Partnering to Preserve Our Land: The Inland Mendocino County Land Trust

The Ukiah-based Inland Mendocino County Land Trust is among a growing number of regional organizations whose goal is to preserve open space, including farmlands, woodlands, wetlands, and wildlife corridors. This local group, dedicated to preserving Mendocino County’s beauty, recently secured an 1100-acre conservation easement on ranch and timberlands in Potter Valley. Securing this easement involved close collaboration between Inland Land Trust board members and the property owner to reach an agreement meeting the owner’s personal needs and, at the same time, fulfilling the Trust’s conservation goals.

“This is the kind of landowner we love to partner with. He’s an excellent steward and has been planting thousands of Doug Fir and mixed hardwoods on his land. The property has open space for wildlife from the valley floor to the mountain top – it’s a great combination,” says Land Trust President Phyllis Curtis.

Partnership is the watchword for the Inland Mendocino County Land Trust, a small organization with big goals. Formed as a non-profit in 1998, the mission of the Trust is to promote the health and vitality of regional forests, woodlands, grasslands and watersheds and to preserve agricultural lands. The group has been successful reaching conservation objectives through partnerships, both with landowners and like-minded groups.

Besides the ranch easement in Potter Valley, the Trust holds a 187-acre easement with the Frey family, protecting the last old growth redwoods in Redwood Valley. Obtaining the Redwood Valley agreement was particularly joyful, not only because it was the Land Trust’s first easement, but also because the joint effort saved the redwoods from a logging plan proposed by a previous owner.

Among its colleagues, the Inland Land Trust counts the Hopland Field Station, the Mendocino Land Trust, and Save the Redwoods League. A collaboration with the Field Station led to a report identifying preservation needs of the Russian River watershed. In another effort, the Inland Land Trust raised $11,000 to help a campaign by the coastal Mendocino Land Trust and Save the Redwoods League to preserve old growth and second growth redwoods at Ridgewood Ranch. The Ridgewood redwoods are now protected and are accessible to the public during special sponsored hikes, an optional educational provision that landowner Christ’s Church of the Golden Rule added to the easement agreement.

“We have a tradition of helping the Mendocino Land Trust and we want to work with all the land trusts in Mendocino County, including Anderson Valley and Albion,” says Curtis.

Among the Inland Land Trust’s highest priorities now is preserving farmland. The Trust’s commitment to agricultural land, which is a critical piece of Mendocino’s inland valley landscape, life and economy, offers a brand new opportunity for organizational partnership.

The Coast-based Mendocino Land Trust recently received a grant to fund conservation planning for Mendocino County’s farmlands. This conservation initiative will serve as a planning tool to identify prime agricultural lands for potential easement purchase. The Inland Land Trust board will be assisting in this critical and timely effort.

Curtis explains, “I’m excited that we’ll be able to help make contacts with farmers and ranchers here in the inland area. Right now, it’s more important than ever to create sustainability here on the North Coast and start to feed ourselves. Preserving farmland for the future is a key step toward achieving this goal.”

The Inland Mendocino County Land Trust will participate in this endeavor and, at the same time, continue its mission to partner with local landowners to preserve open space, wild land, wildlife and all the pieces of inland Mendocino that make it such a beautiful place to live.

—Dot Brovarney