Local agricultural leaders were an integral part in helping the Land Trust of Napa County acquire a chunk of mountain acreage east of Calistoga so that the land will not be dotted with homes looking down on the valley floor.

In late October, the Land Trust paid $4.2 million for the 1,000-acre Duff Ranch, a piece of property integral to preserving an open space connection between Robert Louis Stevenson Park’s 5,000 acres and the 3,045 acre Wildlake Ranch.

Duff Ranch is northeast of Calistoga and south of the Palisades.

The land deal, which was two years in the making, will allow the Land Trust to create a hiking trail stretching about 15 miles from Mount St. Helena, nearly reaching Angwin.

Donations to buy the Duff Ranch came from more than 250 contributors for the “Napa Valley Wild” campaign.

John Hoffnagle, executive director of the Land Trust of Napa County, said the effort also included “incredible help from (vintners) like Warren and Barbara Winiarski, Bart and Daphne Araujo and Mary Novak.

The California Coastal Conservancy and the Preserving Wild California Program of the Resources Legacy Fund also contributed to the acquisition.

The undisturbed area is home to about 360 native plant species — which makes it one of the more diverse native plant areas in Napa County, according to Hoffnagle.

Acquisition of the rugged Duff Ranch, with its rock outcroppings, offers views unblemished by structures. “It won’t be like Stag’s Leap with mansions dotting the hillside,” Hoffnagle said. “The people of the valley have made a choice to protect it.”

In the future, Hoffnagle said, there is a chance the three linked properties could expand the Robert Louis Stevenson Park and be managed by either the California State Park system or possibly Napa County Regional Park and Open Space District. “We’ll just see as we go.”

Whoever manages the park, Hoffnagle said the No. 1 goal is to keep the land from being developed.

During the next couple of years, the Land Trust will start a fund-raising drive to create and maintain trails and manage the property. That comes with a price tag of about $2.6 million.

Despite the ruggedness of the terrain, a threat of homes being developed on the property could have become real. On the Duff Ranch, there were 10 legal parcels, while at Wildlake there could have been 26 homes built if it weren’t for the efforts of the Land Trust, he said.

Duff Ranch history

The Duff family has owned the property since 1946, according to David Duff, who just sold the land. He recalls hiking the rugged terrain when he was 12 years old.

Duff retained control of 120 acres.

The Duff Ranch has never been developed. Cattle have never grazed on it and none of its ever been planted to wine grapes, Duff said.

“I am intimate with the land, so I know it more than anybody. There is no way I was going to sell to a developer,” Duff, 74, said. “Especially with the state parks around it.”

Duff believes landscapes of such beauty should not be owned by anyone. “It’s along the same lines that nobody should own Yosemite ... nobody should own this (property). It is incredible.”

Duff still manages to come up to the property about every 10 days from his home on the peninsula.

He remembers stumbling upon some old stone buildings in the upper corner of the property that were once part of the stage coach station for Oat Hill Mine Road.

“To have a place like that so close to San Francisco and that is so wild, it is ... (extraordinary),” Duff said. “There are some parts a human has never walked.”

Once, Duff recalled, he came upon a Navy airplane that had crashed on a training mission. The pilot survived, but the aircraft was left behind.

“There is a deep canyon called Cougar Canyon, but on the map it is identified as Simmons Canyon, where I expect to see a dinosaur coming out of the ooze any minute,” said Duff. “It is really hard to get in and out of there. There are a lot of places like that that have not seen much activity.”

To date, Land Trust has preserved more than 52,000 acres in Napa County.