Preserving beauty | Napa Valley Register

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Preserving beauty

Friday, January 02, 2009

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It is too cold and misty for an enjoyable walk in the woods today.

But there are plenty of sunny days ahead in the Napa Valley, and many members of the public can thank the Land Trust of Napa County for working to serve some spectacular locations for all to appreciate.

Recently, the Land Trust acquired the 1,000-acre Duff Ranch east of Calistoga. No development will take place on the land while it is under Land Trust control, and the expectation is that one day it will become a park allowing people to explore the pristine property on hikes and horseback rides.

The ranch connects Robert Louis Stevenson Park, which contains the peaks of Mount St. Helena, to the Wildlake Ranch, a 3,000 acre property the Land Trust acquired in 2006.

This stretch of rough country may not have been under threat of development anytime soon. But its preservation as open space is a great gift to the Napa Valley, Bay Area nature lovers and anyone who appreciates the wild open spaces of California.

Land Trust Executive Director John Hoffnagle estimates the Duff Ranch is home to about 360 native plant species and is a prime example of the flora and fauna of Napa County.

David Duff, 74, who agreed to sell his family’s long-held property to the Land Trust, 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, especially with the state parks around it.”

Many private donors helped the Land Trust pay for the property, just as they did with the acquisition of Wildlake.

In other Bay Area counties, vast swaths of open space are owned by government agencies and have been turned into parklands, such as Marin County’s Mount Tamalpais and headlands, and the ridgeline east of Oakland and Berkeley.

In Napa County, relatively little land is already in public hands, making it more difficult to preserve as open space.

The Land Trust’s efforts are protecting our opportunities to explore Napa County’s amazing, and amazingly diverse, physical beauty.

2 comment(s)

Ruff Limblog wrote on Jan 2, 2009 3:29 PM:

" If Napa County won't do it, Thank God for the Land Trust!

~Ruff "

glenroy wrote on Jan 2, 2009 5:58 PM:

" Beware….we worked with the Land Trust and UCD to preserve some spectacular Lake Berryessa property and all they’ve done it ruin it turning it into a rural ghetto allowing uncontrolled access, constant intrusive noise, massive smothering road dust, discarded research trash and gates closing deeded roads that for years we not only maintained at our expense…neither have legal authority to close.

Niether has any regard for the surrounding properties privacy and quality of living….none.

Of course the Land Trust blames UCD and UCD blames the Land Trust….but for those of us who trusted both it’s been worse than any of us imagined….what was once a pristine ridge has been ruined by ‘professional,’ that’s what they call themselves, environmentalists…they are neither professional nor protectors of our environment.

There are much better ways to preserve your land than either these two…. "

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