A large swath of ranchland in West Marin will retain its bucolic nature in perpetuity after the Marin Agricultural Land Trust completed a $3.6 million deal for development rights, which was announced Friday.
The agreement between the Barboni family, the trust and a coalition of partners was four years in the making. With the deal done, 1,200 acres of agricultural land and diverse natural resources in Hicks Valley will be preserved.
“Barboni Ranch is not only one of the larger ranches in Marin County, it’s one of the most ecologically diverse,” said Jamison Watts, MALT’s executive director. “The Barboni family faced a classic predicament. A large family — some who ranch, some who do not — needed to provide for all its members but did not want to lose the ranch in the process.”
MALT pays property owners for the development rights to their land and then saves the land for agriculture. The restriction stays with the land when it is passed on by inheritance or sale.
“I see this as a way to conserve the land, keep it open and preserve a way of life,” said Bill Barboni II, a fourth-generation rancher, who grew up on the ranch with his brother Charlie and three sisters, Stephanie, Bonnie and Julie.
The Barboni family used to operate a dairy on the property and today Barboni raises beef cattle and sheep. He sells grass-fed and organic meat under the Hicks Valley Cattle Co. brand. The land is also home to badgers, river otters, mountain lions, the endangered California red-legged frog, and a great variety of birds including Northern spotted and burrowing owls.
Protecting the ranch was a complicated and lengthy process because of the number of funders involved and because it actually entailed protecting two parcels, the 746-acre Barboni “Home Ranch” and the 448-acre Bassi Ranch, according to MALT officials.
Of the $3.6 million purchase price, $1 million came from the State Coastal Conservancy; $600,000 from the Wildlife Conservation Board; and $714,000 from Caltrans, the Sonoma County Transportation Authority and Transportation Authority of Marin. The Wildlife Conservation Board’s funds were granted specifically to protect property’s diverse oak woodlands.
Additional funding of $816,000 from Caltrans, and the Marin and Sonoma transportaion agencies permanently protects and provides for long-term management of a 204-acre portion of the ranch as habitat for the endangered California red-legged frog. That work mitigates impacts from the ongoing Marin-Sonoma Narrows project on Highway 101.
The remaining $1.3 million was through various donors, including the 11th Hour Project and Farmland Forever: Campaign to Honor Executive Director Bob Berner. Berner, MALT’s former chief, retired at the end of last year.
MALT — a nonprofit created in 1980 — has now protected 45,000 acres on 71 family farms and ranches across West Marin.
Contact Mark Prado via email at mprado@marinij.com
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