Residents of Mt. Shasta recently became aware that 637+ acres along Castle Lake and adjacent to US Forest Service property have been listed in a real estate auction by Realty Marketing/Northwest that was published on April 12th. The property includes Little Castle Lake and a portion of the trail to Heart Lake. You can view the listing here. The property has a published reserved price of $1,695,000 and a deadline of 5pm July 26th, 2019 to submit a sealed bid.
Siskiyou Land Trust was made aware of the landowner’s desire to sell the property three years ago. After evaluating the project and hearing about the landowners’ needs and timeline, SLT introduced them to a land conservation organization that was more appropriate to the project. As a small local land trust, one of the roles SLT plays is to help match landowners to project partners suitable to their goals. The landowner’s desired timeline, the context and use of the property and the resources needed to manage such a property required a partner with a larger portfolio of resources and more capacity than SLT had then or has at this time.
Since the auction listing, SLT has reached out to that land conservation organization to inquire if they have an active project to purchase the property. At this time we can share that this organization is presently negotiating with the land owner towards purchase. This nation-wide organization has a mission to purchase private land and transfer it into public ownership. Land acquisition and conservation projects generally remain confidential until the land acquisition closes escrow, so SLT will not release the name of the land conservation organization today.
We understand that the community is very worried about the future of this land, and so are we. In our recent conversation with the partner organization, we let them know that we will do anything we can to support their project. While there are no immediate actions they requested, they shared that there may be a time in the future when community support is needed, after the negotiations and acquisition are complete.
Our pledge to this community is that we will serve as a liaison between the active organization and concerned citizens to alert them to any actions they can take to support this land purchase. While we are pleased to know that a suitable organization with a history of successful projects is working towards purchase, we also know from experience that no land acquisition project is certain until escrow has closed.
