Coast Range Land Trust Mendocino · Sonoma · Lake · Napa
Coast Range Land Trust
Our Work · Protected Lands

Five programs. One landscape. A practice, not a portfolio.

Conservation isn't a transaction; it's a relationship between an organization, a piece of ground, and a sequence of people who care about it. Here is how we do the work, with whom, and what it looks like on the ground.

Cattle grazing on a Coast Range ranch held under conservation easement
A working easement held since 2018: Three Forks Cattle Co., 6,800 acres. Photo: C.A. Costello.
Program 01

Conservation Easements.

A conservation easement is a voluntary, recorded legal agreement between a landowner and a qualified holder (us) that permanently retires specific development rights while the land remains in private ownership. The land stays on the tax rolls. The family stays on the place. The ranch keeps running cattle, or sheep, or wine grapes — whatever it was already doing.

What we typically retire

  • Subdivision and lot-split rights
  • Surface mining and aggregate extraction
  • Commercial and industrial development
  • Conversion of native vegetation to row crop or vineyard above defined acreage
  • Construction beyond an agreed building envelope

What we typically allow

  • Continued ranching, farming, forestry on the same scale
  • Family residences within building envelopes
  • Agricultural infrastructure (barns, fence, water development)
  • Hunting and fishing per state regulation
  • Restoration and stewardship activities, by mutual agreement
138Easements held
34,000 acUnder easement
100%Monitored annually
Case study: McCoy Ranch, 4,420 ac →
Program 02

Fee-Simple Acquisitions.

When easement doesn't fit — because the parcel is critical wildlife habitat that can't tolerate active land use, or because the seller wants out entirely — we buy the land outright. We hold it in fee, in trust, in perpetuity. We currently hold fourteen such preserves totaling 11,200 acres.

When we pursue fee acquisition

  • The parcel anchors a regional wildlife corridor (e.g., mountain lion connectivity)
  • Rare or endemic plant communities require non-disturbance management
  • The seller's preference is full divestiture, not encumbrance
  • A research or education facility is part of the long-term vision

How we fund it

Major fee acquisitions are typically funded through a blend of state and federal grants (Wildlife Conservation Board, NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program, USFWS NAWCA), foundation capital campaigns, and donor-restricted contributions. Most fee transactions take 18–36 months from first conversation to closing.

14Preserves held
11,200 acFee-held total
$0Sold since 1986
Case study: Cahto Ridge Preserve →
Solitary oak on a green hillside, fee-simple preserve
Cahto Ridge Preserve in early spring. 1,860 acres held in fee since 1994. Photo: S. DeMera.
Restored creek channel running through a meadow with oak trees
Outlet Creek after Phase II restoration, looking upstream. Photo: P. Mayor.
Program 03

Restoration.

Restoration is the work of putting back what was taken or never let exist. On our protected lands, that means re-channeled creeks, replanted riparian corridors, decommissioned roads, fire-resilient forest mosaics, and prescribed-burn programs co-led with cultural fire practitioners.

Active projects, 2026

  • Outlet Creek Restoration. Phase III channel reconstruction, 18 stream miles, Mendocino County
  • Vaca Ridge Riparian. 11 stream miles, 22,000 native plants installed to date, Napa County
  • Cache Creek Watershed. Co-led with Yocha Dehe; fuels reduction and cultural burn program
  • Henderson Ranch Vernal Pool. 14-pool complex restoration, Year 4 of 7

What we measure

Bank stability index, riparian cover by stratum, native to non-native plant ratio, water temperature continuous monitoring, macroinvertebrate IBI scores, and where applicable, anadromous fish presence and redd counts. Methods follow the California Rapid Assessment Method (CRAM) and NOAA Restoration Center protocols.

62 miStream enhanced
184kPlants installed
47Coho redds '25
Case study: Outlet Creek, before & after →
Program 04

Stewardship Monitoring.

An easement that isn't monitored is just a piece of paper. We walk every property we hold — in person, on foot, with the landowner — at least once a year. Some we walk twice. A handful we walk continuously. This is the unglamorous part of conservation, and it is what separates organizations that protect land from organizations that say they do.

What an annual monitoring visit covers

  • Baseline document review and photo-point repeat photography
  • Building envelope and infrastructure compliance check
  • Notes from the landowner on the past year
  • Habitat condition observations and rare-species incidentals
  • Stewardship report filed within 30 days, signed by both parties

When something goes sideways

Conservation easement violations are rare in our portfolio — six recorded violations across 39 years of practice — and we have resolved every one of them, four through negotiated remediation and two through legal action. We maintain a dedicated Easement Defense Fund of $1.4 million for the day we need it. We hope we never spend it.

100%Annual coverage
6Violations resolved
$1.4MDefense fund
Read the FY25 stewardship summary →
Stewardship staff conducting field monitoring with binoculars
Field monitoring on the Garcia River easement. Photo: É. Dionne.
Two participants on a guided walk through a meadow
A docent-led walk at Bear Hollow Preserve. Photo: L. Shyp.
Program 05

Education & Public Access.

Conservation that the public can never see won't survive a political generation. Where it's compatible with stewardship goals and with private-landowner partners, we open our preserves for docent-led walks, school programs, and citizen science.

What's open to the public

  • Bear Hollow Preserve. Open Saturdays, March–November, by reservation
  • Hopland Hills Preserve. Open year-round, dawn to dusk, self-guided
  • Knoxville Trail. 6-mile loop, open weekends, April–October
  • The Cahto Field Station. Research and overnight stays, by application

K–12 and university partnerships

We host 2,400 K–12 students annually across our preserve network through partnerships with twenty-two regional schools. Field-station internships and senior thesis projects are coordinated with UC Davis, Humboldt, Sonoma State, and the College of the Redwoods. The 2025 cohort included nine undergraduates and four graduate researchers.

2,400K–12 students/yr
13Researchers '25
4Public preserves
2026 walks calendar →
Case Studies · A Closer Look

How three of these projects actually came together.

Three projects, three different financial structures, three timelines. None of them tidy. All of them held.

Rolling ranchland under partly cloudy sky
Easement Case Study

McCoy Ranch, Mendocino County

  • Acres4,420
  • ClosedMarch 2026
  • Timeline18 months
  • FundingWCB + private + bargain sale

The McCoys are fourth-generation ranchers. We started the conversation in fall 2024 over coffee. They wanted to transition the operation to the next generation without splitting the ranch up. We structured a part-purchase / part-donation easement that delivered them $3.1M in liquidity while extinguishing all 12 potential lot-splits in perpetuity.

Full project notes →
Forested watershed under morning fog
Fee Acquisition Case Study

Cahto Ridge Preserve, Mendocino County

  • Acres1,860
  • ClosedJuly 1994
  • Timeline4 years
  • FundingCapital campaign + LWCF

An old-growth Douglas fir / coast redwood mosaic adjacent to the Cahto Wilderness. Acquired from a timber estate after a multi-year campaign that included a $2.8M federal Land & Water Conservation Fund award. Now houses the Cahto Field Station — six bunks, a research kitchen, and three decades of microclimate data.

Full project notes →
Tule elk along a coastal grassland at sunrise
Restoration Case Study

Outlet Creek Watershed

  • Stream miles18
  • Started2014, ongoing
  • PhaseIII of IV
  • FundingNOAA + state coho funds

What was a deeply incised, sediment-choked channel running through a sheep ranch is now an eighteen-mile, three-stage, vegetated floodplain producing 47 documented coho redds in winter 2025. Twelve years in; three to go on the current phase. The ranch's grazing operation never paused.

Full project notes →
For Landowners

Thinking about an easement?

There is no obligation, no fee, and no hurry. We will sit down at your kitchen table, walk your property, and explain — in plain English — what an easement would actually mean for your family, your operation, and your tax situation. The first conversation is, has always been, and will always be free.

Schedule a property visit → Read the easement FAQ →

Or call Emma Calderón directly: (707) 555-0188 ext. 12

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