STAR RANCH TO BECOME HABITAT SANCTUARY

County, Navy team up to buy Campo acreage for species conservation plan

San Diego County is teaming up with the U.S. Navy to purchase 2,151 acres in Campo that will expand San Diego’s conservation land.

The Star Ranch property contains a mix of chaparral, wetlands and stream-side habitat which support endangered species, including the arroyo toad and least Bell’s vireo, a rare songbird.

The five-member county Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to purchase the land Tuesday. It will be added to the county’s future East County multi-species conservation plan area, part of a regional program launched in 1998 to manage conservation, recreation and agriculture while carving out areas designated for development.

The county has acquired 23,000 acres of open space for the plan. The Campo purchase will expand that by nearly 10 percent.

Acquiring the property will help officials link nearby reserves and wildlife corridors and may provide connections to nearby regional trails, such as the Pacific Crest Trail, county staff said.

Some speakers commended the county for the acquisition, noting the large parcel is a unique piece of unspoiled land that connects adjoining wild lands.

“The park is extremely important biologically not only for its onsite resources, which include over 100 acres of wetlands, which is really quite amazing, but also in terms of regional connectivity,” said Dan Silver, executive director of the Los Angeles-based Endangered Habitats League. “It’s part of what is called the Lost Californias linkage between us and Mexico. So it is, you might say, an internationally important property from that perspective.”

The ranch also spans multiple eras of California’s history, from local indigenous people, to the Spanish and Mexican era and the Old West, he added, suggesting that the county should consider building a

percent during the pandemic in 2020, or a net gain of 770 jobs.

Another survey finding: 58 percent of companies said they planned to add physical space in the future, mostly for non-production uses, likely due to physical distancing requirements put in place during the pandemic.

“There is room for these manufacturers to grow in North County,” Latchford said, due to an increase in vacancy rates for industrial space in the region.

One company that performed strongly during the pandemic was Flux Power, a Vista-based firm that makes lithium-ion batteries

for commercial and industrial equipment such as forklifts and pallet jacks. The publicly traded company reported record revenue of $6.5 million for the quarter that ended in December, said Chuck Scheiwe, chief financial officer.

One of their major customers, a national beverage company, saw a surge in business during the pandemic that translated into a boost for Flux Power, said Scheiwe.

“We were in the right business at the right time,” he said.

The company did take an initial hit on supplying batteries for luggage handling equipment for an airline customer, but that business has started to rebound, Scheiwe said.

The company has 110 employees, 80 to 90 of whom work at its

Vista assembly facility, said Scheiwe. During the pandemic, Flux Power initiated safety protocols for its employees and did not have any reported COVID infections that occurred at the workplace, he said.

Scheiwe said it appears that North County manufacturers came through the pandemic in reasonably good shape.

“The numbers are stronger than I expected,” he said.

The study also found that nearly 10,000 manufacturing jobs in North County face a higherthan-average risk from automation, demonstrating a “great need” for training and education that can help workers prepare for more resilient and higher paying jobs.

Linda Kurokawa, executive director

of Miracosta College’s Technology Career Institute in Carlsbad, said she and her staff are in close contact with company representatives to make sure the college is preparing students with the right skills for manufacturing jobs.

Industry needs training programs that are flexible, adaptable and accelerated to get people to work quickly. “They can’t wait two years, they need them now,” she said.

TCI’S accelerated programs are preparing students for such jobs as engineering technician, machinist, drone operator and brew master, said Kurokawa. Industry representatives have told her they could grow their companies faster if they had more skilled workers available.

The institute’s students are “transitioning right into jobs,” she said.

Ruishan Chow works to close the “skills gap” for local workers as part of a consortium of community colleges in San Diego and Imperial counties.

The pandemic has fueled a sense of urgency to ensure workers have the necessary skills for tomorrow’s manufacturing jobs.

“We have to understand continuous learning is part of life,” Chow said. “I see this as an opportunity for employees to focus on their personal and professional growth. And for employers to invest in their people by encouraging them to go back to school.”