On Friday July 22, Mendocino Land Trust accepted a gift from The Conservation Fund – a beautiful 49-acre property at Ten Mile River. The property lies east of the Ten Mile Dunes, on the southern bank of Ten Mile River estuary near the Ten Mile River Bridge, ten miles north of Fort Bragg, on the Mendocino Coast. The Land Trust will eventually provide public access along the south side of Ten Mile River and under the highway bridge, into MacKerricher State Park’s Ten Mile Dunes Reserve. This acquisition marks the successful completion of a six year effort to permanently protect the 1,340 acre Smith Ranch.

    “We’ve been working for several years with The Conservation Fund, landowners Maggie Perry and Susan Smith Lampman, the State Coastal Conservancy, and the Nature Conservancy to complete the acquisition of this beautiful property,” said Mendocino Land Trust’s Executive Director Ann Cole, “and we are grateful for the generous land donation and the landowners’ patience through all the project’s twists and turns. We are pleased to add this gorgeous property to the portfolio of lands we are protecting forever. It’s been great to work with such incredible partners and to be part of a larger conservation effort in the Ten Mile watershed.”

    The property includes sand dunes, grasslands, fir forest, riverside habitats and of course, a portion of the gorgeous Ten Mile River estuary.  The Land Trust has already started work to obtain necessary permits for a new trail, a parking area and a small picnic/viewing area.  Funding for the Conservation Fund’s purchase of the property was provided in part by the State Coastal Conservancy.  The State Coastal Conservancy has provided the land trust with funding for the planning and permitting for the public access areas as well.  For more information about this exciting project, please contact Louisa Morris at the Mendocino Land Trust, (707) 962-0470 or lmorris@mendocinolandtrust.org. 

At its September 3rd meeting, the California Wildlife Conservation Board, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, approved a $1.676 million grant award to Mendocino Land Trust. The funding will protect 2,018 acres of working forestland in Mendocino County with the purchase of a conservation easement to be held by Mendocino Land Trust.

The property, owned by the Edward Miller Trust, is located along Brush Creek, a beautiful watershed between Boonville and Manchester which contains 4.8 miles of streams that provide habitat for steelhead and coho salmon.

The site is home to an active Northern Spotted Owl nest and is also home to the endangered Point Arena Mountain Beaver. The Point Arena Mountain Beaver is of particular importance as there are only 27 know remaining colonies in the state, and this one lies considerably east of previous detections of this endangered animal. The conservation easement contains specific protections for these species.

The landowners agreed to sell the conservation easement for 25 percent less than fair market value. “We are thrilled with this grant award and pleased to be working with landowners who have such a positive land protection ethic,” said Ann Cole, Executive Director of Mendocino Land Trust. Landowner Steve Miller added, “We plan to manage the forest on the Brush Creek property to help with climate change and are excited to work with the Mendocino Land Trust to accomplish this.”

Under the conservation easement, potential subdivision of the property into 12 parcels will be prohibited, and old-growth redwood and Douglas fir trees will be protected forever in a natural old-growth area.

The conservation easement includes provisions to enhance water resources on the property and allows the continuation of non-industrial working forest practices on selected areas within the easement. Any plans associated with timber harvesting will require the completion of a Timber Management plan that must be approved by Mendocino Land Trust and CalFire, and must also comply with all applicable state and federal forestry laws.

If you enjoy a morning cup of coffee as much as we do, then we hope you will join us in celebrating our brand new partnership with our local Thanksgiving Coffee Company. With this exciting program, 25% of every package from web sales of our special Fog Dodger Mendo Coast Coffee blend will directly benefit Mendocino Land Trust.

As one of the country’s pioneering socially and environmentally progressive roasters, Thanksgiving has combined coffee quality with social and environmental responsibility for over 40 years. They have built decades-long partnerships with the cooperatives and family farms who grow their award winning coffees, promoting shade grown and organic farming practices which are bio-diverse and bee friendly.

We are proud to partner with a company like Thanksgiving Coffee, and we hope you will be too. Now you can help us build new trails, preserve beautiful family landscapes and restore salmon habitat right here in Mendocino County, all by simply enjoying your morning cup of coffee.

What could be better than that?

As coffee lovers ourselves, we are pleased to offer you a choice of four delicious, exotic coffees and three decaf options. To get your hands on some of this amazing coffee, and support Mendocino Land Trust with every cup, just click the link.

Once you find your favorite roast, we encourage you to sign up for a subscription to receive packages of Fog Dodger every month. A monthly subscription will keep you stocked with fresh coffee that you can feel good about. The regular support will help us continue to work with you to conserve Mendocino county, while there’s still time.

We hope you will join us in raising a cup of Fog Dodger soon. ‘Not just a cup, but a just cup.’

Have you been down to Glass Beach and wondered “Where does all that glass come from?”

Did you know that Glass Beach was once called “the dumps?”  It was a city dump site during much of the 20th century.  Now that the City of Fort Bragg has opened the wonderful new Noyo Headlands park and Coastal Trail that takes you right to the beach, you no longer need to scramble down the rocks to get there. Our pacific surf has pounded the trash for decades and polished old glass into the sparkling beach glass that now covers the shore. 

Fort Bragg’s leaders closed the city dump in 1967.  Many of our long time members recall that Mendocino Land Trust helped make this former dump site into a park.  With strong community support Mendocino Land Trust put together an agreement with the landowner to conserve the property, protecting it from potential development.

A benefit beer was created for the cause with North Coast Brewing Company, and MLT worked for over four years alongside the State Coastal Conservancy to assemble the funding to make this beach a state park.  We are proud to have managed the waste removal and cleanup of the site plus the botanical, cultural and erosion studies needed prior to purchase by California State Parks.

Glass Beach was purchased by California State Parks in October 2002, and remains a beachcomber’s paradise.  It is so lovely today, it’s hard to imagine the extent of the clean-up that took place, which required excavators and other heavy equipment to haul out rusted car parts and junk that had naturally cemented into the shoreline.