STATE OF NORTH COUNTY ADDRESS

presented by Supervisor Bill Horn February 20, 2007

"Rancho Guejito To the east of the river park project is another area of our county that for 164 years has been an undisturbed regional treasure. Rancho Guejito, the only remaining intact Mexican land grant in the state, covers 22,000 acres of ranching and pristine habitat. The land, near Valley Center has been preserved by its owners, the family of the late Benjamin Coates. Since I became supervisor 12 years ago, the Coates family has invited me onto the ranch several times, including horseback riding on the property at the invitation of Benjamin Coates. With each successive visit I was impressed by the fact that the Coates family understood their role as caretakers of this very special place. When I toured the property last spring I was pleased to hear that even though her husband had passed away, Nancy Coates wanted to preserve the place where her husband had "found his deepest happiness." Given the long history of Coates’ stewardship I was stunned when representatives of the family this month expressed a desire to have Rancho Guejito annexed into the city of Escondido. I believe that there is an opportunity to build upon the thirty-year legacy of preservation the Coates family has maintained. In the 1970’s the State of California considered purchasing this land for a state park. With the passage of Proposition 84, money could be available to revive that idea. The Guejito is also adjacent to Cleveland National Forest. When I am in Washington, D.C., I will speak to our Congressional delegation about the importance of preserving this piece of our heritage. Rancho Guejito is a piece of San Diego heritage that has played host to the indigenous peoples who first settled this region, to colonists and ranchers who cultivated the land. The story of California is written on its hills, its adobes. We’ve all heard the saying, “Where there’s a will, there’s a way.” The Coates family is the most recent in a long line of faithful protectors of that heritage. My hope is that they have the “will” to take the right step towards joining private organizations and public agencies in an effort to preserve this vital piece of California history once and for all. "