Anonymous private owner donates ‘very unusual’ California land

One hundred twenty acres of the Upper Zayante Watershed in the Santa Cruz Mountains were recently donated to the Sempervirens Fund by anonymous private landowners, marking a major step forward in conservation efforts that could aid in the recovery of endangered coho salmon and help support the habitat of other native species living in the area, per a Thursday news release from the group, which was founded in 1900 and is California’s first land trust.

Laura McLendon, director of land conservation for Sempervirens Fund, remembers the warm, clear-skied morning in October when she first hiked up to the property near Felton, about 75 miles south of San Francisco, and was struck by the diversity of the ecosystems there. She wandered along the creek shaded by ancient towering redwood trees and marveled as they gave way to higher elevation scrubland, where the sun beamed down and provided an endless vista of the surrounding forest. 

Now, the conservation easement donation, worth $680,000, will “permanently restrict” the development, subdivision, and commercial timber harvest of more than 67 acres of redwood forests on the property, including second-growth trees, Douglas fir, oak woodland, mixed hardwood, maritime chaparral, chamise scrubland and riparian woodland, the news release said. These provide critical habitat for rare species such as the San Francisco dusky-footed woodrat, the pileated woodpecker and the Santa Cruz black salamander. Mountain lions also frequently pass through the property and have been known to use the area to hunt and mate. 

“Animals in general don’t like to be around people, so when we can set aside certain areas for either no human use or very low impact use, that is going to help a lot with the existing populations of wildlife,” McLendon said.

“It’s really cool because by changing the trajectory of the property, we’re ensuring even greater success for those fish as well,” McLendon said. “And with existing climate threats and future climate disasters impending, it’s more important than ever to have really big protected tracts of land for wildlife to migrate and plants to grow. This will ensure these species will better survive than if this property hadn’t been protected and kept in a natural state.” 

While the acreage still belongs to the landowners, who live nearby and plan to continue to access and enjoy the property for low-impact recreational use, the agreement with the Sempervirens Fund ensures that if they ever sold the property, the habitat protections there will stay in place permanently, McLendon said. The Sempervirens Fund is currently working with the landowners on future conservation measures, which could include vegetation removal for wildfire protection, in addition to thinning out lower fuel vegetation in order to protect the larger redwoods that are standing on the property. 

“We still have a lot to discover about the property and its species in the studies to come, but what excites me the most is the potential for other landowners to want to donate conservation easements in this way,” McLendon said. “It’s actually very unusual in our area to get a donation of a conservation easement over this kind of redwood forest land, and I’d love to inspire other landowners to reach out to us to explore projects like this one. It’s a good model for a better future.”