Trust for Public Land takes possession of Pointed Rocks parcel

The 377-acre Pointed Rocks Ranch property - including a stretch of the Western States Trail near Auburn - is now in public hands.Located on the El Dorado County side of the American River Canyon, south of the Mountain Quarry Railroad Bridge, the ranch was recently acquired by the Trust for Public Land from the S.H. Cowell Foundation.The 377-acre parcel, which was once owned by Auburn banker and horseman Wendell Robie, will become the first piece of property within the Auburn State Recreation Area that is actually owned by the state Parks Department. Robin Park, of the Trust for Public Land, said that the transfer took 3½ years of work to make a reality, with $1 million of the purchase price coming from the state bond-supported Sierra Cascade Fund and the rest from the State Parks Department.The Cowell Foundation aided the purchase by dropping the sale price below the original appraisal to $1.45 million, he said."The biggest contribution was from the landowners because they knew it would be going into open space," Park said.The agreement with all parties closed on Thursday.Established 52 years ago, the Cowell Foundation works to aid children in poverty throughout Northern and Central California. The money for the foundation comes from the Cowell family fortune amassed starting in California Gold Rush times from building materials and land holdings. The Trust for Public Land is a national nonprofit land conservation organization that has helped protect more than 60,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada. The trust and the Truckee Donner Land Trust unveiled last week the permanently protected, 1,462-acre Waddle Ranch, located north of Highway 267 in Martis Valley.The American River canyon property is located just off Highway 49, near Cool. Auburn State Recreation Area Superintendent Jay Galloway said that the portion of the Western States Trail through the property is used by runners on the Western States Endurance Run. The Tevis Cup ride takes a different path.The property is within the federal take line for the long-delayed Auburn dam. About half of the 40,000 acres within the take line is in private hands, while the rest is owned by the federal government and under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Reclamation. The federal government was in the process of buying all the land when earthquake concerns and then budgetary questions in the late 1970s stopped dam construction and property purchases from proceeding.Galloway said the transfer of the land to the state will allow the trail network through the property to be overseen with consideration of moving portions away from sensitive environmental areas and avoiding future washouts.Running and equestrian community representatives have worked on the effort to preserve the property, he said.The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at gust@goldcountrymedia.com, or post a comment at auburnjournal.com.