Clover Valley Foundation

12/10/2025

Clover Valley Foundation Efforts Recognized

CVF is proud to announce that Marilyn Jasper, one of our founders, was recently awarded “Conservationist of the Year” by the Sierra Club's Mother Lode Chapter in part for her tireless efforts and pursuit of preserving Clover Valley. Marilyn's persistence and perseverance was key to the successful protection of 402 acres of the valley floor via Placer Land Trust’s obtaining and recording of a Conservation Easement in perpetuity this year.

Marilyn has been a member of the Sierra Club for over 45 years and served in various leadership roles in the organization. We are proud and fortunate to have a leader with the vision and passion for the natural world to guide our mission. CVF fellow Board members and supporters want to thank her for all the time and energy she has invested to keep our vision alive. And we’re not done yet!

Doug Brewer, CVF President

04/29/2025

Yesterday, on a beautiful spring day in the heart of Clover Valley, the CV Board members (Doug Brewer, Marilyn Jasper and Tony Rakcojia) joined in the celebration of the CV acquisition with Placer Land Trust, Jessup University and the major donors. The event was attended by about 50 people including Sean Booth, Professors Emeritus Joe Mederos, Shawna Martinez and Dick Hilton from Sierra College and several CVF supporters including the Flacs Family. Congratulatory speeches were made by Rocklin Mayor Jill Gayaldo, Supervisor Bonnie Gore, Dr. Jackson and others.

Our vision to save this unique valley for future generations has been achieved!! (Rest assured , we are still working on saving the ridgetops that are still threatened with development).

After 25 years of hard work and persistence, we have saved the valley floor and side slopes. Our efforts were duly recognized by Jeff Darlington and many others.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Marilyn Jasper for her dedication to CVF. She has been steadfast in her commitment to saving this special place and was one of the original founders of CVF in 1999. Marilyn has been poured her heart, soul and financial support into this open space campaign. Thank you MJ for your passion for CV.

We look forward to working with PLT and other organizations in developing the master plan and outdoor education program for CV.

04/21/2025

https://placerlandtrust.org/a-bright-new-future-for-clover-valley/

After 25 years of hard work, perseverance and persistence, by CVF along with PLT and other major donors we have saved 402 acres of Clover Valley.

CVF was the local resident organization that started this whole grass roots environmental movement to bring attention to what could be lost and to save the last intact open space in our town.

Big thank you to Jeff Darlington for leading the funding effort, Placer County BOS, PCOE, Skyview Foundation, Rocklin City Council members Jill Gayaldo, Bill Halldin and Dave Bass , City Of Lincoln and many CVF private donors for helping save this beautiful place. Thank you to all of our loyal supporters.

We look forward to working with the funding group to master plan the area and provide an outdoor education program for our local schools and colleges. This new open space/outdoor education and recreation program will be a jewel of Rocklin and western Placer County for future generations.

Unfortunately, this acquisition did not include the east and west CV ridge tops of so our work is not done. CVF goal is to save the entire watershed and upland blue oak woodland and savannah ecosystems. CVF work is not done as the ridge tops are still threatened with potential home developments. Unfortunately, despite our efforts, the Lewis Homes Westridge Skyview project located behind the Boulder Ridge Park is now under construction despite our efforts to have the City of Rocklin update its environmental analysis of that 78 home development project. The fire hazard in that area is significant and should not be underestimated. We will continue to interact with the City planners on any new development plan submittals for these areas.

March 14, 2025 It’s official — yesterday evening, the Placer County Office of Education approved their $2.37 million investment in protecting Clover Valley. That means, along with generous contributions from several other sources, we have now secured the full funding amount to permanently protec...

02/25/2025

Rocklin City Council to vote tomorrow on contributing up to $2 M towards the acquisition of Clover Valley. This is for the valley itself and DOES NOT include the west and east ridgetops.

Clover Valley Foundation continues to push the City for additional environmental review of the Lewis Homes Westridge Project. We are excited about the potential for expanding outdoor education with the various schools and colleges in our area. We need Sierra College and the Thunder Valley (UAIC) tribe to get on the band wagon and contribute to this cause!!

If you value open space in our community please come and voice your support at City Hall 6PM tomorrow night. We have had a some big players make this happen including the Skyview Foundation, City of Lincoln, Placer County, PCOE and others. Thank you to all the agencies that have contributed to this worthy cause.

02/18/2025

Last Thursday February 13th we got an early Valentine expression of love.... Placer County Office of Education Board of Directors agreed to contribute to the campaign! It was a breath of fresh air to see a governing body so interested and enthusiastic about being a part of history. Sierra College Professor Emeritus Joe Medeiros, Sean Booth, CVF President Doug Brewer and other supporters urged the Board to fund the effort. Big thanks to Jeff Darlington from PLT for doing the outreach with PCOE and educating them on the value of Clover Valley.

We look forward to working with all the parties helping to fund the acquisition to develop a place where the public and students of all ages can experience the wonders of nature and our local history. The PCOE Board will make a final decision on the funding at their next Board meeting in February.

Thank you Superintendent Gayle Garbolino-Mojica and Phillip Williams for your leadership and fellow PCOE Board Members for seeing the opportunity to bolster outdoor education in Placer County.

02/13/2025

Marc and Elena Flacks of Rocklin have been steadfast supporters of CV volunteering their time at our local outreach events and being present and vocal at key City Council meetings. Their 8-year old son Sam recently provided his input and voice of support to save the valley for the animals at the last City Council meeting. Great job Sam perhaps one day you can take over my job at leadership of CVF! His recent appearance made the news on CBS News Channel 13. Check it out,
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/sacramento/news/rocklin-boy-8-donates-birthday-money-to-help-save-local-nature-area/?fbclid=IwY2xjawIZ5aBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHTXd2DvbGm-BrbsVZpfC72-9ja7zkJmge9-s1-F3ShjhMxIkOV2jP_gXQg_aem_ESh9msgGKO_2qNMPgnUiPQ

Big organizations are raising money to save the Clover Valley area, but so is one impressive 8-year-old boy who took his case to city council.

02/10/2025

The Placer County Office of Education Board of Directors will be discussing a potential contribution to the Save Clover Valley campaign this Thursday Feb 13th at 5:00 PM 360 Nevada Street In Auburn.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Placer+County+Office-Education/@38.9074006,-121.0852252,15.75z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x809b1acd6491f5ed:0x148fe51da1462431!8m2!3d38.9065559!4d-121.0813743!16s%2Fg%2F1td2blbk?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyM

We encourage all CV supporters to come speak to the Board on the educational value of CV and to urge them to make a substantial financial contribution. CV could be used by our local high schools, junior colleges and universities to help teach a wide variety of subjects including cultural resources/anthropology, biology, botany, geology, soils, hydrology, water quality, fisheries etc. This first meeting is informational only and no decision will be made. A final decision will be made at a future meeting. We need to have a CV STRONG showing at this meeting.

Please plan on attending this important meeting.

★★★★☆ · County government office

02/03/2025

Our Rocklin City Council is poised to make a $2M donation to the preservation of Clover Valley on February 25th, 2025 meeting. We greatly applaud the City finally coming to the table (after much prodding) and helping with this campaign. We are hoping the City's contribution will spur donations by others including the United Auburn Indian Tribe, Sierra College and other local institutions.

Please plan on attending to show your support. Thank you to Council members Bill Halldin, Dave Bass and Jill Gaylado for seizing the opportunity before us and voting for the contribution. This contribution by the City will bring the total to PLT so far to $8M; the goal is $10M so we have more work to do between now and end of March, 2025.

With regard to the Westridge Skyview Project, a 78 home development project on CV northwest ridge, unfortunately our pleas for additional environmental review have fallen on deaf ears at the City despite a 15 page letter from our CEQA attorney Carstens, Black and Minteer outlining specific issues (e.g., fire risk, newly listed special -status species, air quality , greenhouse gas emissions, etc) and a public petition with over 3,000 signatures that need to be disclosed for public review.

Lewis Homes has started construction of the road and once its done we suspect tree cutting is next. We hope Lewis Homes will not simply shred these 780 oak trees and plow them back into the earth during the massive earthwork grading that will occur soon but allow for the wood to be used beneficially for firewood or work collaboratively with the Sacramento Tree Foundation or Urban Wood Network (https://urbanwoodnetwork.org/about/)
to allow the trees to be harvested for a variety of beneficial woodworking projects by local woodworking artisans to make a variety of useful products (e.g. custom wood tables, furniture, artistic bowls, etc).

If you enjoy open space and haven't donated yet to our cause now is the time to do so as time is of the essence.

Thank you in advance for your donation.

01/16/2025

Thanks to all CV supporters that attended last night’s council meeting to provide input to the City on making a contribution to save CV. After several hours of public input and comment the city council directed staff to evaluate the city budget surplus and come back to them with a donation recommendation. At the meeting, we heard numbers in the $1-2+ million range as a general target. I was impressed with the younger folks that came and spoke from their hearts to Council on the need to seize the moment and be a part of this opportunity before us. It’s been a long road 25 years for us here at CVF and we are hopeful we can preserve this special place for everyone to enjoy.

If you haven’t donated to CVF or PLT now is the time to show your support! All donations greatly appreciated. We can do this! More to come in the next few weeks.

01/09/2025

Our City Council will be discussing making a contribution to help acquire Clover Valley at the next City Council meeting on January 14, 2025 at 6:00 City Hall. Apparently, the ownership group has given Jessup/PLT some extra time to raise funds for the acquisition.

This is a major reversal from previous communications with the City regarding their ability to contribute funds to this campaign. CVF has repeatedly stated this is a willing seller situation and that the City can legally contribute irregardless of their role in the development approval process. We are glad they will be discussing making a contribution and perhaps voting on it. No specific dollar amount has been offered as of yet and undoubtedly be the key subject of discussion.

Rocklin residents and CVF open space supporters please plan on attending the meeting in person and voicing your support to fund a contribution!

You can also attend remotely to show your support.

Please be aware this agenda item is down on the agenda and there are two hearings the Council has to conduct before they get to this agenda discussion item.

12/31/2024

Placer Herald Newspaper Article on Clover Valley campaign coming down to the wire in 2024. Lets hope the recent $3M donation will entice other parties to donate (Thunder Valley Tribe or other NGOs?) and if not, the owners to extend the purchase and sale agreement with Jessup for another year. Please consider donating to this cause today!

The Clover Valley Foundation and Jessup University are trying to beat the clock to save one of the last remaining sections of oak and riparian woodlands in Placer County.

12/17/2024

Fantastic News! Yesterday, Placer Land Trust notified open space supporters that a $3,000,000 donation from a foundation was provided to the Clover Valley acquisition campaign!

This is a wonderful Xmas gift to our cause and a big THANK YOU to the undisclosed donor. We are not aware of who the donor was at this time but Im sure it will come out soon. With that said , we still need to raise alot more money to meet the end of year deadline. Perhaps this event will cause the ownership group to reevalaute their decision on extending Jessup's PSA. Stay tuned.

Click on the link below to PLT's notice for more information and various ways you can show your support for open space in our region.

How will the story end? A letter from Executive Director Jeff Darlington with urgent news about saving this last wild place in Rocklin Development already surrounds Clover Valley – we can’t afford to lose more ground! Dear friends and supporters of Placer Land Trust,I’m writing to you today to...