NACIMIENTO, Monterey County — October 30, 2026. The future of a public-safety radio site serving parts of southern Monterey County is closely tied to a proposed grazing agreement around the Nacimiento Reservoir. The Monterey County Water Resources Agency brought a plan to its August 17, 2026 board meeting for a ten-year Nacimiento Lease 5 agreement with Heartland Mark LLC, beginning November 1, 2026.
The proposed first-year grazing lease rate is $28,672, rising 2.5% annually. County staff says the agreement was negotiated rather than included in a broader competitive auction because of the adjoining Pinball Radio Site, which has helped emergency responders and reservoir staff communicate for more than two decades. These are the terms recommended in the county’s agenda, not proof that the lease was finally signed.
Why does a grazing lease affect emergency communications?
The county maintains a radio installation on a privately held parcel identified as APN 080-037-006. The Pinball site supports two-way and interoperable radio coverage for park rangers, water-reservoir operations and emergency responders in both Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties. In remote and mountainous territory, maintaining dependable radio coverage matters because crews may work outside reliable cellphone service areas.
The county says the site has been leased for public communications since 2000. Heartland Mark acquired the associated private property in 2022, prompting the government to negotiate a replacement radio-site agreement through October 31, 2036. The Water Resources Agency’s adjacent grazing lease was considered alongside that arrangement to preserve operations and avoid a potentially costly relocation of radio equipment.
How large is the reservoir land program?
The agency manages a wider collection of grazing lands around Nacimiento and San Antonio reservoirs, approximately 16,400 acres in all. Its stated goals include responsible livestock grazing, watershed conservation, control of combustible vegetation, maintaining access roads and protecting water-agency infrastructure. The 16,400-acre number applies to the entire reservoir grazing program, not solely to Nacimiento Lease 5.
Five other grazing leases were placed into a competitive process involving sealed bids and live bidding on July 29, 2026. Nacimiento Lease 5 remained outside that auction while officials worked through the radio-site access question. County staff says the separate auctions averaged approximately 62% above minimum bids; it used that result to calculate the proposed rate for Lease 5.
What did the board actually consider?
In legislative file WRAG 26-251, the Water Resources Agency’s Board of Directors was asked to recommend that the agency Board of Supervisors approve the lease and authorize its general manager to execute it after legal review. The source is listed as Agenda Ready and does not show a recorded final action on the legislation page. An additional county review of the radio-site agreement was expected.
For that reason, a November 1 proposed start date does not establish that the final documents were executed on time. Residents seeking certainty should request the signed agreements and approved board orders.
What residents can follow
Questions worth asking include which maintenance roads must remain accessible to radio technicians, what backup arrangements are in place during outages, who can access the radio site during wildfires, and how grazing activity is coordinated with fire safety and watershed rules. The lease is not an announcement of a new public camping area or permission to enter private grazing land.
Original source and status
Nacimiento News records analysis, October 30, 2026. The public proposal, quoted costs and reason for negotiations are established by agency materials. The article does not report confirmed execution of either lease, uninterrupted live radio performance, or final approval by the county’s Board of Supervisors.
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