Stories from the land that sustains us

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September 16: Bird Habitat Hike at Hamlet Ranch

Shorebirds above Tomales Bay, raptors over the rangelands and songbirds along Walker Creek are all part of the thriving, diverse ecology at Hamlet Ranch. Bring your binoculars, your camera and your love of birds on this educational adventure. Learn from Point Blue ornithologists about the birds who call these habitats home, while program directors from Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW) show you the site of a recent creek restoration project.

Date: Saturday, September 16, 2017 Time: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Place: Hamlet Ranch, south of Tomales Age appropriate: Ages 12 and up Cost: $15 MALT members | $25 nonmembers | Kids under 12 free

Register now! 

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Have you seen me? Red-Shouldered Ctenucha Moth (Ctenucha rubroscapus)

This strikingly-beautiful moth, commonly found in coastal grasslands and wet, low-elevation meadows in July and August, depends on grasslands to survive. Their larvae feed on certain sedges and grasses like Orchard Grass and California Wild Rye, both common rangeland species found on MALT-protected ranches.

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Access to farmland: Black Mountain Ranch continues to support young farmers

Just east of Point Reyes Station, Molly Myerson of Little Wing Farm is in her first season of farming at her new location on the beautiful and diverse Black Mountain Ranch, protected by MALT since 1993. With a background in sustainable land use practices and small-scale farming, she was invited to work the land by owner Dave Osborn and his family. Black Mountain hosts several young farmers including Tabletop Farm and Living Seed Company.

Osborn sees the work these young farmers do as a way to contribute to the greater health of both the land and the local community. For young farmers like Molly with very little startup capital, affordable access to farmland may be the only option to start a farm anywhere in Marin County, due to increasing land prices.

“It’s really one of the main ways that someone like myself who is young and doesn't have the financial ability to purchase land is able to have access to working land in this county," Molly says.

The Little Wing Farm stand at the foot of Black Mountain is already extremely popular. Like fellow veggie farmers at Tabletop Farm, whose local farm stands are located in the Point Reyes Commons and on Cypress Road, the Little Wing Farm stand is self-serve and depends on the honor system for payment. “You can grab any of the items here that you like, weigh them, and then pay in the box,” Molly tells a visitor. You can also pay up front through her new credit program if you don’t have exact change.

Thursday through Sunday, near the so-called Buddha Barn at the former Rich’s Ready-Mix site, Molly stocks the stand with fresh seasonal produce and flowers, including tomatoes, carrots, onions, basil, cucumbers, zucchini, green and purple string beans and padrón peppers, a West Marin favorite. Strawberries, greens, lettuce and cabbage are on the way. “As the season changes, different items will appear."

Watch this video and get updates by following Molly on Instagram @little_wing_farm.

For as little as $5 a month, you can play a major role in protecting these scenic working landscapes that sustain our local food system. Gifts through MALT’s monthly giving program provide predictable funding and save time, paper and postage so your gift goes further to protect farmland.

Join the Monthly Giving Circle and come along for the Member Hike at Millerton Creek Ranch on October 14. 

Become a MALT member for $5 a month and help protect the land that sustains us.

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Settlement Reached on Ranching in Point Reyes National Seashore

UPDATED JULY 2017

On July 14, 2017 the National Park Services (NPS) came to a settlement agreement in the lawsuit challenging Point Reyes National Seashore’s General Management Plan (GMP) and its management of ranching within the Seashore.

The settlement requires the NPS to prepare a GMP Amendment and environmental impact statement that provides management guidance for approximately 28,000 acres in Point Reyes National Seashore and the north district of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, including all lands currently leased for ranching, within four years of the settlement.

The settlement requires the NPS to evaluate a no-ranching alternative. The NPS will also consider management strategies or actions that include agricultural diversification, increased operational flexibility, the promotion of sustainable operational practices, and succession planning.

MALT unequivocally supports the continuation of sustainable agriculture in both the Seashore and Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Agriculture has been part of the Seashore for more than 150 years, and the family farms and ranches there are an essential part of the region's extraordinary cultural, economic and historical heritage. Far from being a detriment to the Seashore’s ecology, sustainable ranching practices there can and do support the environmental health of this unique and diverse place.

To read more about MALT’s position and for additional information about ranching in the Seashore, please visit our website.

Jamison Watts Executive Director Marin Agricultural Land Trust

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Millerton Creek Ranch supports diverse operations

Dynamic West Marin rancher Mike Giammona has an integral role in his local community. In addition to grazing cattle for decades and raising a family, he manages West Marin’s septic waste. His family-owned City Sewer Pumping (established by his grandfather in 1951) collects and stores local waste at the recently restored septic ponds at Millerton Creek Ranch, just north of Point Reyes Station.

After a history of resource extraction and overuse, this ranch was hastily sold to a developer in 2009, but MALT was able to secure a loan to purchase the land in 2014, temporarily keeping it out of harm’s way. MALT leased the ranch to Mike, and with the help of MALT’s stewardship staff in collaboration with Marin Resource Conservation District (MRCD) and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Mike is working to implement a conservation plan for the ranch, installing new fencing around creeks and ponds, improving the ranch’s water system and controlling invasive plants that impact agricultural and natural resource values.

Mike has wanted to purchase the ranch since he was 12 years old. In 2018, MALT will sell it to him with fellow rancher Andrew Zlot of Double 8 Dairy, who will partner with Mike grazing cattle on the ranch. Rancher Loren Poncia of Stemple Creek Ranch is currently rotating his herds on the land. Further diversifying the ranch’s use, Mike’s son Morgan has recently installed a new pasture-raised egg operation called Tomales Bay Pastures, joining the next generation of young farmer-entrepreneurs.

Completing the sale next year, MALT will purchase a conservation easement for the 864-acre ranch that includes a provision for Mandatory Agricultural Use (MAU) in perpetuity, and these diverse operations will continue on protected land.

Help protect Marin farmland on a monthly basis.

With your ongoing support, MALT can continue to restore our region’s abundant working lands while protecting our watersheds, wildlife and the diverse local systems that depend on well-managed agricultural land. 

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Next-generation farmer: Morgan Giammona of Tomales Bay Pastures

Young Morgan Giammona has been raising chickens since he was 10 years old. He and his brother Ryan began selling fresh pasture-raised eggs to the Inverness Park Market while in grade school, but after two years their small operation couldn’t keep up with the growing demand for their product, or with their busy school schedules. They attended Tomales High and joined the Future Farmers of America (FFA), where Morgan completed the FFA’s Supervised Agricultural Experience course (SAE) with a pastured poultry project. Morgan went on to study animal science at Santa Rosa Junior College.

Now with over a decade of experience, Morgan has launched Tomales Bay Pastures at Millerton Creek Ranch, currently leased by his father, Mike. Enlisting Ryan to help build facilities, he purchased a flock of 1500 laying hens and some mobile coops from a friend, leveraged some valuable existing customer relationships and had a professional logo designed. The lush, green pastures on the east shore of Tomales Bay allow the hens to forage at will, lowering feed costs while giving the hens a naturally healthy diet and their eggs a rich, flavorful deep-orange yolk.

“The demand is here in West Marin - people care about what they eat,” Morgan says. Local restaurants including The Fork at the neighboring MALT-protected Giacomini Dairy and The Fog Diner across the bay in Inverness are serving up Tomales Bay Pastures’ delicious humanely-raised eggs. You can also find them at local markets listed on the Tomales Bay Pastures website, or get them directly from Morgan at the Point Reyes Farmers Market on Saturdays beginning June 24.

Support local farmers at the Point Reyes Farmers Market, opening Saturday, June 24 at 9 a.m. at Toby’s Feed Barn!

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Native of the Month: California buckeye (Aesculus californica)

In June, the elegant California buckeye is blooming on the edges of Marin’s wooded gullies and streams. This remarkable native’s sweet-smelling blossoms attract butterflies and signal the entrance of the coastal summer.

Their large, spherical seeds develop in the fall and are poisonous to anyone who ingests them but squirrels, although historians say the Coast Miwok would leach-out the poison and make a nutritious flour in times of food scarcity. The size of these seeds makes them candidates for direct seeding to restore riparian zones and reduce erosion, improving water quality on ranches along the coast and in the foothills of central California.

Out and about in West Marin, you will undoubtedly see a blooming buckeye tree. Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram (@malt_ag)! You could win two free tickets to the Beer, Brats and Barn Dance at Stemple Creek Ranch on July 8 (local food and drink included)!

Dust off your boots and get your tickets to the Beer, Brats & Barn Dance at Stemple Creek Ranch on July 8!

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Walker Creek Ranch: Outdoor education in a bastion of restoration

Since 1986, Walker Creek Ranch has been protected by MALT with a conservation easement. These 1,720 acres along Walker Creek are not only home to grazing cattle, as in previous centuries, but they are now an outdoor classroom for over 5,000 students annually from 12 surrounding counties. The ranch was deeded to the Marin County Office of Education in 1982, along with a $2 million grant, by the Marin Community Foundation to start the Marin County Outdoor School. The school’s mission is to immerse young folks in this unique learning environment to inspire an appreciation for the natural world. The environment is stunningly beautiful, with grasslands and oak-bay forests surrounding the stretch of Walker Creek that winds through the valley. But well before the land became a conservation project, land management practices pre-1950s had caused high sedimentation in Walker Creek, restricting its ability to support its plant and animal inhabitants. Now, with a MALT easement in place and 30 years of partnering on ongoing creek restoration with organizations like the Marin Resource Conservation District (MRCD), the Marin Municipal Water District (MMWD) and Point Blue's Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed (STRAW), the stretches of the creek on protected land like Walker Creek Ranch are thriving green riparian zones with clear flows and an abundance of fish and wildlife, including endangered coho salmon, golden eagles, bobcats, badgers and river otters. “The creek was barren when we took this place over and now it’s a lush, beautiful riparian habitat. It’s glorious, and that has a lot to do with the planting and fencing that was done,” said ranch manager George Stratman. “I think our stretch of Walker Creek is maybe one of the most pristine along the whole waterway.”

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Another 602 acres protected by MALT as farmland forever!

Adjacent to the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and overlooking the southeastern shore of Tomales Bay just two miles north of Point Reyes Station, the scenic cattle ranch is coveted real estate. MALT’s acquisition of an agricultural conservation easement on the property protects the land for farming and ranching forever, and brings the total farmland acreage protected by the land trust to 48,738 acres.

The Martinelli family has owned the ranch for more than 120 years and runs a small beef operation with 70-80 head of cattle. Since Stanley Martinelli passed away in 2014, the family has resisted pressures to sell the land, but the ranch’s future has been increasingly in question. “We were facing a very uncertain financial future,” Elaine explained. ”We couldn’t get loans because we’re a small family operation and ranching income is so unpredictable from one year to the next.” “My family loves this ranch and my son Rodney loves his cows. It’s part of a lifestyle going back generations on both sides of the family,” said Elaine Martinelli, who was raised on a ranch in Nicasio that is also protected by MALT. “I’m so happy MALT was there when we really needed them,” she said.

The ranch’s mosaic of coastal grasslands and forested uplands connect a vast network of critical habitat that links Tomales Bay to inland portions of Sonoma, Napa and Lake Counties. The ranch contains habitat for mountain lions, bobcats, owls, raptors, waterfowl and geographically-unique plant species, as well as riparian plants and animals in Grand Canyon Creek, which skirts the property line on its way into Tomales Bay.

Dense woodlands and steep grassy slopes covering much of the ranch have retained diverse populations of woody species and native grasses throughout the property, including coast live oaks and California buckeye trees, purple needle grass and blue wild rye.

One way to support MALT’s ongoing stewardship of these working lands is to donate on a monthly basis. It’s easy to set up, is completely tax-deductible, and helps ensure the sustainability of our region’s foodshed.

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To our MALT community, As global concentrations of carbon in our atmosphere passed 400 parts per million recently, Earth Day and climate change have now become inseparable. At MALT we are aware that many people may associate farms with contributing to climate change. And as an industry agriculture does. But how does sustainable agriculture — community-based farming that is economically and environmentally viable over the long-term — differ, and how can these practices and overall stewardship actually create “climate-beneficial” operations that reduce on-farm emissions, create climate resiliency, and remove carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the atmosphere? An important part of our work is partnering with landowners on stewardship practices on MALT-protected properties that cultivate nutrient-rich soil and perennial grasses and restore riparian areas. These practices prevent erosion, reduce flooding and increase biodiversity. Healthy, diverse, resilient landscapes are not only beautiful, but they also provide ecosystem services like carbon sequestration by capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it in the soil as organic matter. At the same time, working lands provide valuable habitat for common and special-status species. Many of MALT’s protected farms and ranches connect with open space and other conserved properties. This connectivity nurtures life and establishes wildlife corridors across open lands.  Producing and marketing local foods also vastly reduces emissions associated with transit, the largest contributor of greenhouse gas emissions. Recently, MALT received a grant from the Natural Resource Conservation Service for the Bay Area Working Lands Partnership Project — a five-county collaborative effort in the Greater Bay Area to address agricultural sustainability and climate change through landowner education and assistance, conservation planning, and implementation of climate-beneficial practices. Through it, we're leading a regional effort to scale up carbon farming. Now more than ever, the fate of our lands, water, wildlife and food production is in our hands. This Earth Day, and every day, MALT will continue to champion and model sustainable agriculture and be a part of the climate change solution. Thank you for your ongoing support. Jamison Watts Executive Director