Clifford Conly’s Crown Jewel - L. Martin GriffinCLIFFORD CONLY’S CROWN JEWEL: CYPRESS GROVE 127. Stewards of the Land T i s Edgar Wayburn, my instructor in medical school, with

1 2 2 S A V I N G T H E M A R I N - S O N O M A C O A S T

C H A P T E R T E N

Clifford Conly’s Crown Jewel: Cypress Grove

Yellow Ribbons (Sung to the tu n e o f “Yellow Rose o f Texas” )

Those yellow rows o f ribbons The A udubon is coming

They will not go away They’re marching dow n the Bay

They m ark the subdivisions To take those yellow ribbons

A long Tomales Bay. A n d throw them all away.

The m ost rew arding p h o n e call o f m y wildlife career was the one I p u t

in late at n igh t in Septem ber 1970. Flushed w ith the success o f buy

ing miles o f Johannson tidelands for the Ranch, I was particu larly

excited tha t two o f its parcels p ro tec ted the vulnerable flanks o f Cypress

Grove. I th o u g h t th a t Cypress Grove w ould m ake a fine headquarte rs for a

new wildlife sanctuary on Tomales Bay, if we could ob ta in it.

Cypress Grove, a ten-acre cypress knoll o n the shores o f Tomales Bay, is

a mystical place w ith adjacent salt an d freshwater m arshes teem ing w ith

waterbirds, six V ictorian cottages, an d a lovely m ain house standing w ith in

its borders. The grove brings to m in d “Alice in W onderland” ; one expects

the M ad H atter to pop o u t betw een the long rows o f trees at any m o m en t. A

parade o f h a rb o r seals, terns, gulls, an d b row n pelicans stream s noisily past

Cypress Grove each winter, following the herring tha t spaw n in the eelgrass

beds extending sou th from H og an d D uck Islands. This often foggy, w indy

paradise was form erly a stop on the old N o rth Pacific Coast Railroad from

Sausalito to Cazadero, and in the 1890s a w o o d -b u rn in g engine b ro u g h t

h un ters to the cottages there to h u n t b ra n t an d m allard ducks.

A Midnight Phone Call

N one o f us had m et Clifford C only n o r set foot on Cypress Grove, bu t

som ething to ld m e one evening to call h im . I had ju s t re tu rn ed from a

Clifford C only’s Cypress

Grove becam e A u d u b o n

C anyon R a n ch ’s head

quarters in 1971 in the

battle fo r Tomales Bay,

the northern gatew ay

to the still-incom plete

P oint Reyes N a tio n a l

Seashore.

C L I F F O R D C O N L Y ’ S C R O W N J E W E L : C Y P R E S S G R O V E 123

Late one n igh t in 1970

I phoned C lifford Conly,

a n d he offered to donate

his ten-acre Cypress

Grove to A ud u b o n

C anyon R anch i f I ’d

let h im get back to bed.

Later, he became a va l

uable board member.

m edical m eeting and d id n ’t realize how late it was. At m idn igh t Conly

picked up the phone. “Mr. Conly,” I said, “This is Dr. Griffin w ith the

A udubon C anyon Ranch, and we’ve been purchasing lands along Tomales

Bay. We th o u g h t you w ould be pleased to learn th a t we just b o u g h t the

Johannson tidelands on b o th sides o f you.” There was a long om inous

silence. I though t, m y God, I’ve b low n it, b u t I con tinued on. “We’ve heard

th a t Cypress Grove m igh t be for sale, an d we’d like to m ake you an offer and

purchase it.”

“Look, Dr. Griffin,” Clifford said, “I’ve heard o f you and I’ve

heard o f A udubon C anyon Ranch and I like w hat you’re doing,

b u t do you know w hat tim e it is? It’s m idn igh t, and I’m s tanding

here starkers on a cold floor. 1 have no in ten tion o f selling my

property. Now, if you’ll just let m e get back to bed, I’ll prom ise

to give Cypress Grove to A udubon C anyon Ranch!”

T h a t’s how it happened , I swear it! The story o f m y m id

nigh t ph o n e call has been to ld and reto ld and has becom e leg

end. T hat gift opened up a w hole new thrilling era in the saga o f

A udubon C anyon Ranch an d tu rn e d the battle to save Tomales

Bay o u r way.

Needless to say, the g rum bling am ong b o ard m em bers

abou t m y Johannson purchase stopped. T hey were over

w helm ed by C lifford’s generosity an d electrified by this strategic

gift. Preserving Tomales Bay was w ith in o u r grasp. O u r a tto r

ney, George Peyton, w orked o u t the details w ith Clifford, and

percentages o f ow nership were deeded over to A udubon C anyon Ranch over

a period o f years.

W ith the Clifford Conly gift o f Cypress Grove arranged , an d the deed o f

the tide land purchase signed by O scar an d Edw ard Johannson , Stan Picher

and I m et w ith the press. The M arin Independent Journal headline on O c to

ber 18, 1971, was in a special orange ink reserved only for disasters:

A U D U BO N BUYS 42 ACRES O N TOMALES BAY. T he article described

Clifford’s ten-acre gift an d the th irty -tw o acre purchase o f tidelands from

Johannson , and gave dire w arnings th a t we “m igh t tie up the fu tu re o f the

bay for the birds.”

In 1992 Clifford, then seventy-eight years old, an d his ran ch forem an,

Bill Tykodi, m oved to an early California hom e they had restored near the

plaza in the tow n o f Sonom a, an d the Ranch to o k over the m anagem en t o f

Cypress Grove. It is now A udu b o n C anyon R anch’s educational a n d research

flagship on Tomales Bay.


Tying Up the Bay for the Birds

However in 1971, Clifford was w orried ab o u t his encircling and aggres

sive neighbors. Yellow ribbons still fluttered everywhere he looked. He was

alarm ed by the m arinas and cond o m in iu m s p roposed to the n o r th an d by

subdivisions p roposed to the east and south. In a personal letter to m e, he

asked A udubon to purchase acreage su rro u n d in g Cypress Grove in o rder to

protect it. “Cypress Grove,” he w rote, “is an island su rro u n d ed by alligators.”

The Johannson tidelands we had just purchased were critical because they

blocked w ater access to large ranches ow ned by Land Investors Research on

each side o f Cypress Grove w hich were slated for m ore than nine h u n d red

hom es.

The key parcel Clifford w anted us to buy was a m arsh land and b luff just

n o r th o f Cypress Grove already ow ned by Land Investors Research. I walked

over it w ith h im and Bill Tykodi one sparkling m o rn in g and agreed it w ould

be a superb addition to Cypress Grove. It included the freshwater m arshes

and the w etlands along C erin i Creek extending to H ighway 1, an d the b ro

ken berm s o f the old railroad along the bay th a t I felt could be restored to

enclose the freshwater m arsh. I realized tha t if w ater

and build ing perm its were available, this twenty-six-

acre m esa and m arsh land overlooking the N ational

Seashore w ould be ideal for co n d o m in iu m develop

m en t and a m arina. Nevertheless, Land Investors

Research needed cash.

I knew tha t if I d id n ’t act quickly the land w ould

be sold to o thers and lost forever. Fortunately, m y

relations w ith Van N orden Logan, the architect for

Land Investors Research, were good. W ith som e tre p

idation I p h oned and asked the question , “Will you

sell?” W hen he answered, “Yes,” I alm ost d ro p p ed the phone.

The group agreed to sell A udu b o n the tw enty-six acres we w an ted for

$29,000 cash. But there was one condition: th a t we give th em a fifty-foot

easem ent to the bay across the fo rm er Johannson tideland parcels to o ther

lands they owned. This cond ition caused m e anxiety because I feared a P an

dora’s Box. However there was n o choice and, on D ecem ber 4, 1 9 7 1 ,1 held

the yellow -ribboned stakes th a t w ould delineate the twenty-six-acre add ition

to Cypress Grove while Van N orden Logan drove the stakes hom e. I held m y

brea th un til this delicate transaction was concluded. Clifford C only and

I were ecstatic, and we celebrated w ith a bo ttle o f cham pagne. We had

Cypress Grove fo rem a n

Bill Tykodi slices a ten-

fo o t-lo n g sandw ich fo r

an A u d u b o n C anyon

R anch board meeting.

Grilled salm on a n d

oysters sim m ered in

the shell were also

served, along w ith

H op K iln Chardonnay.


preserved the bayside and the n o r th e rn flank o f C lifford’s ten-acre crow n

jewel. This area is now know n as Liverm ore M arsh in h o n o r o f Caroline Liv

erm ore, whose family d o na ted twelve th o u san d dollars th ro u g h the M arin

C onservation League tow ard its purchase.

Strategy: Vanquishing the Alligators

If Cypress Grove was to becom e a great wildlife sanctuary in 1972, we

had to raise m ore m oney a n d enlarge its b o undaries quickly while the land

speculators needed cash. M arin C o u n ty resident George Collins, fo rm erly

w ith the San Francisco division o f the N ational Park Service, was one o f the

m asterm inds w ho conceived o f the N ational Seashore. F inanced by a group

called C onservation Associates led by D oris Leonard and D oro thy Varian, he

quietly bo u g h t ranches on the east shore th rea tened w ith subdivisions and

tu rn ed th em over to the state parks. O ften these were ranches where

A udubon C anyon Ranch h ad helped delay earlier plans for subdivisions. I

knew tha t Collins, representing C onservation Associates, was try ing to

acquire the G iacom ini m arsh , M illerton and Tom asini Points, and the

A ud u b o n Canyon

R anch purchased this

twen ty-six-acre fresh

w ater m arsh fro m L and

Investors Research, who

had p la n n ed to develop

7,805 acres along the

bay b u t ended up w ith

zero. We nam ed the

m arsh after Caroline

Livermore.


Angress ranch (at th a t tim e slated for a m otel and c o n d o m in iu m project) all

on the eastern shore for state parks. We w orked together an d gave h im

parcels we ow ned to ro u n d o u t state pa rk boundaries. O u r jo in t goal was to

acquire all the available land betw een Highway 1 an d Tomales Bay for a

stretch o f eleven miles for A udubon C anyon Ranch o r th e California State

Parks system.

Stan Picher and the b o a rd w en t on a crash fund-ra is ing p rog ram . In

rapid succession, spurred by Clifford and me, the

Ranch purchased the fourteen-acre Marshall Creek

delta protecting Cypress Grove from the south . T hen

we purchased fifty-seven acres o f the Cerini Ranch

and forty-one acres o f the Hall Ranch, w hich sepa

ra ted Cypress Grove from Highway 1. These two

parcels were already m apped for subdivision by Land

Investors.

We were also fo rtunate to purchase o u r lonely

sentinels on Tomales Bay, H og an d D uck Islands, for

forty th o u san d dollars from Mike Gahagan, ow ner o f

the weekly Point Reyes Light. These islands, slated for

beach houses, guard the eelgrass beds an d seal hau lou ts o f the oceanic end o f

Tomales Bay.

These acquisitions added up to 182 acres o f superb tideland, freshwater,

and coastal chaparral hab ita t su rro u n d in g o u r Cypress Grove H eadquarters.

These were fu rther secured w hen in 1990 the Point Reyes N ational Seashore

purchased the forty-acre D u n n Ranch to the east next to M arshall Creek.

This purchase was facilitated by Senator Barbara Boxer an d A udubon

Canyon Ranch m anager Skip Schwartz. In 1996 the Ranch d o na ted H og and

Duck Islands to the N ational Park Service.

W hile we still had the fund-ra ising urge in 1972, we also purchased the

forty-tw o-acre O lem a M arsh at the so u th e rn end o f the bay for $51,500.

This was p a rt o f the largest freshwater m arsh in the county. T hen we p u r

chased the entire delta o f Walker/Keys Creek, 96.7 acres, for $15,500 from a

friend o f Clifford’s to prevent any fu ture lagoon housing tracts and to deter a

proposed freeway headed east to S onom a County. We also b o u g h t five acres

on Keys Creek estuary for th irteen th o u san d dollars an d d o na ted it to the

California D ep a rtm en t o f Fish a n d G am e for a fishing access.

In 1985 M argaret Quigley d o nated to A udubon C anyon R anch seventy-

acre Toms Point, a spectacular p ro m o n to ry w ith half a mile o f shoreline

overlooking the en trance o f Tomales Bay It had been designated in the 1969

The C lifford Conly

C enter fo r ecological

research a n d education,

dedicated in 1993, is in

C lifford’s restored

Victorian hom e over

looking Tomales Bay.

From the right: Z um ie ,

Clifford Conly, Bill

Tykodi, a n d me.


Stewards of the Land

T i

s

Edgar W ayburn, m y

instructor in medical

school, w ith his wife

Peggy, was a leading

proponen t o f a fu lly

fu n d e d P oin t Reyes

N ationa l Seashore

and Golden Gate

N a tio n a l Recreation

Area.

he two great N ational parks, the Poin t Reyes N ational

Seashore an d G olden Gate N ational Recreation Area,

plus the G ulf o f the Farallones N ational M arine S anc tu

ary, have their longtim e stewards, including Dr. Edgar

W ayburn, w ho was also b eh ind the Redw ood N ational

Park an d the Alaskan N ational Parks; Am y Meyer, the

sparkplug b eh ind the G olden Gate N ational Recreation

Area; and Peter Behr, the Savior o f the N ational Seashore,

am ong m any others, w ho helped m ake th em possible.

M any organizations are also w orking to ensure tha t

the m agnificent bays an d park lands o f West M arin are

p e rm anen tly pro tec ted an d to provide a pow erful c iti

zen’s constituency an d lobbying force. Each has its ow n

field o f expertise, b u t together they represent thousands

o f citizens in M arin an d th ro u g h o u t the Bay Area.

These groups include th e E nvironm enta l Action C om m ittee o f

W est M arin , the Tomales Bay Association, the Inverness Association,

the Point Reyes Bird O bservatory, A udu b o n C anyon Ranch, M arin

A udubon Society, M arin C onservation League, Coastwalk, Trout

U nlim ited, the M arin A gricultural Land Trust, Friends o f the Estuary,

the Sierra Club, an d others. These groups m eet w ith representatives

from several governm ental agencies an d w ith political bodies as

required. For years the ir D ean, the late State Senator Peter Behr o f

Inverness, b ro u g h t together farm ers an d environm entalists to help

save agriculture an d to take responsibility for preserving the natu ra l

treasures o f West M arin.

12 8 S A V I N G T H E M A R I N - S O N O M A C O A S T

General Plan for a sewer pipeline outfall in to Tomales Bay from

subdivisions on the east shore.

Clifford Conly was m ore th a n pleased; all the alligators su r

round ing his Cypress Grove paradise had been vanqu ished and

we ow ned 432 acres o f superb parcels strategically located

a ro u n d 9,000 acres o f contested tidelands th a t really belonged

to the public. M eanwhile, there were far larger alligators at

w ork across Tomales Bay.

The Senator Who Saved the Seashore

Peter Behr, a liberal Republican, started up the political lad

der as a Mill Valley City C ouncilm an. In 1962 he barely w on a

seat on the M arin C o u n ty Board o f Supervisors in a conten tious

recall election against a coun ty supervisor w ho had vo ted to cut

the N ational Seashore to 20,000 acres. The loser had m istakenly th o u g h t he

could com pensate for the loss o f these park lands by bu ild ing a fishing pier

on Elephant Rock on San Francisco Bay. He had also voted to tu rn the

fam ous Frank Lloyd W right Civic C enter in to a hospital.

At tha t tim e the Point Reyes N ational Seashore an d Cape C od N ational

Seashore were the first na tional parks to be purchased from private

landowners; the rest had been carved from the public dom ain . This m ean t

tha t unless the M arin C o un ty Board o f Supervisors su p p o rted the p roposed

Seashore, there was little chance o f Congress approp ria ting the money. For

six years Behr was a m in o rity on the board , b u t he m anaged to persuade his

fellow supervisors to su p p o rt the fragile N ational Seashore Project.

W hen Behr retired as supervisor in 1968, the Point Reyes N ational

Seashore had exhausted all funds for acquiring land an d was still sh o rt $38

million dollars to com plete its land purchases. W illiam Tevis’ Lake Ranch

was being logged an d cut up in to forty-acre parcels. T he N ational Park Ser

vice had plans to sell off certain Seashore lands to developers for contro lled

subdivisions, an d to use the m on ey to buy the rem ainder o f the pa rk o r o ther

parks. Behr was furious, and in 1969 he started his Save O u r Seashore (SOS)

cam paign. It electrified the entire region. His broadly based team quickly

ob tained a half-m illion signatures on petitions, d is tribu ted by C o u n ty P lan

ning C om m issioner M argaret Azevedo, appealing to President N ixon to

com plete the park purchase. U ntil then, N ixon had adam antly refused to

release funds and bills in Congress h ad p u t the pa rk on hold.

T hen Behr shaped a brilliant stroke. He sent the im m ense signature list

Senator Peter B ehr o f

M arin , know n as the

H a p p y Warrior, rides

his five-speed to w ork

in Sacram ento in 1973.

There, he changed C ali

fo rn ia ’s legislative proc

ess forever by requiring

a pub lished roll call vote

on every bill. This was

a direct fro n ta l attack

on the pow erfu l old boy

netw ork o f timber, water

rights, a n d m in in g

interests. W hen Behr

died in 1997, a t the age

o f 81, there was an

ou tpouring o f praise fo r

one o f the m o st effective

a n d respected statesm en

in C alifornia’s history.

C L I F F O R D C O N L Y ’ S C R O W N J E W E L : C Y P R E S S G R O V E 1 2 9

Audubon Canyon Ranch Strategic Acquisitions on Tomales Bay, 1968-1985 — 432 Acres

Cypress Grove Preserve Headquarters

Located betw een Tom ales Bay and H ighw ay 1,

w ith a co m m an d in g view o f the Po in t Reyes

N ational Seashore and Tom ales Bay, Cypress

Grove's res to red V ictorian h u n tin g lodge houses

educational an d research facilities for salt an d

freshw ater m arsh an d chaparra l habitats. The

Preserve is a m a jo r resting area for m igra tory

b irds on Pacific Flyway.

1. Cypress G rove P ro m o n to ry , a stop on 1875

Sausalito-Russian River ra ilroad, 10-acre gift

from Clifford Conly, Jr. in 1971.

2. Jo hannson O yster T id e la n d purchases, 20.3

acres p ro tec ting Cypress Grove and access to bay,

cost $25,000.

3. D elta o f M a rsh a ll Creek, salt m arsh an d willow

creek habita t, 14.53 acres p ro tec ting sou th e rn

b o u n d a ry o f Cypress Grove, cost $14,756.

4. L iverm ore M arsh , fresh an d salt w ater hab ita t

to the n o rth , 26 acres p ro tec ting the delta o f

Cerini Creek, cost $29,000.

5. P a rt o f C erin i R a n ch (ro lling grasslands)

betw een the bay an d H ighw ay 1, 57 acres

p ro tec ting n o r th e rn b o u n d ary , cost $68,601.

6. P a rt o f H a ll R anch , 41 acres o f chaparral

hab ita t, betw een Cypress Grove and H ighw ay 1,

cost $52,986.

This map by Ane Rovetta depicts Audubon Canyon Ranch

properties purchased or donated along Tomales Bay.

P a c i f i c

O c e a n


Tomales Poin

Cypress Grove Preserve

Toms Point Wildlife Sanctuary, half-m ile o f tidelands

frontage, c o m m an d in g views, grassland habita t, no

access, 71-acre gift f ro m M argare t Q uigley in 1985.

Keys Creek/Walker Creek Delta Saltwater W ildlife Sanctuary, 96.74 acres, rich b ird a n d aquatic life hab ita t

w ith sinuous tidal canals, no access, cost $15,500.

Keys Creek, 5-acre parcel, cost $13,000. G iven to Cali

fo rn ia D ep a r tm e n t o f Fish an d G am e by A u d u b o n

C anyon R anch for fishing access.

Hog and Duck Islands, 8.25 acres guard ing oceanic

h ab ita t o f black b ran t, h a rb o r seal hau l o u t a n d eelgrass

beds, cost $47,250.

Certain Audubon Canyon Ranch Tidelands plus 26

acres o f the C erin i purchase w ere d o n a ted to C alifornia

State Parks D ep a rtm en t to com plete the pu rchase o f

p ro p o sed Angress R anch D ev e lo p m en t b o rd e rin g the

bay n o r th o f Cypress Grove: Kiefer T idelands, 1.04

acres; T ideland gift, .25 acres; an d T idelands sou th

o f N ick’s Cove, 8.1 acres, cost $13,500.

Other Tideland Sanctuaries to protect the shoreline:Berg Tideland Parcel, so u th o f M arshall Tavern , 1.33

acres.

Johannson T ideland Parcel, one-acre at base o f

M arshall Boat W orks bluff.

Inverness Tideland Parcel, V ision Road, .62 acres.

Johannson T ideland Parcel, 9 acres sou th o f M illerton

P o in t near T om ales Bay State Park, long and

narrow , was used for oyster growing.

Shields Marsh Preserve, 4 acres near Inverness Park

overlooking 500-acre T om ales Bay State Ecological

Preserve, cost $10,000.

Olema Marsh Preserve, 42 acres at sou th en d o f the

bay, p a r t o f largest freshw ater m arsh in the C oun ty ,

rich hab ita t restored , cost $51,500.


George Collins o f Ross,

fo rm erly a director o f

the N a tiona l Park

Service, conceived the

P oint Reyes N a tiona l

Seashore Project. A fter

his re tirem ent he helped

the state acquire lands

on the east shore o f

Tomales B ay to p re

ven t subdivisions.

directly to President N ixon and show ed the list to California Senator George

M urphy w ho was ru n n in g for re-election. M u rp h y is said to have to ld his

good friend President N ixon, “Dick, get m e this park; it will help m e get re

elected.” So, in 1970 N ixon freed $38 m illion th a t was there all a long in the

Land and W ater C onservation Fund, and the rem ainder o f Point Reyes

N ational Seashore was purchased by 1972. Ironically, M urphy lost the elec

tion to John Tunney.

W hen N ixon was ru n n in g for a second te rm in 1972,

he was successfully lobbied by Dr. Edgar W ayburn, Am y

Meyer, H uey Johnson, an d now State Senator Peter Behr

to create the G olden Gate N ational Recreation Area as

p a r t o f his cam paign strategy. N ixon w on, released m ore

money, and the new parklands, inc luding federal a rm y

lands, were rapidly acquired on b o th sides o f the G olden

Gate extending in M arin from the M arin H eadlands to

Tomales Bay. These now total ab o u t 74,000 acres along 28

miles o f coastline in M arin , San Francisco, and San M ateo

counties.

All the SOS publicity helped Peter Behr w in his elec

t ion to the California Senate in 1970 and re-election in

1974, where he becam e such a legend th a t w hen one

observer first saw h im rid ing to w ork in Sacram ento on

his bicycle, she cried, “M y God, it’s the Senator w ho saved

the Point Reyes N ational Seashore.”

In West M arin today, there are ab o u t 150,000 acres o f

national, state, county, and city parks, M arin M unicipal w atershed lands,

A udubon C anyon Ranch properties, and pro tec ted tidelands reaching from

the G olden Gate to the Sonom a C o u n ty border. These m ake up the greatest

wilderness park in the n a tion adjacent to a large m etropo litan area.

In the heart o f this wilderness preserve, I am p ro u d to say th a t A udubon

C anyon Ranch operates two m agnificent wildlife sanctuaries, the Bolinas

Lagoon Preserve and the Cypress Grove Preserve o n Tomales Bay, as well as

two smaller groves in M uir Beach an d Bolinas, w hich each w in te r h a rb o r

thousands o f m igra to ry m on arch butterflies. T he M uir Beach Preserve is

nam ed in h o n o r o f Elizabeth Terwilliger.

W ith the sales o f som e o f the ir valuable lands to A udu b o n C anyon

Ranch safely in escrow, o u r fo rm er adversaries in Land Investors Research

slowly began to fade aw ay To m y aston ishm ent, I never lost the friendship o f

m y minister, m y dentist, o r several physicians, all o f w h o m were investors. I

132 S A V I N G T H E M A R I N - S O N O M A C O A S T

th ink th a t they knew I was sincere, d id n ’t attack th em personally, an d m ost

o f M arin C oun ty was on o u r side; an d perhaps they cam e to realize th a t w hat

they had w anted to do was n o t right. By the end o f 1973 this saga o f Tom a

les Bay was nearly over.

The Yellow Ribbons Disappear

For years, m eaningless rows o f yellow surveyor ribbons flu ttered for

lornly as the Land Investors parcels reverted to the ir original ow ners o r were

bough t for state parks, the N ational Seashore, o r by A udubon Canyon

Ranch. In 1976 the new California Coastal C om m ission gave added p ro tec

t ion to fifty-six miles o f M arin ’s coastline by setting p ro tec tion a n d access

requirem ents. By then the coun ty supervisors we h ad helped elect voted to

protect the farm lands along the eastern shore o f Tomales Bay w ith agricu l

tural zoning, establishing a strict, developm ent-deterring sixty-acre m in i

m u m lot size.

C urrently the M arin A gricultural Land Trust, created in 1980, is buying

conservation easem ents (developm ent rights) to preserve agriculture p e r

m anen tly in West M arin . To date MALT has acquired som e tw enty-four

The fillin g o f these rich

Tomales B ay tidelands

— a n d m ost o ther tide

lands in C alifornia—

was stopped p e rm a

nen tly by the 1972

M arks vs. W h itn ey

pub lic tru st law suit

w on by Peter W h itn ey

o f Inverness. This was

a m ajor tu rn ing p o in t

in saving coastal C ali

fo rn ia ’s bays; i t also

should have protected

the sta te’s rivers.


Marks vs. Whitney Tidelands Decision— A Pinnacle

W here this w ading

egret feeds on Tomales

B ay scientists have dis

covered som e seventy

species o fb en th ic inver

tebrates ranging up to

120,000 ind iv iduals per

square m eter o f bottom .

Afar-reaching California Suprem e C o u rt decision affecting every

. California citizen to o k place du ring the battle for Tomales Bay:

M arks vs. W hitney affords the p e rm an en t p ro tec tion o f state tidelands,

m arshlands, and subm erged lands. This im p o r ta n t legal p recedent

was accom plished by Peter W hitney o f Inverness in a law

suit against developer Larry M arks to prevent the filling

o f Tomales Bay tidelands. (Peter W hitney ’s g randfa ther

was the state’s first geologist and M t. W hitney, the highest

p innacle in the Sierra, was n am ed in his honor. W h it

ney’s team was am o n g the first to survey Tomales Bay.)

M arin Superior C o u rt Judge Sam G ardiner, m y rela

tive, ru led against Peter W hitney, b u t his decision was

overruled by a California Suprem e C o u rt decision filed

in M arin C o u n ty on D ecem ber 9, 1971. The decision

declared tha t tidelands sold by the state after 1868 are pro tec ted for

public use and wildlife u n d er the D octrine o f Public Trust.

A key section w ritten by the m ost conservative justice o n the court

was a blow to Judge Gardiner. It read:

One o f the m ost im portant public uses o f tidelands— a use

encompassed w ith in the tideland trust— is the preservation o f

those lands in their natural state, so tha t they m ay serve as ecolog

ical units fo r scientific study, as open space, and as environments

which provide food and habitats fo r birds and m arine life, and

which favorably affect the scenery and the climate o f the area.

This case and the M ono Lake case, N ational A udubon Society vs.

Los Angeles Water and Power decided on February 17, 1983, were two

o f the defining Public Trust lawsuits o f this century. In 1994 the M ono

Lake C om m ittee presented its D efender o f the Public Trust Award to

A udubon C anyon Ranch a tto rney George Peyton w ho had rallied the

N ational A udubon Society b eh in d the M ono Lake lawsuit.


thousand acres, com prising m ore th an thirty-five ranches, extending from

Tomales Bay east to the S onom a C o u n ty border. This is ab o u t twenty-five

percent o f the p rim e agricultural lands in the county. O ne o f the first to jo in

the Land Trust was the Straus Ranch, now the region’s p rem ier organic dairy.

In 1995 C ongressw om an Lynn W oolsey an d M arin C o u n ty Supervisor

Gary G iacom ini p roposed the federal acquisition o f conservation easem ents

on forty th o u san d additional acres o f ranch lands along the

east shore o f Tomales Bay, expanding the N ational Seashore

from Point Reyes S tation to near Bodega H ead in S onom a

County. This park w ould b o th preserve agriculture and

becom e S onom a’s first na tional park. The M arin A gricul

tural Land Trust w ould handle the new easem ent acquisi

tions. As I write, Congress is still considering the m easure.

Persistence Pays

U nder Stan P icher’s leadership, the Ranch had raised

som e $1.5 m illion by 1973 from thousands o f donors

th rough a dozen large fund drives. It used these funds to

preserve for wildlife som e th ir ty properties to taling m ore

th an sixteen h u n d red acres on b o th bays. The lessons we

learned were tha t persistence, o rganization, and a large in fo rm ed c o n

stituency pay off. The ripple effect from o u r first purchase o f C anyon Ranch

twelve years before had vast and unan tic ipa ted consequences in saving the

West M arin paradise.

Today, Tomales Bay looks precisely the sam e as it d id w hen I tr ied to

sw im across it as a boy a n d was chased by a sea lion. The shoreline is u n d e

veloped, the w ater is clean, and the sea lions still sw im up to the m o u th o f

Lagunitas Creek to fish for coho salm on each fall.

So far, ou r p a r t in the revolt against the greedy real estate engine was a

success. O u r purchases h ad helped secure b o th approaches to the Point

Reyes N ational Seashore, an d had in itia ted the scientific m anagem en t o f the

Bolinas Lagoon and the Tomales Bay watersheds w ith the Tomales Bay Envi

ronm enta l Study (see box). Later, A udubon C anyon Ranch Preserves on

Bolinas Lagoon becam e inholdings o f the G olden Gate N ational Recreation

Area, saving the na tion m illions o f dollars in purchase costs.

To make M arin ’s slow grow th perm an en t, it was necessary to b lock the

W arm Springs D am on the Russian River an d the pipeline p lanned from the

Russian River to M arin. T ha t was m y next adventure.

George Peyton o f O a k

land was A u d u b o n

C anyon R a n ch ’s legal

advisor a n d board

m em ber fo r over th ir ty

years. H e was in stru

m en ta l in com pleting

the purchase o f A u d u

bon C anyon Ranch,

arranging the g ift o f

Cypress Grove, a n d

negotiating the g ift o f

the Bouverie A udubon

Preserve in Sonom a

County. H e also

brought the N a tiona l

A u d u b o n Society into

the M o n o Lake battle,

ensuring victory.


A Landmark Watershed Study for Tomales Bay

The Tomales Bay Environm ental Study is a simple, inexpensive

approach we used to assess M arin ’s largest w atershed an d how

best to m anage its resources for sustainability. This was one o f the first

r idgetop-to-ridgetop m anagem en t studies in the co u n try an d rem ains

a useful m odel for o ther counties.

As usual, M arin C oun ty claim ed it was broke, b u t the p lann ing

chief still assigned coun ty p lanner R uth C orw in full-tim e to the p ro

ject. The study was conceived by lead scientists Rowan R ountree and

David W alker o f The C onservation Foundation

o f W ashington D C, w hich was funded by the

Ford F oundation . M uch o f the basic w ork was

done by landscape architects an d the ir s tudents

in the U C School o f E nvironm enta l Design.

A udubon C anyon Ranch, the M arin C onserva

tion League, an d o thers raised fifteen th o u san d

dollars tow ard expenses. Jerry F riedm an o f

Inverness and I co-chaired the advisory co m

m ittee th a t w orked w ith a panel o f th irteen

scientists w ho were experts in the ir respective fields. Som e were so

enthusiastic abou t the project th a t they d o na ted the ir services.

Fortunately, I was w orking tow ard a m aste r’s degree in Public

H ealth at the tim e an d was able to convince m y professor, R obert

Cooper, to w rite the segm ent on the E nvironm enta l H ealth o f Tomales

Bay. This included the crucial issue o f sewage disposal.

The scientists and team m em bers used Cliff C only’s Cypress

Grove as the ir base o n Tomales Bay. The University o f the Pacific

M arine S tation at D illon Beach len t us the ir biological studies o f the

bay. M uch o f the field w ork was done by volunteers. To keep the sci

entists and the ir families happy, we h ad delightful barbecues at the

Dr. Robert Cooper (left),

Professor o f Landscape

Architecture Robert

Twiss (right), a n d other

UC Berkeley professors

used facilities in West

M a rin to conduct the

Tomales B ay E nviron

m enta l Study. Center

is D avid W alker o f The

Conservation F ounda

tion, who was chairm an

o f the project.


Jerry F riedm an o f P oint

Reyes S ta tion was co

chair w ith m e o f the

1973 Tomales B ay

E n vironm en ta l Study.

Jerry fo u n d e d the E n vi

ronm en ta l A ction C o m

m ittee o f W est M arin

a n d served fo r eighteen

years on the M arin

C o u n ty P lan n in g C o m

mission, appoin ted by

Supervisor G ary Giaco-

m in i to keep the new

C oun tyw ide Plan on

track.

Ranch and at Cypress Grove.

The final two h u n d red page b o o k w ith m aps an d pho tos was

released in 1972 and strengthened the M arin C ountyw ide Plan,

adopted in 1973. For the first tim e m ost o f the essential features o f the

w atershed an d Tomales Bay were described in one place, includ ing a

legal review o f the ordinances an d laws affecting the w atershed along

w ith its geology, hydrology, h u m a n history, land use, soils, climates,

aesthetics, wildlife, plants, fisheries, aquatic biology, agriculture, and

public health.

It was tru ly a rem arkable study for its time. U nfortunately , the

Foundation never com pleted a second volum e detailing m anagem ent

goals, b u t the C o u n ty enacted direct positive m anagem en t in the form

o f agricultural zoning, w aterw ay ordinances, an d the C ountyw ide

Plan w ith environm enta l co rridors an d resource conservation zones.

C L I F F O R D C O N L Y ’S C R O W N J E W E L : C Y P R E S S G R O V E 137


C H A P T E R E L E V E N

A Water Moratorium Stops Sprawl

. . . when you add a couple o f freeway lanes, cars come o u t o f

nowhere to fill them. I t was the same w ith water; the more you

develop, the more growth occurred, and the faster dem and grew.

California was now hitched to a runaway locomotive.

— M ark Reisner, Cadillac Desert

During 1973, five h u m b led m e n — m yself am ong th e m — learned

th a t being an elected m em ber o f a public water distric t is n o t for the

fa in t-hearted . We fo u n d ourselves in an inferno at the height o f the

water wars betw een M arin and S onom a counties, accused by angry develop

ers o f “controlling grow th w ith water.”

Actually, this accusation was at least partly true . In the absence o f any

effective land-use p lann ing controls in M arin , there were th ree ways to cap

unchecked, developer-driven sprawl: p roh ib it freeway construc tion in to

West M arin, lim it sewerage h o okups th a t w ould pollute the bays o r ocean,

and deny new w ater perm its d u ring a water shortage. M arin voters chose all

three m ethods, b u t w ater was the m ost controversial.

Shortly before C hristm as 1972, a tto rney Tom T h o rn e r p h o n e d m e to

suggest tha t I ru n for a vacant slot on the b oard o f the M arin M unicipal

W ater District. T horner, along w ith B arbara Boxer (later a supervisor, th en a

Senator) had been a leader in “T he P lot to Save M arin.” This was a slogan o f

the cam paign against the 1971 ballot m easure to p ipe Russian River water to

M arin, open ing the way for explosive grow th. The ballot m easure was

defeated by an as tound ing n in e -to -o n e m arg in . The voters had said “N o” to

further grow th by refusing to rely o n Russian River water.

But even w ith o u t Russian River w ater the developers d em an d ed even

m ore build ing an d w ater perm its. Both Tom T h o rn e r and Ted W ellman,

water supply expert for the M arin C onservation League, filled m e in o n the

Lagunitas Lake, in

the shadow o f M t.

Tamalpais, is p a r t o f

the p u b lic ’s watershed

th a t provides drink ing

w ater fo r m o st o f M arin .

In 1967 M a rin M u n ic i

p a l W ater D istric t su p

ported a new d a m on

the Russian R iver and

an aqueduct to im port

massive a m o u n ts o f

w a ter— enough fo r

spraw ling grow th.

M a rin was abo u t to

be hitched to a “ru n

aw ay locomotive.”

A W A T E R M O R A T O R I U M S T O P S S P R A W L 139

Tom Thorner o f

Kentfield, w ho served

as W ater D istric t a ttor

ney fro m 1973 to 1984,

devised the slogan “The

Plot to Save M arin

C o u n ty” fo r the M eas

ure E cam paign in 1971.

N in ety -o n e percent o f

the voters turned dow n

a proposed aqueduct

fro m the Russian River

to Southern M arin .

This w as called the

single m ost im p o rta n t

vote in stem m in g ru n

aw ay grow th in M arin

County.

issues: the failure o f the coun ty and its cities to con tro l grow th and the fail

ure to conserve and recycle water. In addition , they said th a t M arin w ould

con tinue to be targeted by o u t-o f-co u n ty developers an d the state w ater

lobby. They said these outsiders needed to spu r the rap id grow th o f M arin

and S onom a counties to force the com pletion o f W arm Springs D am in

Sonom a County.

W arm Springs D am was to be bu ilt on D ry Creek, a tr ib u ta ry o f

the Russian River near Healdsburg, by the US A rm y C orps o f Engi

neers for the S onom a C o u n ty W ater Agency. The C orps h ad been

p lanning this so-called “flood contro l p ro ject” since 1940. N one o f

the w ater was to be used for agriculture; all was slated for m unic ipal

use, if it was built. T he co m bina tion o f the subsidized dam , cheap

water, and a pipeline th ro u g h S onom a C o u n ty into M arin was a

developer’s dream com e true. It could accom m odate u rban iza tion

o f the counties from b o rd e r to border.

M y family encouraged m e to ru n for the w ater b o a rd seat, even

th o u g h I w ould have to w ork full t im e to overcom e the pow erful b i

county, p ro -dam , p ro -g row th lobby th a t backed the A rm y C orps o f

Engineers. Pam Lloyd, a b righ t young Mill Valley resident fresh from the

E nvironm ental F o rum class we had just s tarted at A ud u b o n C anyon Ranch,

agreed to be m y cam paign m anager an d John A nton , a financial genius and

neighbor, w ould be m y finance chairm an. Before the election cam paign was

over, o u r opposition had spent som e $ 1 0 0 ,0 0 0 ; o u r costs had been abou t

$25,000. Jerry H auke, an engineer from M ill Valley, was m y m ain o pponen t,

an d we b o th ran to win. At stake was M arin ’s future.

T he M arin M unicipal W ater D istric t is the p ioneer m unic ipal w ater d is

tric t in California. It is highly dem ocratic and the public can vote o n its

w ater projects. Its regularly scheduled m eetings are o pen to the public and

covered by the press. S tate-chartered in 1912, it consists o f a general m a n

ager an d five elected directors from its five divisions, w hich are all located in

the sou thern ha lf o f M arin. It includes ten o f the eleven cities in M arin.

N ovato to the n o r th is served by the N o rth M arin W ater D istrict, whose

w ater comes from the Russian River. M y district included Kent W oodlands,

C orte M adera, Alta Valley, a n d Mill Valley.

A Wilderness Watershed Preserved

I was no stranger to the 21,500-acre w ater d istrict lands. T hey included

the tim bered w atershed o f Lagunitas Creek an d reached to th e top o f Bolinas


Ridge, alm ost to A udubon C anyon Ranch. In fact, o u r h o m e was on the edge

o f w ater district lands.

O w ing to the trem endous rainfall on the n o r th slope o f M o u n t Tam al

pais, the M arin M unicipal W ater D istrict had always been self-sufficient in

w ater cap tu red in its reservoir lakes along Lagunitas Creek. T he largest

recorded rainfall was ten feet at Alpine Lake d u rin g the w in te r o f 1889-1890.

However, there were d ry years back-to-back w hen the rainfall over the

tw enty-eight-square-m ile w atershed was a scant n ineteen inches. Because

the w atershed o f the Russian River was fifty tim es la rger— 1,450 square

miles w ith a ru n o ff o f m ore th an one m illion acre-feet a year— the district

manager, Bill Seeger, looked there for fu ture supplies.

The public-spirited distric t opera ted eight m ajo r recre

ational areas an d m ain ta ined hu n d red s o f miles o f trails.

They protected the land against invasions o f non-native p lant

species, fire, feral pigs, four-wheelers, an d eventually, m o u n

ta in bikes. Its rem ote w oods su p p o rted an astound ing diver

sity o f native plants, b irds and o th e r wildlife, a paradise for

cougar, bobcat, and osprey.

D uring the s trenuous six m o n th s o f m y cam paign for

office, I ran four-m iles cross-coun try each afte rnoon from

Kentfield to Fairfax, th ro u g h chaparral and Douglas fir forests

alive w ith iris, all on w ater d istric t lands. I ended at Pete

A rrigoni’s b a r for a beer an d w aited for a ride hom e. I loved

these w ild lands so close to cities. T hey m ade m e m o u rn for

the beautifu l canyon the O akland Boy Scouts h ad sold for

developm ent so long before.

M arin C oun ty is lucky. O nly one percent o f all the public w ater districts

in the US are said to ow n the ir ow n watersheds an d can readily p ro tec t their

source o f drink ing water.

=L.A.2

“Good Old Boys” at Work

W hat convinced m e to seek the M arin M unicipal W ater D istric t seat

were the land uses the “good old boys” w ho then ran the d istrict allowed. For

a small fee, the district leased 167 acres o f its lush m eadow s an d w oods to the

privately ow ned M eadow Club for a golf course. T hey leased six th o u san d

acres to a h u n tin g club. But the ru m o r th a t chilled m e to the b o n e was th a t

if fifty thousand acre-feet o f water, enough for ab o u t 300,000 people,

reached sou thern M arin by pipeline from the Russian River, the thousands

DON'T LOS ANGELIZE

MARIN

★ ★ ★

VOTENO

ON MEASURE ’E'

A vote against the

So n o m a -M a rin A q u e

d u c t (M easure E) in

1971 was also a vote to

discourage high dam s

on the Russian a n d Eel

rivers w hich w ould

divert large am o u n ts

o f w ater to Sonom a a n d

M a rin counties a n d to

Southern California.


M28 jfa ftrp rn b p n t-jfo u rn a l,__________Saturday, April 14, 1973

Water Board Race Poses Key QuestionShould Supply Be Limited

To Control Development?Residents of the M arin Mu

nicipal W ater D istric t’s Division Four will have the chance to decide if they w ant the d ist r i c t to r e s t r i c t p o p u la tio n grow th by lim iting w ater supp ly w hen they go to the polls Tuesday to choose a rep resen ta tive to the MMWD board.

T here a re 17,019 reg istered voters in Division Four.

T hree candidates, with d iv e rse views on th a t controversial question, a re seeking to rep lace D irector Eugene A. Miller — who resigned last N ovem ber — as represen tative for the division which includes Mill Valley, and p a r ts of T am alpais Valley,

Corte M adera and Kentfield.D r. L. M artin Griffin, physi

c ian and conservationist, believes th a t lim iting supply m ay be the only w ay to curb population, since he thinks the p ro posed county-wide p lan m ay not be effective in stopping overdevelopment.

Two o ther contenders for the board post, Je ro m e C. H auke, a civil engineer and fo rm er Mill V a lley c i ty c o u n c i lm a n , and Ross S. Shade, a. certified public a c c o u n ta n t , c o n te n d th a t p lanning and responsibility for lim iting developm ent should be left to the county’s planning agencies.

. MARTIN GRIFFINK entfield in tern ist

THE QUESTION of a m ora to rium on new connections — p a rticu la rly for la rg e developm ents — has a lso been one of the m a jo r cam paign issues.

T he d is tric t board has conside red a connection ban on a t lea s t th ree occasions — alw ays before la rg e audiences —, but the proposal has failed to pass.

There has been considerable c o n tro v e r s y on t h a t s u b je c t am ong d is tric t res idents , with one group believing th a t the d is tric t is facing a w a te r sho rtage and should cu rta il new connections and ano ther which contends there is enough w a te r to g ra n t all new serv ices until additional supply is found.

Since M iller’s resignation, the four-m an MMWD board h as of-

-ta n cnlit 9.9 nn th p g r a n t in g of

JERO M E C . HAUKE P lann ing e n g in e e r

Griffin, fo rm er chief of m edicine a t M arin G eneral and Ross Hospitals and co-founder of the Ross Valley Clinic, left his m edical p rac tice in 1971 to re tu rn to U.C. w here he obtained a M ast e r ’s D egree in public health, specializing in environm ental hea lth sciences.

He now devotes h is tim e to w orking fo r a b e tte r environ m en t in m any d ifferen t ways, including serv ing a s a m em ber of the environm ental quality com m ittee of the city-county p lanning council and lobbying fo r p a s s a g e of Sen . P e t e r B eh r 's Wild R ivers Bill while a delegate to the E e l R iv e r W ater Council.

Griffin is cu rren tly cha irm an of the T om ales B ay land ac- q u is i t io n fo r th e A udubon

1 1 1R O SS S . SHADE Public a cc o u n ta n t

only to sm all p ro jec ts — like single-fam ily hom es — until a new supply is developed.

The d is tr ic t should use the legal m eans it now h as a t its d isposal to help im plem ent the goals of the county-wide plan, par ticu la r ly the grow th control objectives, accord ing to Griffin.

One of the tools he m entioned is a new am endm en t to the governm en t code w hich m akes i t positive for the MMWD to tak e a planning ro le for all w ate r-re la ted resources , such a s m arshes, e s tuaries and w atersheds. The new regulation could p e rm it the d is tr ic t to have an official voice in dealing with developm ent proposed for these a reas , he said.

Griffin sa id th e re a r e cu rren tly efforts to underm ine the

(Polit ical A dverti sement) (Poli tical Adverti sement)

RE-ELECT

I won this superheated

election on the prem ise

th a t the W ater D istrict

could proh ib it new

w ater hookups i f there

was insufficient water.

In 1973 our board voted

to ban new hookups in

M arin , a m oratorium

th a t lasted fo r three

years a n d enabled the

county to im p lem en t

strong city -coun ty p la n

n ing controls, slow ing

county growth.

o f acres o f the M arin M unicipal W ater D istrict w atershed w ould n o longer

be needed and m igh t be declared surp lus an d sold for developm ent.

I learned tha t the district had been secretively selling off po rtions o f its

lands. There were even ru m o rs th a t a w ater d istric t d irec tor had b o u g h t ten

choice acres overlooking Fairfax. This was despite a far-sighted coun ty o rd i

nance sponsored by Supervisor Peter Behr in 1964 th a t classified w ater d is

tric t lands as public open space. The m easure was violently opposed by

Sam Gardiner, then w ater d istrict attorney, w h o m Behr called “a fly in the

o in tm en t” in his oral history.

D uring m y cam paign, I cam e to know h u n d red s o f m y w ell-educated

constituents. They were alm ost unan im ously opposed to the rap id grow th

tha t since W orld W ar II had been filling the m arshes an d eroding the steep

slopes w ith poorly p lanned subdivisions. They were ou traged by the diffi

culty and high costs o f providing public services such as schools, fire and

police pro tection , an d tran sp o rta tio n for leap-frog subdivisions. They

insisted th a t we rely on o u r w ater supplies from M t. Tamalpais an d n o t steal

w ater from distan t watersheds such as the Russian o r Eel rivers. This becam e

one p lank in m y cam paign.

But a m ore fundam enta l issue h au n ted me. The prom ise o f inexpensive


water from the Russian o r Eel rivers w ould serve

the developers to drive up the p o pu la tion o f M arin.

Between 1950 and 1970, the p o pu la tion o f M arin

C oun ty had grow n from ab o u t 85,000 to 209,000,

and the A rm y C orps o f Engineers projected a p o p u

lation o f 650,000 by 2010. A large p a r t o f th a t devas

tating grow th was still p lanned for the east shore

o f Tomales Bay, an d the shallow tide land areas on

the east side o f the county. By 1997 the p o pu la tion

o f M arin stabilized at 245,000 w ith no significant

change projected by 2 0 1 0 .

Turning Off the Spigot

W hen I m ade m y bid in 1973, m anager Bill

Seeger, w ho had been p resident o f the Eel River W ater

Council, was still actively push ing the Russian River

W arm Springs D am Project. H e w anted to con tinue

exploiting a Pacific Gas an d Electric tu n n e l diverting

160,000 acre-feet a year from the Eel River in to the Russian River, enough

w ater for nearly a m illion people. To m e, this was stealing M endocino and

H um b o ld t counties’ w ater and using it to p u m p up the real estate prices o f

M arin and Sonom a Counties. It also m ean t sacrificing the sa lm on and steel-

head tha t had for centuries spaw ned in the Eel river.

Seeger saw his d u ty as supplying w ater to m eet the p o p u la tio n estimates

o f the A rm y Corps. The best sources o f w ater for the future, he felt, were

dam s to be built on the Eel River in M endocino C o u n ty to augm en t large

dam s on the Russian River. N either M arin n o r S onom a residents h ad a vote

on the dams, a lthough p a r t o f the w ater from those dam s was earm arked for

M arin an d S onom a counties, and the rest for sou th e rn California. If this

plan were to succeed, Los Angeles w ould grow even larger, an d o u r two

counties w ould grow ever m ore like it.

As I saw it, th is type o f advance, large-scale w ater p lann ing by p ro

grow th advocates was ru in ing o u r rivers, killing o u r wildlife an d salm on,

creating u rb an sprawl, and destroying large parts o f California as decent

places to live, all w ith very little public input. These destructive dam s an d

w ater transfers were the reason the state’s p o pu la tion had been able to soar

from four m illion to th irty -tw o m illion people in m y lifetime.

M y relative, Sam Gardiner, lawyer-developer an d later Superior C o u rt

The boundaries o f the

M a rin M u n ic ip a l W ater

D istric t (dotted lines)

included m iles o f shal

low tidelands in San

Francisco B ay which

previous boards had

approved o f fillin g fo r

developm ent. A fter

m y election as a W ater

D istric t director in

1973, we curtailed

this practice.


"I feel that the voters, who pay the costs, have the right to stop unreasonable, unregulated growth by refusing to expand the water supply."

Martin Griffin

Join us in electing

Martin GriffinDirector of Marin Municipal Water District on April 17

Partial list of endorsers

i Mrs. Cliff (Oorothy)

& Mrs. George

Campaign Chairm

30 Beverly Terrace ■

Charles (Polly)

■s. Tris (Molly)

Faber. Mrs. EdwarO T. (Phyllis)

Ir. & Mrs. Philip (Elizabeth)

rs. Scott (Debbie)

n ■ Pam LloydMill Valley. CA 94941

Marin's future: will it be

destroyed by overdevelopment?

8ULK RATE PAID

MILL VALLEY, CA. PERMIT NO. 27

Whether or not we are destroyed by overdevelopment

still rides on the issue of water.

Twice in the last year the water district board has unanimously declared a threatened water shortage. Yet for many months the district continued to promise water for large developments. City and county planning staffs still continue to approve a flood of townhouses and condominiums." The 9 to 1 defeat of the Sonoma-Marin aqueduct (measure B) in 1971, widely interpreted as a public mandate to limit growth, has gone unheeded.

The district has now overcommitted its long range water supply by 25%. Major builders - most from out of county - have no concern for Marin's future. They will turn the pleasant residential communities of Mill Valley, Corte Madera and Kentfield into a noisy, polluted, congested urban corridor. They continue to exert tremendous pressure on (he board to gram water hookups, jeopardizing the water supply of present

Marin's future will continue to ride on the issue of water. Our Countywide Plan is intended to limit growth, but has no mechanism for doing so. It can only work if annual growth limits are firmly set by each city and the county. Otherwise a future water supply will be quickly exhausted by a deluge of building permits.

Martin Griffin says:Future growth should be limited to the water supply capacity of Marin's watershed lands. Such a policy would make the Countywide Plan workable, would allow for reasonable growth, would encourage reclamation of water and end bay pollution. By refusing to import Russian River water our voters would spare Sonoma and Mendocino irreparable damage to their environment.

cover photo•6

Water Supply of Present Users must be protected. A threatened water shortage has been declared. State Water Code Section 356 provides a mechanism to protect the supply of present users. Every large hookup which increases the chance of water rationing should be refused. The users, past and present, paid for our district lakes and water supply system - not the developers. The issue is whether large development interests w ill control the district or whether it will now be run for the public good.

The Water District must be a leader in protecting Marin's environment.Its expertise in water and land management must be put to work in implementing environmental goals of the Countywide Plan. The water district should use recent laws which enable it to help end bay pollution, and protect critical marshlands and steep erodable slopes. Pipeline extensions, if granted to developments in (hese fragile areas, often lead to flooding and pollution, and a consequent rise in everyone's taxes

While accepting its new environmental obligations, the district must not forget it is a service utility. Water of the highest quality and better service to users must be primary goals.

The district can help implement Countywide Open Space Goals.The district should purchase additional Nicasioand Kent Lake watershed lands. Other agencies should be given assistance in acquiring lands adjacent to the district, such as North Ridge and Bald Hill.

Protection of water district lands must continue. Loopholes in the Public Resources Code must be closed so that none of the water district's 18.000 acres will ever be sold. The Marin Conservation League's criteria which protect Mt, Tamalpais should be extended to the Nicasio watershed lands. Exotic plants in district lands and buffer areas must be controlled or native plants and animals will gradually

Qualifications:Martin Griffin is uniquely qualified to be director of the Marin Municipal Water District because he has served the county effectively and aggressively in watershed planning, in County Park and open space acquisition, and in environmental education. He has the time for the job and has no conflicts of interest.

He knows the water resource and land problems of the water district. He was named chairman of the Tomales Bay Environmental Study (including its watershed), sponsored by nine conservation and planning groups. This watershed contains all of the district's water storage lakes and possible future lakes.

Dr. Griffin is co-founder of Audubon Canyon Ranch and was its chairman for four years. He is past president of Marin Audubon Society. He helped establish Richardson Bay Preserve and chaired acquisition of Kent Island County Park and 5 miles of waterfront on Tomales Bay. He is a long time member of the Marin Conservation League, The Nature Conservancy and is a Sierra Club trip leader. He is co-founder of Marin Environmental Forum and a founding director of Louise Boyd Museum.

He is a physician trained in Public Health and Environmental Science. He is a member of the Environmental Health Committee of the Marin Medical Society which played an active role in the overwhelming defeat of the Sonoma-Marin aqueduct (measure B) in 1971. After 19 years of practice at the Ross Valley Clinic he is now devoting his full efforts to environmental problems in Marin.


judge, had been a tto rney for the w ater d istrict for years. H e was followed by

his partner, a tto rney Bob Elliott, w ho su p p o rted Seeger’s views. I figured it

was tim e to step in an d th row the family weight in a different direction.

A Revolution in Water Policy

Pam Lloyd helped m e draft a s trong cam paign p la tfo rm th a t ch am p i

oned slow grow th relying on M arin ’s w ater supply alone. T he plan em p h a

sized w ater conservation and wastewater recycling, an d a takeover by ou r

water district o f local sanitary districts to end the d u m p in g o f sewage,

sludge, and poorly treated effluent directly in to the bays. We p rom ised to

proh ib it w ater pipelines th a t w ould be used for the developm ent o f tidelands

in M arin. New hookups w ould be proh ib ited if w ater was insufficient for

existing custom ers. I also p rom ised to charge the M eadow Club, o f w hich

Seeger was an h o n o ra ry m em ber, full ren t an d to enforce Peter B ehr’s o rd i

nance to preserve w ater district lands.

The platform appealed to the conservationists o f M arin b u t ou traged

m ost realtors, som e o f w hom were m y patients an d friends. T he coun ty

supervisors were concerned tha t if I won, m y swing vote on the w ater b oard

w ould cause a construc tion slum p by p roh ib iting new w ater hookups. Even

so, Supervisor Pete A rrigoni had appo in ted m e in 1972, before the election,

to represent M arin o n the Eel River W ater Council, replacing Bill Seeger.

M uch to Bill’s disgust, the supervisors eventually followed m y reco m m en d a

tions in sup p o rt o f Senator Peter Behr, o u r cham pion in the state senate, to

oppose the W arm Springs D am , su p p o rt the state listing o f o u r n o r th coast

waterways as W ild and Scenic Rivers, an d dissolve the Eel River W ater C o u n

cil. This was one m ajor revolution against state w ater policy.

M y cam paign d idn’t have to struggle to catch the public’s interest. We

d idn’t have to spend anything on advertising since there was d em an d from

environm ental and hom eow ners groups for m e as a speaker an d local new s

papers featured num erous stories. W herever I spoke, I was taped by the

opposition , obviously hop ing o r try ing to trip m e up o r catch m e saying

som eth ing I’d regret later. The Sierra Club, A udubon Society, M arin C onser

vation League, and m any o ther o rganizations backed m e and offered advice.

The week before the election, Jerry H auke’s team organized a costly

phone cam paign to contact every voter in the district. Pam ’s team c o u n te r

acted this effort by arguing endlessly w ith the callers, tying up the ir phone

lines. I w on the election in a landslide in April 1973, and I stepped righ t into

a h o rn e t’s nest.

M y cam paign fo r the

W ater D istric t board

was on a grow th-control

platform . M a rin voters

had overw helm ingly

approved the lim itin g

o f deve lopm en t to the

available water supply

in 1971. The California

State W ater Code now

encourages this k in d

o f planning.


The Moratorium

M y election broke a tw o-tw o tie on the w ater board . Jordan M artinelli

an d Jack M cPhail were long-established businessm en w ho still favored a

pipeline from the Russian River, even th o u g h it had been overw helm ingly

defeated by the voters. Jack Felson, a you th cam p operator, an d Ron

Stafford, a Sausalito physician, opposed Russian River w ater an d favored a

m o ra to r iu m on new hookups while new sources o f w ater were fo u n d w ith in

the county. At m y first m eeting, we asked Bill Seeger an d his staff to give us

an accurate ru n d o w n o n o u r w ater supply an d the dem ands on it. The press

was there, an d we w anted th em to hear directly from the m anager how des

perate was the w ater shortage we faced.

Bill’s graphs show ed an overdraft o f ab o u t four th o u san d acre-feet per

year over safe yield. Alarmingly, even th o u g h there was n o surplus w ater

available, som e two th o u san d applicants had been p rom ised w ater hookups,

pending the results o f the election.

M y position as swing vote was n o t a good one from the s tan d p o in t o f m y

health, security, and equanim ity. However, at th a t first m eeting, in a room

packed with burly construc tion workers, o u r b o a rd voted u nan im ously for a

m o ra to r iu m on new w ater h o okups un til a new w ater supply could be

obtained. Board m em bers M artinelli an d M cPhail had been convinced o f

the w ater shortage an d jo ined the aye votes. I felt vindicated.

Immediately, we asked Bill Seeger to develop a m odel w ater conservation

p rog ram and to ob ta in 4,300 acre-feet o f surplus Russian River w ater tha t

the district had b o u g h t som e years before. This was to be supplied th ro u g h

a pipeline extending from Novato in the N o rth M arin W ater D istric t to San

Rafael.

It was obvious tha t the new b o ard m akeup did n o t have the su p p o rt o f

w ater d istrict a tto rney Bob Elliott. In an tic ipation o f litigation from his fo r

m er law partner, Sam Gardiner, Jack Felson and I visited Elliot an d asked

h im to resign. H e did this graciously, an d the b o a rd in terview ed several

attorneys, appo in ting Tom T h o rn e r w ho proved to be a superb choice—

cool u n d er fire, well-organized, b righ t, an d fair-m inded. H e served until

1985, w hen he resigned.

A Dreadful Mistake

W ith a u n an im o u s vote for a m o ra to r iu m , o u r b o a rd felt secure in m ee t

ing an onslaught o f lawsuits (for dam ages) charging the loss o f the righ t to


develop property. But at th a t p o in t we m ade a dreadful mistake. Bill Seeger

talked us in to ho ld ing a public m eeting an d a re-vote on the m o ra to r iu m in

the county supervisors’ cham bers. It tu rn e d in to a m ob scene. C onstruc tion

workers w ho were given the day off got d ru n k on beer in the civic center

parking lo t and hu n g m e in effigy. Even worse, after angry threats against

their businesses before a packed cham ber, M artinelli a n d M cPhail changed

their votes. However, the vote rem ained th ree-to -tw o for a m o ra to r iu m .

Som ew hat shaken, m y wife an d I were escorted h o m e late tha t n igh t by the

sheriff.

D uring the next few days lawsuits were filed against the three o f us (Fel-

son, Griffin, Stafford) as individuals an d against the w ater distric t itself. Sam

G ardiner sued m e personally for $25 m illion, claim ing th a t “old settlers were

d iscrim inating against new settlers.”

T hank G od for Tom Thorner. He reassured us th a t we h ad followed the

m andate o f o u r electorate and th a t we had every r ig h t— indeed the duty,

considering the lack o f w a te r— to call a m o ra to riu m . T here were letters o f

sup p o rt from all over the state. To advise us, we h ired an a tto rney from the

Goleta W ater D istrict in Santa B arbara w hich h ad established a w ater m o ra

Attgry, sign carrying

construction workers

p icketed this 1973

m eeting o f the M arin

M unicipa l W ater D is

trict board w here the

five elected directors

voted for a m ora torium

on new w ater hook-ups.

I ’m on the left, n e x t to

lack M cPhail, Jordan

M artinelli, M anager

Bill Seeger a n d Jack

Felson. D irector Ron

Stafford is n o t shown.

A W A T E R M O R A T O R I U M S T O P S S P R A W L 1 4 7

to r iu m after residents voted against tying in to a state aqueduct.

O u r board h ired the com peten t firm o f Ferguson an d C apri to defend us

from the lawsuits filed against us. D oug Ferguson’s wife, Jane, was on the

b oard o f the A udubon C anyon Ranch. We never h ad to go to c o u rt o r give

depositions. We lost o u r first hearing in Superior C ourt, presided over by

W arren M cGuire, b u t w on on appeal. G radually the lawsuits were d ropped .

The accusation tha t we were “contro lling grow th w ith w ater” have persisted

to this day, b u t are less volatile now since n u m ero u s com m unities th ro u g h

ou t the state, having ru n o u t o f resources such as water, sewage disposal, and

even clean air, have enacted the ir ow n m ora to rium s.

In stories and editorials in the M arin Independent Journal, W ishard

Brown and Jack C raem er attacked the w ater h o o k u p m o ra to rium . C raem er

was on the board o f the California State A utom obile Association, which

pushed freeways for West M arin an d up the S onom a coast.

The m o ra to r iu m on new w ater h o okups lasted un til 1976. W arm

Springs D am , which barely survived attacks on m any fronts by the growing

b i-coun ty W arm Springs Task Force, was repeatedly delayed until it was

finally com pleted in 1983. This delay, however, gave S onom a conservation

ists tim e to slow dow n their coastal developm ent, to secure a state coastal

com m ission in 1976, and to spur state purchase o f coastal parks.

D uring this period o f w ater shortage, M arin residents learned to rely on

their ow n w ater resources. The M arin M unicipal W ater D istric t enlarged

Kent Lake, bu ilt a new reservoir o n W alker Creek, p u t in a tem p o ra ry


Marin County Zoning Changes Based on Designing with Nature:

The Power of Intelligent Zoning

Marin County's Three Countywide Corridors:

Coastal / Recreational / Wildlife

Inland / Agricultural

Eastern / Urban

pipeline from the state w ater project in the East Bay, and u n d e r to o k ex

tensive water conservation an d wastewater recycling program s. In 1974 the

board h ired D ietrich Stroeh, a young engineer, as m anager. H e replaced Bill

Seeger and successfully im plem ented M arin ’s w ater revolution, one o f the

first in the state to link popu la tion grow th to the available w ater supply.

Growth and Sprawl Hit Sonoma

As the construc tion o f the Highway 101 freeway proceeded n o rth , devel

oper-driven Sonom a County, w ith un lim ited Russian River w ater supplies

and no effective city or coun ty grow th controls, e ru p ted w ith freeway sprawl

just like Los Angeles, W alnut Creek, an d San lose. It encouraged city, in d u s

trial, and shopping-m all grow th along its w ater transm ission lines th a t p a r

alleled the freeway, checker-boarding and leap-frogging thousands o f acres

o f p rim e agricultural land and spaw ning freeway gridlock. A notable excep

tion was the tow n o f Petalum a, w hich p ioneered grow th controls th a t were

challenged in court.

Today, the ha rd line th a t sou thern M arin voters to o k in 1971 to prevent

its water agency from build ing a p ipeline to the Russian River has been

vindicated. W hile M arin has its problem s, including too m any cars an d eco

nom ic sameness, the slow grow th m andated by the voters allows the people

o f M arin to strengthen land-use control, im prove education , enhance the ir

economy, an d pro tect the ir farm land, open space, and wildlife resources. If

The m ap on the left

shows how m uch o f the

coun ty a fter W orld W ar

II was ripe fo r develop

m ent; even its tidelands

could be cu t in to two-

acre parcels. 136,000

acres o f agricultural

lands (center m ap)

extending east fro m

Tomales B ay to the

Sonom a C o u n ty border

were in itia lly protected

by 60-acre m in im u m

zon ing in 1971. The

m ap on the right shows

how the M a rin C ounty-

w ide P lan d iv ided the

county in to three zones:

1) coastal, recreational,

a n d wildlife; 2 ) rural

a n d agricultural; and

3) the urban corridor.

Final Countywide Planning Corridors,

1973

Clearly defined coastal, agricul

tural, and urban boundaries. The

Golden Gate National Recreation

Area was completed in 1972.

A W A T E R M O R A T O R I U M S T O P S S P R A W L 1 4 9

M arin had no t helped prevent Eel River dam s an d delayed W arm Springs

D am for eleven years, b o th counties m igh t be criss-crossed today by freeways

and subdivisions, e lim inating m uch o f the Russian River w ine grape valleys

and the beau ty o f the unspoiled coast.

By 1992, w ith p lann ing controls in place, sou th e rn M arin voters b o n d ed

themselves for $33 m illion dollars to bu ild a pipeline and b ring ten th o u san d

acre-feet o f off-peak water a year from the Russian River (w ith no guarantee

o f w ater quality), enough for sixty th o u san d new residents. However

Sonom a C oun ty taxpayers, w ho ow n the Russian River W ater System, were

n o t allowed to vote on w hether to sell the ir water. To date, the State W ater

Resources C on tro l Board has n o t issued a p e rm it for this w ater transfer,

declaring th a t the Russian River m ay be fully app rop ria ted if adequate flows

for salm on, and eighty o ther applications, are met.

The Plot to Save M arin from the big d am builders and developers

had worked. M arin ’s huge block o f w ild w atershed lands pro tecting the

source o f its d rink ing w ater rem ained intact. In 1992 the San Francisco

Exam iner com m ended M arin C o u n ty ’s grow th contro l strategy as a m odel

for California.

Now, w ith S onom a C o u n ty next d o o r being overrun by the very forces

M arin had controlled, it seem ed o f critical im portance to p ro tec t the Russian

River w atershed, a m ajo r wildlife hab ita t and the source o f d rink ing water

for b o th counties.


Documents

Clifford Conly’s Crown Jewel - L. Martin GriffinCLIFFORD CONLY’S CROWN JEWEL: CYPRESS GROVE 127. Stewards of the Land T i s Edgar Wayburn, my instructor in medical school, with