Wildlife board approves $3.5 million grant for Palm Springs nature preserve after legal dispute resolved

The California Wildlife Conservation Board approved a $3.5 million grant Thursday for the Prescott Preserve ecological restoration project in Palm Springs, moving forward with plans to transform a former golf course into native desert habitat after a two-year legal dispute was resolved last November.

The grant will fund the first phase of restoration work on 28 acres of the defunct Mesquite Golf Course at 2700 East Mesquite Ave., which Oswit Land Trust purchased in July 2022. The project will restore native valley floor desert habitats including desert dry wash, creosote scrub and buffer habitat to benefit 19 special-status species, including the federally endangered Casey’s June beetle.

The funding comes after Oswit Land Trust and the Mesquite Country Club Homeowners Association reached an agreement in principle following eight hours of mediation led by David Chapman in November 2024. The legal battle began when the homeowners association filed suit against Oswit in August 2022, seeking to either force golf course operations to resume or stop association members from making monthly payments for upkeep of the land.

“OLT and MCC are grateful for the work done by (the mediator),” the parties said in a joint statement at the time. “Both MCC and OLT are looking forward to putting their disputes behind them and working to create a spectacular nature preserve in the heart of our community.”

In a cross-complaint filed in November 2024, Oswit alleged the homeowners association had failed to pay required monthly rent since August 2022, resulting in over $540,000 in unpaid fees. The trust also claimed the association interfered with its grant application to the Wildlife Conservation Board.

The Palm Springs City Council voted 4-0 in October 2024 to deny appeals against the project, allowing Oswit to proceed with restoration plans despite the ongoing legal disputes at that time.

The restoration project will remove invasive Bermuda grass and other non-native plant species from the site, which comprises over 90 percent of the current vegetation cover. The work will also include decommissioning 24,000 linear feet of golf cart pathways and revegetating the area with native container stock and seed.

Phase 1 represents the first portion of a planned restoration of 75 acres within the 120-acre former golf course property. The Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians will help Oswit develop language for interpretive signs that will be part of the preserve.

The project is designed to provide essential wildlife connectivity between the San Jacinto Mountains and the Coachella Valley while creating habitat in an area that has been highly disturbed by development.

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