Press Release
MALT Surpasses $100 Million Milestone for Land Conservation in Marin County
December 5, 2023
POINT REYES STATION, CALIF., Dec. 5, 2023 – In a significant milestone for land conservation Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) announces that it has leveraged over $100 million in funding since its founding over 40 years ago to support Marin County’s most treasured landscapes. This achievement comes after today’s announcement that the remaining funding needed to secure the 592-acre Bivista Ridge Ranch and the 1,179-acre Spring Valley Ranch has been approved by the Marin County Board of Supervisors from the county’s Farmland Preservation Program, known as Measure A. The $100 million invested in preserving agriculture is a combination of private donations from MALT donors and other funding sources, such as Measure A.
“These grants are examples of how community support preserves local agricultural lands and protects our food system,” said Craig Richardson, senior planner with Marin County Parks. “Continuing small, family-owned farms have real environmental and economic benefits and align with our sustainability goals. When Measure A was renewed in 2022, it gave us confidence to know that Marin voters are on board with this mission.”
Since MALT’s establishment in 1980, the land trust organization has been partnering with local landowners to acquire voluntary agricultural conservation easements. These easements protect the land’s conservation values while also requiring that it remains in agricultural production. In this time, MALT has secured 93 easements totaling more than 55,700 acres of farm and ranchland—the backbone of Marin’s agricultural economy.
MALT’s investment in this growing network of protected natural and working lands also has another benefit – it helped to conserve one of the most biologically diverse corners of the planet. With these two additional ranches protected, MALT will soon have conserved 26,305 acres of the region’s critical wildlife habitat linkages, and invested $73 million within 56 conservation easements to help safeguard that land. Preserving agricultural land can help protect biodiversity.
“Since its initial passage in 2012, our team at MALT has applied for and been granted Measure A funding to protect more than 13 farms and ranches totalling more than 7,953 acres,” said Lily Verdone, MALT’s executive director. “Matching public funding with private dollars has proved to be an effective model at advancing land preservation. We are tremendously grateful for this ongoing support—today’s historic milestone was made possible through the ongoing commitment of our generous donors, partner organizations, and Marin County voters.”
Even with this monumental milestone, nearly half of Marin County’s working landscapes remain without conservation easements and the vitality of agriculture here remains threatened by a changing climate, rising costs, labor and housing shortages and so much more. In the coming years, MALT is committed to doubling down on its land conservation efforts to help secure the infrastructure needed for a resilient agricultural economy.
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The Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) acknowledges that we work in the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Miwok people of present-day Marin County. We recognize the centuries of attempted erasure, displacement, and genocide these communities have endured and that many inequities exist to this day. We honor with gratitude the land itself and celebrate the ongoing relationship with the Coast Miwok people on their traditional territories.
Learn more here.
CONTACT: Priscilla Vega
EMAIL: pvega@malt.org