Coast Range Land Trust Mendocino · Sonoma · Lake · Napa
Coast Range Land Trust
About the Trust

Forty years of patient, place-based conservation.

The Coast Range Land Trust was incorporated on a kitchen table in Hopland in February 1986. Eight founders, one ranch easement, a mimeographed bylaws document. Today: 47,000 acres, a staff of 22, a 13-member board, and a working endowment of $14.8 million.

A Retrospective · 1986–2026

Four decades, one ridge at a time.

  1. 1986

    Founded.

    Eight founders, one $50,000 acquisition grant from the Marin Community Foundation, and a first easement on the 940-acre Henderson Ranch in Anderson Valley.

  2. 1991

    First fee-simple preserve.

    The 320-acre Hopland Hills Preserve is donated by the estate of botanist Dr. Lillian Greer. It becomes our first stewardship classroom.

  3. 1997

    10,000-acre milestone.

    Cumulative protected acres pass 10,000 with the closing of the Three Forks Cattle Co. easement.

  4. 2003

    Garcia River Headwaters.

    A 2,140-acre easement on the upper Garcia River, our first project explicitly designed around coho salmon recovery. Co-funded by the Wildlife Conservation Board.

  5. 2009

    Accredited.

    Awarded accreditation by the Land Trust Accreditation Commission in the inaugural class of accredited California land trusts.

  6. 2014

    Co-stewardship begins.

    First formal co-stewardship agreement, with the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, on 3,100 acres of culturally significant land in Cache Creek watershed.

  7. 2020

    Putah Creek Ranchlands.

    5,260-acre easement; largest single transaction in trust history. Negotiated through two fire seasons and one pandemic. The McCabe family deserved a medal.

  8. 2024

    Reaccredited.

    Passed reaccreditation with zero conditions. Endowment crosses $14 million.

  9. 2026

    Forty years. 47,000 acres.

    And honestly, we are just getting started. The Coast Range still has 1.6 million acres of working ranchland under threat from subdivision pressure.

Board & Staff · 2026

The people who walk the line.

Naturalist portraits, hand-lettered titles, the way you'd find them in a field-station roster. A small subset is shown below; the full directory is in our annual report.

Portrait of Robert McCoy

Robert J. McCoy

Board Chair · Fourth-generation rancher

"Land is the only thing we'll be remembered by. Everything else gets reseeded."

Portrait of Dr. Wren Aoki holding binoculars

Dr. Wren Aoki

Director of Science · Botanist, Ph.D. UC Davis '08

Specializes in serpentine endemics and vernal pool flora. Twelve years on staff. Author of 14 peer-reviewed papers on Coast Range plant ecology.

Portrait of Tomás Reyes

Tomás Reyes

Fisheries Lead · M.S. Humboldt

Came to us from CDFW in 2017. Has snorkel-surveyed every mile of Outlet Creek seven times. Will outwalk you on any slope.

Portrait of a young person looking through binoculars

Emma Calderón

Stewardship Director · Easement specialist

Negotiates and monitors all easement transactions. Bilingual (Spanish / English). Has personally walked 41 of our 138 held easements in the last year.

Portrait of an older rancher in cowboy hat

Samuel Trujillo

Range Scientist · M.S. Range Ecology

Third-generation Coast Range sheep rancher. Joined staff after twelve years at NRCS. Speaks fluent rancher and fluent regulator.

Portrait of person with binoculars looking at forest

Dr. Helena Vasquez

Wildlife Biologist · Ph.D. UC Berkeley '12

Leads the mountain lion and tule elk monitoring programs. GPS collars 14 animals across the inner Coast Range. Member of the Bay Area Puma Project steering committee.

Plus 16 additional staff and 13 board members. See the full directory →

Financial Transparency · FY 2025

Every dollar, accounted for.

Audited by Moss Adams LLP. Full audited financial statements and Form 990 are linked below and have been published continuously since 1992.

Where revenue came from

  • Individual giving42%
  • Foundation grants28%
  • Government grants18%
  • Endowment income8%
  • Earned / other4%

Where the money went

  • Conservation programs84%
  • Administration9%
  • Fundraising7%

Endowment growth, 2014–2025

Restricted endowment, market value. Spending policy: 4.25% of trailing-12-quarter average.

Download FY25 audited financials (PDF, 1.2MB) → Download FY25 Form 990 (PDF, 4.8MB) → Financial archive, 1992–present →
Standing & Accreditation

Held to the highest published standards.

We are reviewed, in detail, by people who do not work for us. We think that's the point.

Land Trust Accreditation Commission

Accredited 2009 · Reaccredited 2014, 2019, 2024. The Commission is an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. Fewer than half of America's 1,200+ land trusts have earned accreditation; we have held it since the inaugural class.

Charity Navigator · Four-Star Rated

11 consecutive years of four-star ratings. Charity Navigator evaluates ~9,000 charities on financial health, accountability, and transparency. Fewer than 4% achieve 11+ consecutive years at four stars.

Candid Platinum Transparency

2026 designation. We publish operating metrics, board compensation, and outcome data on Candid's GuideStar platform at the highest disclosure level available.

Conservation Partner Designations

Approved partner of the California Wildlife Conservation Board, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and California Department of Fish & Wildlife. Federally-qualified holder of conservation easements under IRC §170(h).

“A conservation easement is a promise written on a piece of paper that has to last longer than the people who signed it. The Coast Range Land Trust is the only organization in our county I trust to keep that promise into the next century.”

Get In Touch

Office hours, by appointment.

We don't take walk-ins (we're usually out walking property lines) but our office returns every voicemail within 48 hours. We prefer to meet in person, on land.

  • Office(707) 555-0188
  • Generalhello@coastrangelandtrust.org
  • Easementsemma@coastrangelandtrust.org
  • Presspress@coastrangelandtrust.org
  • Mailing addressP.O. Box 412, Hopland, CA 95449
Schedule a property visit →

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