Photo courtesy of Robert Mayben
The Sonora Area Foundation has created the Wildcat Ranch Development Fund.
Shaun Crook, 2nd Vice President of the California Farm Bureau, was Thursday’s KVML “Newsmaker of the Day”.
Wildcat Ranch is a 138 acre piece of property at the corner of Wards Ferry and Tuolumne Road. It is an extension of Sonora High School. For the last 30-plus years the Wards Ferry Property has been under-developed.
Over the past couple of years, The Wildcat Ranch had been a contentious issue at board meetings, with many in the agriculture community upset that the property was going to be sold last year, while at the same time others voiced their support for the idea of creating a new community park.
The Wildcat Ranch Development Fund was announced Tuesday night during the Sonora High School Regular Board of Trustees meeting.
“It was the efforts of the Tuolumne County Farm Bureau that got on the radar of some folks here locally, that were really committed to agriculture and were impressed with what we were able to do to retain the property, “said Crook.
It was announced on Tuesday night that the Sonora Area Foundation created the Wildcat Ranch Development Fund with an opening contribution of $100,000. That money came from an anonymous source.
According to Crook, “That $100,00 donation along with the money that is already in the Capitol Improvement Fund at Sonora High School, will allow all of us to move forward in building the facilities that have been so many years in the works. We are committed to working together, to build projects and facilities that can be utilized by all of the students.”
The two groups of students that are currently using the property is the Ag Department and the Cross Country team.
For more information on the new Wildcat Ranch Development Fund, call the Tuolumne County Farm Bureau. To make a donation, call the Sonora Area Foundation.
The “Newsmaker of the Day” is heard every weekday morning at 6:45, 7:45 and 8:45 on AM 1450 and FM 102.7 KVML.
Written by Mark Truppner.
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