COUNTYWIDE : Forest Initiative Qualifies for Vote

Environmentalists seeking to protect San Diego County’s Cleveland National Forest have collected enough signatures to qualify a ballot measure that would curb development, the county registrar of voters has announced.

Petitioners for the Forest Conservation Initiative collected 89,000 valid signatures during the past six months, said a spokesman for the group Save Our Forest and Ranchlands.

If passed, the initiative would amend the county’s general plan and require that privately owned plots within the forest have a minimum size of 40 acres. Already-populated towns in the forest would be exempt.