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I have serious concerns about Measure Q, having followed the campaign for this ballot initiative for months. Its greenwash short-hand title is the Water and Wildlife Protection Initiative.
Who wouldn’t want to protect water and wildlife?! However, where humans go, wildlife is disrupted and diminished – an undeniable fact.
One supporter of the proposed tax – not identified in the official voter information guide – is a group of mountain biking enthusiasts who rebranded themselves trail stewards. Their nonprofit status means they will receive grant funding for their destructive development activity in open spaces (wildlife habitat) of the county.
Allowing more access for recreational biking through the very wildlife habitats that so desperately need protection is the antithesis of the stated goal of Measure Q. Building new trails or de-vegetating existing trails results in vegetation manipulation that exposes bare soil, releases sequestered carbon and creates waterway choking sediment during rain events.
More access to open spaces means more risk of human-caused fires – 90% of California’s wildfires are human-caused. Wildfires don’t just erupt spontaneously.
Lookout’s editorial board opinion in support of Measure Q ends with the closing statement: “We want Santa Cruz County to take more proactive action to protect us and our way of life from climate-induced change.”
Is the purpose of Measure Q really to “protect us and our way of life”? If it is truly to protect water and wildlife, then it is imperative to know that building trails in open space is part of the problem.
I’ll be voting no on Q.
Jean Brocklebank
Santa Cruz