Audubon Canyon Ranch

Last updated

Audubon Canyon Ranch (ACR) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit environmental conservation and education organization headquartered in Stinson Beach, Marin County, California, on the eastern shore of Bolinas Lagoon. The lands upon which ACR operates are within the ancestral territories of the Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo and Wappo peoples. [1] ACR recognizes that Indigenous communities are very much alive today and striving to protect and maintain relationships with cultural and natural resources on ACR lands; they acknowledge that Indigenous lands are occupied by them and others.

Contents

Audubon Canyon Ranch was founded in 1962 to save a major heronry and block commercial development of Bolinas Lagoon in western Marin County, leading the way for the protection of Tomales Bay to the north. Today, Audubon Canyon Ranch stewards a system of nature preserves totaling 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) across 26 properties in Marin County and Sonoma County and conducts conservation science that in turn informs its education programs and directs its work on some of the region's most challenging environmental issues.

ACR's conservation science program has monitored the North Bay region nesting successes of herons and egrets for over 40 years, [2] collected long-term data sets on wintering shorebird and waterbird populations [3] on Tomales Bay for over 30 years, and is using GPS to track the movements of individual mountain lions [4] in the Sonoma Valley and Great Egrets and Long-billed Curlews on the coast. ACR's experiential nature education program, which turned 50 in 2020, has connected more than 300,000 Bay Area children and adults to the wonders of nature, cultivating environmental literacy and a conservation ethic. ACR's Fire Forward [5] program, founded in 2017, is advancing our community's ability to use "good fire" to reduce risk and build ecosystem resilience against climate-driven wildfire events. [6] ACR also stewards cultural treasures, including the literary legacy of American author M.F.K. Fisher [7] at her last house at Bouverie Preserve.

Martin Griffin Preserve

Martin Griffin Preserve
Bolinas Lagoon Preserve
The Bourne House, Martin Griffin Preserve.jpg
Historic Bourne house at the entrance to the preserve
Relief map of California.png
Red pog.svg
Map of California
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Audubon Canyon Ranch (the United States)
Location Marin County, California
Nearest city Stinson Beach
Coordinates 37°55′46″N122°40′56″W / 37.9294°N 122.6822°W / 37.9294; -122.6822
Governing bodyAudubon Canyon Ranch
Website www.egret.org
Designated1968

The Martin Griffin Preserve encompasses 1,000 acres (400 ha) in West Marin, protected in perpetuity since 1962 as a wildlife sanctuary. The topography is characterized by its four canyons—Volunteer Canyon, Picher Canyon, Garden Club Canyon and Pike County Gulch—which vary in maximum elevation from 1,590 to 1,720 feet, and their associated streams and watersheds.

At the Bolinas Lagoon edge, California State Route 1 borders the western edge of the property while the Golden Gate National Recreation Area surrounds the northern, eastern and southern borders.

The Land

Mixed evergreen forests blanket slopes overlooking the Bolinas Lagoon. Open hillsides support grasslands and coastal scrub, while freshwater habitats nestle in canyon floors. The preserve is home to more than twenty-five species of mammals, over ninety species of land birds, thirteen species of reptile, and eight species of amphibian.

The preserve's frontage along Bolinas Lagoon brings more than 60 species of waterbirds and shorebirds into view—from sandpipers to osprey to pelicans—as well as some of the resident harbor seals.

The History

Operating for many years as a family-run dairy ranch called Canyon Ranch, the land is now protected in perpetuity thanks to the conservation efforts in the early 1960s of L. Martin Griffin [8] (then president of the Marin Chapter of the National Audubon Society), Aileen Pierson, Stan Picher, and other dedicated volunteers who organized to purchase the property for the protection of heron and egret nesting sites. [9] The preserve was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1968. [10]

For over 40 years, the Martin Griffin Preserve was known as the Bolinas Lagoon Preserve of Audubon Canyon Ranch. In July 2010, the ACR Board of Directors formally renamed the preserve the Martin Griffin Preserve in honor of Marty Griffin's lifelong commitment to the environment and in recognition of the critical role he played in permanently protecting this section of the Marin County coastline.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Point Reyes National Seashore</span> Park preserve in California, United States

Point Reyes National Seashore is a 71,028-acre (287.44 km2) park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve. Some existing agricultural uses are allowed to continue within the park. Clem Miller, a US Congressman from Marin County, wrote and introduced the bill for the establishment of Point Reyes National Seashore in 1962 to protect the peninsula from development which was proposed at the time for the slopes above Drake's Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coast Miwok</span> Tribe of Native American people

The Coast Miwok are an Indigenous people of California that were the second-largest tribe of the Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point and eastward to Sonoma Creek. Coast Miwok included the Bodega Bay Miwok, or Olamentko (Olamentke), from authenticated Miwok villages around Bodega Bay, the Marin Miwok, or Hookooeko (Huukuiko), and Southern Sonoma Miwok, or Lekahtewutko (Lekatuit). While they did not have an overarching name for themselves, the Coast Miwok word for people, Micha-ko, was suggested by A. L. Kroeber as a possible endonym, keeping with a common practice among tribal groups and the ethnographers studying them in the early 20th Century and with the term Miwok itself, which is the Central Sierra Miwok word for people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolinas Lagoon</span> Lagoon in the state of California, United States

Bolinas Lagoon is a tidal estuary, approximately 1,100 acres (4.5 km2) in area, located in the West Marin region of Marin County, California, United States, adjacent to the town of Bolinas. It is a part of the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary. In 1974, Aubrey Neasham and William Pritchard wrote in support of Bolinas Lagoon as Drake's New Albion landing site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bodega Bay</span> Archaeological site in California, United States

Bodega Bay is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately 5 mi (8 km) across and is located approximately 40 mi (60 km) northwest of San Francisco and 20 mi (32 km) west of Santa Rosa. The bay straddles the boundary between Sonoma County to the north and Marin County to the south. The bay is a marine habitat used for navigation, recreation, and commercial and sport fishing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Gate Biosphere Network</span>

The Golden Gate Biosphere Network is a voluntary coalition of federal, state, and local government agencies, nonprofit organizations, universities, and private partners within the Golden Gate Biosphere region. The Network aims to protect the region's biodiversity and conserve its natural resources, enhancing quality of life for local residents. The Network has been part of the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme since 1988 and is part of the US Biosphere Network and EuroMAB. It is recognized by UNESCO due to the significant biodiversity of the region, as well as the Network's efforts to demonstrate and promote a balanced relationship between humans and the biosphere.

Copper Mine Gulch is a valley in Marin County, California, United States, which is associated with a small stream.

Pike County Gulch is a coastal valley in Marin County, California, United States, which is associated with a small stream. It is located between Wilkins Gulch and Audubon Canyon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stinson Gulch</span>

Stinson Gulch is a valley in Marin County, California, United States which is associated with a small stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kent Island (California)</span>

Kent Island is a small island in Marin County, California. In 1964, it was proposed for large-scale development including a hotel and marina, but the plan was defeated in 1967. The island is now included in the Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolinas Ridge</span>

Bolinas Ridge is a north-south ridge in southwestern Marin County, California. Much of the western side of the ridge is protected parkland in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the eastern side is watershed lands of the Marin Municipal Water District.

Olema Valley is a gorge formed by the San Andreas Fault in rural west Marin County, Northern California. The valley runs from the southern end of Tomales Bay through Point Reyes Station, the town of Olema, and Dogtown, to the Bolinas Lagoon, which lies between Bolinas and Stinson Beach. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walker Creek (Marin County, California)</span> River in California, United States

Walker Creek is a northwest-flowing stream in western Marin County, California, United States. It originates at the confluence of Salmon Creek and Arroyo Sausal, and empties into Tomales Bay south of Dillon Beach, California.

Pine Gulch Creek is a 7.6-mile-long (12.2 km) south-flowing stream in western Marin County, California, United States which empties into Bolinas Lagoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L. Martin Griffin</span> American environmentalist (1920–2024)

Loyal Martin Griffin Jr., widely known as Marty Griffin, was an American environmentalist and conservationist in Northern California and author of the book Saving the Marin–Sonoma Coast. He was also a doctor, director of the Sonoma Developmental Center, head of the Marin Audubon Society, board member of the Marin Municipal Water District, and owner of Hop Kiln Winery in Sonoma County.

Rancho Tomales y Baulines was a 9,468-acre (38.32 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Marin County, California, given in 1836 by Governor Nicolás Gutiérrez to Rafael Garcia. The grant extended south from Point Reyes Station along the Olema Valley and encompassed present day Olema and Garcia.

The Marin County Department of Parks and Open Space, consisting of the Marin County Parks and Landscape Division and the Marin County Open Space District, is a parks governing body in Marin County, California overseen by the Marin County Board of Supervisors. The current director and general manager is Max Korten.

The Modini Mayacamas Preserves are located in the Mayacamas Mountains, east of Healdsburg, California. The Preserves are roughly split by Pine Flat road and are east of Alexander Valley and northwest of Knights Valley. The current stewards of the property are Audubon Canyon Ranch, a private preservation organization involved in nature education, conservation science, and land stewardship. They own over 5,000 acres of property in Marin, Lake, and Sonoma Counties.

The Marin Conservation League is a environmental organization based in Marin County, California.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lighter Wharf</span> Historical Landmark in Bolinas, California, United States

Lighter Wharf was a pier-wharf in Bolinas, California in Marin County built in the 1850s. Lumber was loaded onto barges (lighters), then towed through Bolinas Lagoon to deeper water in the Bolinas Bay's, Pacific Ocean and loaded onto ships. Most of the Lumber was taken to the growing city of San Francisco, due to the California Gold Rush. Most of the lumber was logged from West Marin. Bolinas Port also serviced as a port for travelers to Marin County. In the summer the lighters had to time travel through the Bolinas Lagoon with the high tide. In addition to cargo and passenger piers, Bolinas Lagoon also had a few shipyards. There are no remains of the piers and wharves in Bolinas Lagoon. The Lighter Wharf was at the northern point of Bolinas Lagoon on the western bank. The site of Lighter Wharf is a California Historical Landmark No. 221. The Lagoon is now the 1,077-acre Bolinas Lagoon Nature Preserve with millions of shorebirds, Pacific Flyway birds, harbor seals, and other wildlife.

References

  1. ↑ Fimrite, Peter (2019-09-09). "Artifacts alter timeline for Native Americans in California". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  2. ↑ "North Bay Nest Monitoring - Audubon Canyon Ranch". 12 February 2018.
  3. ↑ "Shorebird Survey - Audubon Canyon Ranch". Audubon Canyon Ranch. 7 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Mountain Lions in Sonoma County, and a Man's Mission to Save Them". Sonoma Magazine. 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  5. ↑ "How will California prevent more mega-wildfire disasters?". National Geographic. 2019-12-20. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  6. ↑ "'Burn It on Our Terms': Using Flames to Curb Catastrophic Wildfire in Sonoma County". Sonoma Magazine. 2021-03-18. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  7. ↑ "Meet 3 Wine Country women who changed the way we eat". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. 2021-03-16. Retrieved 2021-04-28.
  8. ↑ "Marty Griffin, savior of Marin open space, nears 100th birthday". Marin Independent Journal. 2020-07-21. Retrieved 2022-06-25.
  9. ↑ "ACR Founder & Emeritus Director L. Martin Griffin, MD". 4 June 2014.
  10. ↑ "Audubon Canyon Ranch". nps.gov. National Park Service.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.