimbursement, when it was available, to purchase other inholdings that became available.

In the early 1990s, the philosophy of “connectivity” gained popularity among conservationists and open space reserve managers. The theory was that connecting existing reserves with a corridor would provide significant ecological benefits – mixing of the gene pool of local species and wildlife being able to move safely within protected corridors, to name a couple. Recreationally, the ability to establish trails for hiking, equestrians, and bicyclists was also a benefit.

Connectivity became a priority for the state park system. Rather than establish new large polygons of protected land, it was more efficient to connect existing reserves. The Park and ABF began to explore opportunities.

Serendipitously, the owners of the Sentenac Canyon property (along Highway 78 on the Park’s western boundary) made several thousand acres of their property available. Although there was some concern in the parks department about this major change in ABF’s role, the recognition of the connectivity model carried the day.

ABF Presidents such as Diana Lindsay, Ralph Singer, and new Executive Director Linda Tandle put together the grant funding. In short order, ABF purchased two major parcels. These included the riparian canyon, a large wetland (Sentenac Marsh), historic ruins of the 19th-century rock cabin of the Sentenac brothers, and the foundation of the Butterfield Stage station.

Connectivity was up and running.

Tune in next month for Part Two!