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

SavingtheMarin-SonomaCoastThe Battles for

Audubon Canyon Ranch,

Point Reyes, and

California's Russian River

by L. Martin Griffin, M.D.F O R E W O R D BY H A R O L D G I L L I A M

S w e e t w a t e r S p r i n g s P r e s s

H E A L D S B U R G , C A L I F O R N I A

First Edition

Copyright © 1998 by L. M artin Griffin, Jr., M.D.

Reprinted 2000

All rights reserved.

No part o f this w ork covered by the copyright hereon may be reproduced

or used in any form or by any m ean s-g rap h ic , electronic, or mechanical,

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ISBN 0-9661680-2-X Cloth

ISBN 0 9661680-1-1 Paper

Library o f Congress N um ber 97-062072

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S w e e t w a t e r S p r i n g s P r e s s

P.O. Box 66

Healdsburg, CA 95448

(707)431-1910

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Available from

A udubon Canyon Ranch Bookstore

4900 Shoreline Highway

Stinson Beach, CA 94970

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Designed by Robert Cooney

C om position by Archetype Typography

Logo by D ebra Turner

Printed in Canada

Cover p hotograph by Robert Campbell.

Back cover photographs by Clerin Zumwalt and Julia Macdonald.

Photographic credits can be found on page 274.

To m y dear family, and to those in grassroots

organizations who are attempting to bring

environmental sanity to their counties

S CA LE IN 'M I L E S

> Lake [Mendocino

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~ ~ —-D IGG ER BENDHEALDSBURG

GUERNEVILLE p

JENNER Sa n t a r o s a

SEBASTOPOL ♦

NAPASONOMA ♦DILLON BEACH

)♦ ♦ TOMALES PETALUMA

RUSSIAN RIVER

NOVATOTOMALES BAYSanPablc B a y

POINT REYES V STATION

BOLINAS LAGOON SAN \ RAFAEL*.

M t . x ' TamalpaisBOLINAS San ;

y FranciscoG BayRICHARDSON BAY

♦ OAKLANDSAN FRANCISCO,

C O N T E N T S

L IS T O F O R IG IN A L M A P S BY D E W E Y L IV IN G S T O N viii

F O R E W O R D BY H A R O L D G IL L IA M IX

T H R E A T S T O T H E M A R I N -S O N O M A C O A ST X tt

P R E F A C E Xiii

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S XV

A W A K E U P C A LL TO T H E H E A L T H P R O F E S S IO N X v i i

S U M M A R Y O F A U D U B O N C A N Y O N R A N C H L A N D A C Q U IS IT IO N S XvUi

i n t r o d u c t i o n Awakening to D anger 2

Part One: Richardson Bay, 1957-1960

1. The Saving o f R ichardson Bay 14

Part Two: Bolinas Lagoon, 1961-1969

2. “Flashing the Cash” for A udubon C anyon Ranch 3 0

3. The Picher-Griffin Team 4 6

4. Saving Bolinas Lagoon 54

5. Rescuing the Gateway to the N ational Seashore 7 0

6 . Z u m ie -T h e Sage o f C anyon R anch 8 0

7. Training the Troops 8 8

Part Three: Tomales Bay, 1966-1974

8 . The Tide Turns for M arin 9 6

9. Yellow Ribbons T hreaten Tomales Bay 112

10. Clifford C only’s C row n Jewel: Cypress Grove 122

11. A W ater M o ra to r iu m Stops Sprawl 138

Part Four: Sonoma and the Russian River, 1961-1998

12. David Bouverie’s Gift: A S onom a Creek W atershed 154

13. W ild R ivers-W ho Needs ’Em? 1 6 0

14. The S onom a Coast an d the Russian River in Peril 174

15. H ow to Build a W ater Em pire 1 8 4

16. The Russian River Gravel Wars 2 0 4

17. C om ing H om e: Saving O u r Creeks and Rivers 2 3 2

e p i l o g u e C hanging California’s Land Ethic 2 4 8

a p p e n d i x 253

B IB L IO G R A P H Y 26l

IN D E X 2 6 6

L I S T O F O R I G I N A L M A P S

by D ewey Livingston

California’s North Coast vi

Richardson Bay Watershed 12

Reeds Port D evelopm ent o n Richardson Bay 19

Bolinas Lagoon Watershed 28

A udubon C anyon Ranch Purchases, Gifts and Leases

on Bolinas Lagoon 4 0 , 5 8 , 7 4

Tomales Bay Watershed 94

Proposed S onom a-M arin Russian River A queducts 9 9

Land Investors Research Speculative Land Purchases

In an d A round the Incom plete Point Reyes

N ational Seashore, 1 9 6 5 -1 9 7 1 115

A udubon C anyon Ranch Strategic Acquisitions on

Tomales Bay (by A ne Rovetta) 130-131

M arin C o u n ty Zoning Changes 1 4 8 -1 4 9

Russian River Watershed 152

D am m ing the Eel River 172

The Russian River: An U nm anaged an d U npro tected

W atershed 198

Threats to Public H ealth on the M iddle Reach

o f the Russian River 2 1 2 -2 1 3

M ining Pits in the S onom a-M arin Aquifer 217

W astewater M eets D rinking W ater 221

Rethinking Sonom a C o u n ty 231

U nderm in ing California 2 4 3

F O R E W O R D

by Harold Gilliam

I was lucky. I had the good fo rtune to grow u p in Los Angeles at a tim e

w hen we could hike up w ooded canyons to waterfalls in the H ollyw ood

Hills, buy fresh p roduce from farm s in the San F ernando Valley, and

drive ou t Foothill Boulevard th ro u g h mile after mile o f orange groves below

snow -capped M o u n t Baldy.

Since that tim e the hills have been am p u ta ted in to pads for m ansions;

the farms in the valley have been replaced by subdivisions, freeways, and

shopping malls; the orange groves have given way to besm ogged suburbia;

an d the m o u n ta in s are seldom visible. Paradise Lost.

W hen I m oved to San Francisco, I gazed w ith am azem ent at the open

hills and valleys an d farm lands o f M arin County, and I knew then for a cer­

tain ty th a t so m u ch open space im m ediately adjacent to a densely popu la ted

city could n o t long endure. I envisioned the com ing o f the bulldozers and

the Los Angelizing o f the entire region n o r th o f the G olden Gate. I was sure

tha t sprawling suburban iza tion was the inevitable fate o f all o pen land in or

near b oom ing m etropo litan centers everywhere.

As it tu rn e d out, I was w rong. Drastically, happily w rong.

I was w rong because I failed to account for such residents as Dr. M arty

Griffin, w ho had also lived in Los Angeles, had seen w hat h appened there

an d was de te rm ined th a t it w ould n o t hap p en in M arin . H e was undism ayed

w hen he was to ld th a t you can’t fight city hall o r the energetic developers

w ith their huge bankrolls an d the d e te rm ina tion to urban ize everything in

sight.

Even in M arin he could see na tu ra l areas rapidly vanishing, farm lands

sold to speculators, bays an d wildlife m arshes filled to accom m odate an

exploding popu la tion . His dander was rising steadily. In the face o f the

ongoing destruction he still held the irra tional conviction th a t it was possi­

ble to contro l the inevitable forces o f “progress.”

He jo ined forces w ith o ther residents w ho shared his naive fantasy, an d

against all odds they succeeded in beating city hall, tu rn in g a ro u n d p lann ing

com m issions an d boards o f supervisors, an d forcing the bulldozers to g rind

to a halt tim e after time.

F O R E W O R D i x

They d id n ’t do it all at once. T hey d id n ’t w in every battle. But they were

u nde te rred by losses an d w on enough cam paigns to give th em the courage to

keep going w hen skeptics scoffed at the ir prospects. M arsh land by m a rsh ­

land, bay by b a y ridge by ridge, over a pe rio d o f forty years o f toil, sweat and

tears, they fought the developers to a standstill, expanded n o r th from M arin

to Sonom a C o u n ty and the Russian River, an d preserved som e o f the m ost

idyllic na tu ra l sanctuaries— in land and w a te r— in any m etropo litan region

on this continent.

In a series o f Perils-of-Pauline cliffhangers, Griffin tells here how it was

done. H e describes the players in the d ra m a — as colorful a cast o f heroes

and villains as you will find anyw here— the strategy, the tactics, the political

m aneuvers, the techniques o f persuasion and pressure, the coo rd ina tion o f

grassroots efforts, the struggles w ith bureaucracy an d corpora te greed, the

defeats an d the victories.

Some years back, a na tional TV netw ork broadcast a d o cu m en ta ry on

M arin County, p ic tu ring it as a place dedicated to h o t tubs, peacock feathers,

BMWs, and general decadence, an enclave p o pu la ted exclusively by wealthy

sybarites. H ow b lind can you get? O f course there are wealthy people in

M a rin — an d som e o f th em do have h o t tubs. There are also low -incom e

groups an d a popu lous m iddle class b r im m in g w ith co m m u n ity activists.

The m in ions o f the ne tw ork totally m issed the real s to ry th a t should

have been in fron t o f the ir eyes: M arin as a coun ty p ioneering in grassroots

action an d innovative techniques to defend its ow n in tegrity against the tidal

waves o f com m ercialism an d u rb an sprawl. Griffin’s story provides a m odel

w ith tools an d techniques th a t will be invaluable to residents o f every m e tro ­

po litan region w ho hope to preserve its quality o f life in the face o f p o p u la ­

tio n pressures.

The struggle is ongoing, in M arin an d S onom a as elsewhere. There is

m u ch m ore to be saved, and there are no final victories. But the story to ld

here offers the k ind o f encouragem ent th a t is bad ly needed in a tim e w hen

individuals and small groups seem powerless in the face o f forces beyond

their control.

As a physician, Griffin is convinced th a t the physical and m enta l health

o f the individual is closely related to the health o f the environm ent. Clean

air, unpo llu ted waterways, wildlife preserves, p roductive farm lands,

m arshes, w oodlands an d open hills betw een com m unities can make

im m ense con tribu tions to personal health , p rov id ing sanctuaries from the

stresses and frenzied hyperactivity o f u rb an life, sources o f refreshm ent and

renewal for the bo d y an d the spirit.

x 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

Saving the M arin-Sonom a Coast affirms a message th a t shou ld be

shouted from the housetops: citizens w orking together have the pow er to

shape the course o f events th a t affect the ir lives. In a tim e o f cynicism abou t

the workings o f democracy, there is no message m ore urgent.

F O R E W O R D X I

Threats to the Marin-Sonoma Coast

During the post-w ar b o o m in California in 1957, a m aster po liti­

cian, G overnor-elect Pat Brown, together w ith his developer

friends, set o u t to fulfill his cam paign prom ises to bu ild one th o u san d

miles o f freeways an d d am the w ild rivers o f the N o rth Coast. In the

next decade developers descended o n M arin and S onom a counties to

urbanize the ir baylands an d coastline spu rred by plans for:

■ A giant nuclear reactor to p roduce electricity at Bodega Bay

■ A large dredged m arin a o n Bolinas Lagoon

■ Two h u n d red miles o f coastal an d c ross-county freeways

■ W arm Springs D am on the Russian River, w ith large pipelines to

deliver unlim ited , subsidized w ater to any city th a t w ould buy it

from the p ro -g row th S onom a C o u n ty W ater Agency

Eight sprawling new cities were p lanned th a t w ould scar the bays

an d coast, destroy wildlife habitats, cut off public access, an d essen­

tially d o o m the proposed 53,000-acre Point Reyes N ational Seashore:

■ Reeds P ort on R ichardson Bay, San Francisco Bay— 6,000 people

■ M arincello o n the M arin H eadlands, M a r in — 25,000 people

■ S tinson Beach and the Bolinas Ridge an d Mesa, M a r in —

50,000 people

■ D illon Beach, Oceana M a r in — 10,000 people

■ Point Reyes Peninsula, L im an tou r Bay, an d the east shore o f

Tomales Bay, M a r in — 150,000 people

■ Bodega Bay, S onom a — 10,000 people

■ Jenner an d W illow Creek, S o n o m a — 5,000 people

■ Sea Ranch on the M endocino border, S o n o m a— 15,000 people

M illions o f tons o f gravel an d sand for concrete and asphalt

needed for this construc tion were to be dredged from the gravel

aquifers o f the Russian River, im periling d rink ing w ater quality for

b o th counties and killing one o f the state’s finest steelhead fisheries.

x t I 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

P R E F A C E

Few Californians realize how narrow ly the N o rth Coast counties o f

M arin and S onom a escaped becom ing tentacles o f S ou thern C alifor­

nia and its no to rious w ater schemes. In 1957, fifteen years before vo t­

ers created the California Coastal C om m ission , a few conservationists in

M arin began p lo tting a revolution to save its bays, birds, tidelands, and

coastline, and to help pro tect the Point Reyes Peninsula from being su b u r ­

banized by the state’s aggressive freeway, water, and real estate lobbies.

T heir de te rm ina tion led to a citizens revolt against dam s an d im p o rted

water, unprecedented in sem i-arid California. Voters shattered M arin ’s “old

boy” politics and transfo rm ed its land-use ethic. By “designing w ith n a tu re”

M arin protected its beauty, wildlife, an d econom y to becom e one o f Califor­

nia’s best p lanned and slowest grow ing counties.

For years m y friends have urged m e to tell this s to ry o f the creation

o f the three A udubon C anyon Ranch wildlife preserves in M arin and

Sonom a Counties, an d the years o f struggle to p ro tec t California’s coastal

watersheds and to keep the Russian and Eel Rivers wild. M y h ope is th a t this

h istory can serve as a m odel for o ther counties where dam aging grow th is

d ictated by developers.

As a boy grow ing up in the spraw ling p o r t city o f O akland, I idolized

M arin and Sonom a counties across San Francisco Bay. T heir salt-scented

baylands and coastline supported m illions o f birds an d u n co u n ted species o f

m arine life. H er majesty, M t. Tamalpais, loom ing above the fog, guarded the

unbridged G olden Gate and California’s virgin treasure, the gravel-bedded

rivers o f the n o r th coast where I had fished for silver sa lm on and steelhead

w ith m y father. These rivers held forty percent o f the state’s w ater and, trag ­

ically, m uch o f the river gravel coveted for construction .

W hen I com m enced m y m edical practice in M arin C o u n ty at the end o f

the second W orld War, San Francisco Bay was labeled the “largest open sewer

in America.” O n m y rounds, I was angered as I saw the hills o f M arin being

bulldozed to fill its sparkling bays, while tidelands were ringed w ith b u rn in g

garbage dum ps. Having been tra ined in p lan t and an im al ecology as well as

m edicine, I knew tha t such a savage assault on the co u n ty ’s env ironm enta l

P R E F A C E xi ii

health posed an intolerable th rea t to the health o f m y patients, m y ow n fam ­

ily, and o u r com m unities.

To best tell this story, I have div ided it in to four parts, each one covering

a separate yet often overlapping w atershed an d wildlife battle. I s tart w ith

developm ent th rea ten ing R ichardson Bay, a vital a rm o f San Francisco Bay,

in 1957, then m ove on to Bolinas Lagoon and Tomales Bay o n the coast in

the 1960s an d 1970s, an d end w ith the Russian River in the 1980s an d 1990s.

Lest the public forget and let th em erode, I’ve recorded here the grass­

roots political victories w on in M arin an d S onom a C ounties th a t have

p ro found ly shaped recent California history. Here are the reasons why two-

th irds o f M arin , including its encircling bays an d m arsh lands an d the Point

Reyes Peninsula, are p e rm an en t open space, wildlife preserves, parks, and

farm land; why there are no freeways on the M arin -S onom a-M endocino

coast; w hy the sa lm on rivers o f the N o rth Coast (except the Russian) are p ro ­

tected as W ild an d Scenic Rivers; w hy every California river now requires a

w atershed m anagem ent plan; w hy all the state’s tidelands are now legally

preserved; and why the public has access to m u ch o f the eleven-hundred-

mile California coast.

This is a p ro u d legacy to leave for fu ture generations— and one th a t

we should p ro tec t vigilantly at all costs. For as the late conservationist Peter

Behr w ould rem ind us, “C onservation victories can be tem porary , while the

losses are perm anen t.” The battle is never over.

x i v 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

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S

Wr hen storyteller Ane Rovetta referred me to Robert Cooney, graphic designer

in Point Reyes Station, this memoir sprang to life. Excited, I retraced the

course of each land and water battle by foot, canoe, car, photo, my files, and inter­

views with compatriots and friendly enemies.

I especially want to thank the staff and board of Audubon Canyon Ranch for

their help and support. Individuals who read all or part of the manuscript included

George Peyton, Clifford Conly, the late Clerin Zumwalt, Skip Schwartz, Tom Baty,

Len Blumin, Jack Harper, and biologists Ray Peterson and John Kelly.

The manuscript was reviewed by Pat and Pete Arrigoni, former supervisor, who

also researched the Marin County Supervisors minutes from 1967 to 1974 for dates

of Marin’s astounding land-use revolution, and Harold Gilliam, author of Island In

Time on the Point Reyes National Seashore, who generously wrote the foreword.

The late Senator Peter Behr and former Resource Secretary Ike Livermore offered

corrections and lent me their State Oral Histories; Tom Thorner lent me his files for

the crucial years he was attorney for the Marin Municipal Water District; and Bev­

erly Bastian, founder of the Landmark Society of Belvedere-Tiburon, provided

advice and photos, as did Beth Huning and Dr. David Steinhardt of the Richardson

Bay Sanctuary.

Also critiquing the book were former Marin County Planning Director Marge

Macris, Joan Bekins of the Elizabeth Terwilliger Foundation, Becky Hayden, Susan

Brandt-Hawley, Dick Day, Gail Jonas, Bill Kortum, Peg Ellingson, Don Emblen,

Scott Whitaker, and the late Suzanne Lipsett. I am very grateful to Jerry Friedman,

Martye Kent, Jane Arnold, Jean Schulz, Max Shaffrath, Frank Keegan, Ida Egli, Peggy

Wayburn, Sally Behr, and Tom Roth for their help.

I am indebted to Steve McNamara of the Pacific Sun, Beth Ashley and Carol Far-

rand of the Marin Independent Journal, Christine Taccone of the San Francisco Daily

Journal (Legal), Sonoma journalists Barry Dougan and Dan Stebbins, luliana Doms

of the Sonoma Environmental Impact Reporter, Rita Haberman of River Network in

Portland, and Malcolm Margolin of Heyday Press. I also thank Gary Snyder for the

use of his watershed prose and Gaye LeBaron for her Sonoma County history

columns in The Press Democrat.

My thanks to Dolores Richards, curator of The Bolinas Museum, for the pre­

viewing and videotaping of this history for seventy museum members, and to Joce­

lyn Moss of the Anne T. Kent Room of the Marin County Library, Sue Baty of the

A C K N O W L E D G M E N T S X V

Inverness Library, Marie Djordjevich of the Healdsburg Museum, the staff of the

Healdsburg County Library, and JoAnne Black of Santa Rosa lunior College Library

for their help.

I would also like to thank Jerry Edelbrock and the Marin Conservation League

for the 1997 Ted Wellman Water Award. Ted got me into the water fight.

This book benefits from the close ties with members of organizations I’ve been

involved with since their start, including Marin Audubon Society, Richardson Bay

Sanctuary, Audubon Canyon Ranch and its Docent Council, The Environmental

Forum of Marin, the Russian River Environmental Forum, Friends of the Russian

River, and the Russian River Task Force.

While this is not a scientific book, it has benefited from my ties with river

experts Bob Curry, Aldaron Laird, Matt Kondolf, Laurel Marcus, Philip Williams,

and many others.

Finally, I thank designer and editor Robert Cooney, mapmaker and West Marin

historian Dewey Livingston, and illustrator Ane Rovetta for their work on this book;

Nancy Adess, Helen Blakesly, and Becky Hayden for their editing help; and Julia

Macdonald for critique and indexing. I thank my daughters for their constant

encouragement, and, above all, my wife Joyce for her untiring help, suggestions, and

support.

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

A W A K E U P C A L L T O T H E H E A L T H P R O F E S S I O N

D uring m y career as a public health officer for the State o f California, I

consulted in counties where the exploding p o pu la tion grow th had

severely degraded the na tu ra l env ironm en t while creating the n a tio n ’s

largest, and m ost costly, psychiatric, developm ental disabilities, an d prison

systems.

Over the years I’ve been dism ayed by the n o n -p artic ip a tio n o f health

professionals at countless public hearings where the fate o f o u r life-giving

resources— rivers, watersheds, bays, oceans, an d even p rim e fa rm lan d s—

was decided by developers, by co-opted, o r too often co rrup t, coun ty su p er ­

visors, and by em pire-build ing w ater and sewer agency chiefs.

M any people, I fear, have too narrow a view o f health , unaw are o f the

im portance and benefits o f Land Use Planning. This is a pow erful tool

which, skillfully employed, can preserve the true fou n d a tio n o f health: the

ecological in tegrity o f each coun ty ’s na tu ra l resources.

This key to sustainable health is n o t to be fo u n d in m edical textbooks,

b u t in reports like M arin ’s battle-tested C ountyw ide Plan. If its lessons on

environm ental quality and econom ic o p p o rtu n ity were taugh t in grade

schools, colleges, and m edical schools, I believe tha t w ith in a generation ou r

counties could be transfo rm ed into Edens, providing a p ride o f place in o u r

dissatisfied, overly m obile society.

Therefore, this bo o k is in tended as an u rgen t w akeup call in a state tha t

is overburdened w ith a ha lf m illion new people each year. It is a call to

mobilize o u r patients, colleagues, an d neighbors as we in M arin did, to

re tu rn to ou r roots as naturalists, to help elect the right coun ty supervisors,

and to su p p o rt and create grassroots organizations th a t will defend, c o n ­

serve, and restore the counties where we practice.

A W A K E U P C A L L T O T H E H E A L T H P R O F E S S I O N x v i i

Summary of Audubon Canyon Ranch Land Acquisitions

T he land battles recounted in this b o o k were the result o f four

N ational A udubon Society C hapters band ing together to buy up

w aterfront acreage whose developm ent th rea tened to su rro u n d the

Point Reyes N ational Seashore w ith sprawl.

Led by myself an d Stan Picher, som e th ir ty strategic parcels o f

tidelands and uplands, to taling m ore th an 1,600 acres, were acquired

by purchase and gift at a cost o f abou t one a n d on e-h a lf m illion do l­

lars in private donations. M ost parcels are now ow ned an d m anaged

by A udubon Canyon Ranch as wildlife preserves. The M arin C oun ty

O pen Space D istrict m anages Bolinas Lagoon an d Kent Island.

To acquire an d m anage these lands, and tra in supporters, these

groups were started: the A udu b o n C anyon Ranch Project, A udubon

Canyon Ranch Inc., the A udu b o n C anyon R anch V olunteer Council

an d the D ocent Training P rogram , the Kent Island F und Drive, the

E nvironm ental Studies o f Bolinas Lagoon an d Tomales Bay, an d The

E nvironm ental F o rum o f M arin .

Bolinas Lagoon Preserve

1. A udubon C anyon Ranch (headquarters) — 503 acres, 1961

2. Kent Island, Gift from Alice an d Roger K ent— 9.6 acres, 1961

3. Kent Island Park, w ith M arin C onservation League an d The

N ature Conservancy (now ow ned by the C o u n ty O pen Space

D istrict) — 111 acres, 1967

4. Galloway R anch— 278 acres, 1968 an d 1971

5. T h o m p so n Ranch (now V olunteer C an y o n )— 234 acres, 1968

6 . State tideland lease (now O pen Space D istrict) — 1,200 acres, 1969

7. A ssorted Bolinas Lagoon tide land parcels— 40 acres

8 . M onarch Butterfly Groves at Bolinas an d M uir Beach

(Terwilliger Grove)

X V 111 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

Tomales Bay Preserve

1. Shields M arsh near Inverness— 4 acres, 1970

2. Johannson shoreline parcels along 4 miles o f bay f ro n t—

32 acres, 1970

3. Cypress Grove (headquarters), Gift from Clifford Conly, Jr.—

10 acres, 1971

4. Livermore M arsh adjoining Cypress G rove— 26 acres, 1971

5. Cerini Ranch Parcel— 57 acres, 1972

6 . Hall Ranch Parcel— 40 acres, 1972

7. M arshall Creek D elta— 14 acres, 1972

8 . H og and D uck Islands— 8 acres, 1972

9. Delta o f W alker C reek— 97 acres, 1972

10. O lem a Freshwater M a rsh — 42.5 acres, 1972

11. Toms Point, Gift o f M argaret Q uig ley— 70 acres, 1985

SeeA ne R ovettas M ap on pages 130-131.

Bouverie Audubon Preserve

Bouverie A u d u b o n Preserve (Sonom a C ounty), Gift from David

Bouverie— 570 acres, 1979 and 1994

Additional Key Gifts of Land

R ichardson Bay Rosie Verrall S an c tu a ry (M arin C oun ty ), Gift o f 4

acres from H arry M arshall to the N ational A udubon Society, 1968

Griffin Russian River R iparian Preserve (Sonom a C ounty ), Gift o f

100-acre conservation easem ent from Joyce and M artin Griffin

to the S onom a Land Trust, 1991 an d 1998

S U M M A R Y OF A U D U B O N C A N Y O N R A N C H A C Q U I S I T I O N S x i x

A watershed is a marvelous thing to consider: this process o f rain

falling, streams flowing, and oceans evaporating causes every mole­

cule o f water on earth to m ake the complete trip once every two

million years. The surface is carved into watersheds— a kind o f

fam ilia l branching, a chart o f relationship, and a definition o f place.

The watershed is the firs t and last nation whose boundaries, though

subtly shifting, are unarguable.. . . B u t we who live in terms o f cen­

turies rather than millions o f years m ust hold the watershed and its

com m unities together, so our children m ight enjoy the clear water

and fresh life o f this landscape we have chosen.

G ary Snyder, A Place in Space

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

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Awakening to Danger

By the laws o f N ature these things are com m on to all m a n k in d —

the air, running water, the sea and the shores o f the sea.

— The Justinian Code, 533 AD

My love o f u n tam ed rivers an d bays started in m y paren ts’ cabin

overhanging the banks o f the O gden River in a w ild W asatch

M oun ta in canyon in U tah. I was b o rn in th a t cabin in 1920. At

age three I recall being intoxicated by the cool desert canyon scent o f trou t,

willow and sage while m y fa ther’s m ando lin and the m u rm u rin g river waters

pu t m e to sleep.

By the tim e I was four, m y parents Frances an d Loyal h ad m e fly fishing

w ith a little b am b o o pole an d h an d -tied fly. By th en a p re-D epression b ank

failure in O gden had forced th em to sell the ir h o m e an d dairy supply b u s i­

ness an d to relocate in Portland , O regon. This m ove pleased m y father, an

accom plished fly fisherm an; w ith in a tw o -h o u r drive over w ashboard roads

were a half-dozen o f the finest steelhead and sa lm on fishing stream s in the

west.

O n weekends betw een 1924 an d 1926 we explored an d cam ped o n wild

tim ber-lined stream s in so u th e rn W ashington an d O regon while m y father

patiently taugh t m y b ro th e r an d m e cam ping and fishing lore. This was still

Ind ian country, b u t the Ind ian wars h ad ended an d the Ind ian w o m en were

barely getting by selling gooseberries, w hich m y m o th e r b o u g h t for her pies.

N ear B attleground Lake in w estern W ashington, on a tr ib u ta ry o f the

th e n -u n d am m ed C olum bia River called Turn Turn M o u n ta in Creek, I

beheld a sight I have never forgotten. I crawled to the edge o f a rocky b ank

and looked dow n in to a crystal clear poo l benea th a waterfall to see a n u m ­

ber o f ocean-reared steelhead tro u t, m ost tw enty inches long, charging the ir

gills w ith oxygen-laden water, p reparing to ascend a series o f falls in a

crescendo o f runs and tail-tw isting leaps.

Thirty-five years later, I b ro u g h t m y four daughters to th a t same

A Great Egret soars up

fro m its nest near the

Bolinas Lagoon. The

beauty a n d grace o f

these birds was a key

to w in n in g popu lar

support to save the

Lagoon fro m

developm ent.

A W A K E N I N G T O D A N G E R 3

Here, in this cabin in

the w ilds o f the W asatch

M o u n ta in s in Utah, m y

brother Bob a n d I were

born. The Ogden River

gurgled under the porch

where we all slept o u t­

side m ost o f the year to

be “closer to nature,”

as m y m other said.

waterfall. The waters were choked w ith logging debris an d silt, an d the

C olum bia River dam s had ended forever the runs o f an ad ro m o u s fish—

steelhead and sa lm o n — up this stream an d a th o u san d sim ilar tributaries.

Am erica had sacrificed this great fishery for surp lus electricity an d ir r i ­

gation water. This was m y awakening to the dangers facing the waterways o f

the west.

The Land Grab Begins

I began learning o f California’s dangerous grow th before the Great

Depression w hen my dad lost his job in 1927 an d we m oved from Portland

to Los Angeles. The roads we drove along were lined w ith thousands o f m en

stream ing dow n from the p layed-out m ines, logging tow ns, an d fisheries o f

the northw est looking for work. I could see the desperate look in the ir faces

as they hudd led by campfires along the road.

O u r family was p a r t o f a great h u m a n m igra tion . At th a t tim e California

had abou t four m illion people; today it has th irty -tw o m illion, far m ore than

its ill-equipped counties can m anage. The th irst for land has opened the

G olden State to reckless real estate developm ent, w ith nearly everyone h o p ­

ing to get rich by speculating in ranches, forests, deserts, m arshes, an d even

underw ater lots in tidelands. The on-going California land grab has

degraded the w orld ’s richest trove o f ecosystems and p lan t an d anim al

species in to m illions o f assessor’s parcels.

4 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

M y parents enrolled m e in the E ighth Street G ram m ar School in d o w n ­

tow n Los Angeles, where the clear view o f palm trees in the fo reground and

snow-covered peaks b eh ind was th a t o f a M editerranean paradise. I cringe

at the sprawl an d po llu tion there today. Ironically, we lived w ith an uncle

w ho designed concrete channels fo r the city’s rivers.

M y m o th er gave m e tra in ing in self-reliance at the age o f seven. We lived

near Westlake Park where an opu len t m ovie thea te r had been

com pleted. “If you d o n ’t earn som e m oney, no movies,” she

said, so I got a rou te selling Liberty magazines at five cents each.

If I d idn’t sell enough to buy m y m ovie ticket she said, “G o back

and try again.” I’ve always adm ired m y m o th e r ’s persistence.

She was reared on the plains o f N ebraska an d never com plained

abou t life’s hardships, even w hen she lost her vision from glau ­

com a at age forty-five. At age ninety-five she still held m ore

than twenty-five ph o n e nu m b ers and the family genealogy in

her head. We celebrated her 102nd b irthday in 1997.

In 1928 we m oved to O akland, where m y d ad th o u g h t he

had finally found a good job. We lived for a few m o n th s w ith an

au n t w ho ow ned the Fenton Cream ery, w hich was fam ous for

its toasted a lm ond sundaes. In m y a u n t’s h o m e m y fu ture asso­

ciation w ith M arin C o u n ty began, a lthough I d id n ’t know it at

the time. I m et m y a u n t’s son-in-law , Sam G ardiner, w ho later

becam e an a tto rney and Superior C o u rt judge in M arin where

ou r paths forcefully collided.

The End of the Wild, Wild West

D uring o u r b o y hood sum m ers, m y m o th e r drove m y b ro th e r Bob and

m e to visit o u r g randparents, George and E m m a Stoddard , in Rochester,

Nevada, a silver-m ining tow n deep in a desert canyon p u n g en t w ith sage­

brush. Pop Stoddard was the Justice o f Peace, electrician for a pow er c o m ­

pany, an d had the only good well in tow n. Here I learned to value tha t

precious gift— safe, pure, na tu ra l d rink ing water. Before setting o u t to

explore the desert, we carefully filled canvas canteens w ith delicious w ater

and strapped them to the sides o f his M odel T p ickup to stay cool. In the

soft, starlit evenings we gathered a ro u n d his well, passing the d ipper a ro u n d

while we thrilled to his yarns ab o u t extending the railroad telegraph lines

from U tah into Idaho.

Pop died at age n inety-three w ith me, his doctor, at his side at his farm

Just hom e fro m serving

in France a t the end o f

W orld W ar I, m y fa th e r

Loyal took his new bride

Frances cam ping and

fish in g in U tah in 1919.

The w hite stripes are

rice throw n as they

departed on their

honeym oon.

A W A K E N I N G T O D A N G E R 5

east o f Sacram ento. H e’s bu ried in a p ioneer cem etery th a t I can hard ly bear

to visit. His farm an d the cem etery are engulfed in the post-w ar u rb an

sprawl. The nearby A m erican River is dam m ed , th e sa lm on are gone, the

farm s and orchards o f the foothills and great Sacram ento Valley are being

paved over. It’s the end o f Pop S toddard ’s wild, w ild west.

As a Boy Scout in

O akland I worked as

an assistant to Brighton

“Bugs” Cain, a superb

naturalist who taught

m e the wonders o f

p lan ts a n d animals,

and the geology o f the

Sierras and the coast.

H e advised m e to go

to m edical school.

“I Love You, California”

O akland in the 1930s was an exciting place to grow up. The

schools were excellent. M y teacher at P ied m o n t G ram m ar

School, Miss Olin, insisted the entire class s tand u p an d sing “I

Love You, California” each m o rn in g after the “Pledge o f Alle­

giance to the U nited States o f America.” As a Boy Scout I was

inspired by the spell-b inding naturalist, B righton “Bugs” Cain,

an accom plished w histler an d storyteller, w ho excited hundreds

o f boys w ith his love for the ou t-o f-doors . A S tanford -tra ined

entom ologist, he u rged m e to prepare for m edical school at his

alm a m ater by taking courses in b o tan y an d zoology.

As Bugs softly w histled the ir calls, we stalked birds at daw n

in the Scout’s C am p D im o n d in the O akland foothills. We

explored the gravel roads along the rugged Big Sur coast in the

Scout C ouncil’s fat yellow bus w ith Bugs at the wheel, b inoculars at the

ready. In a h igh Sierra cam p we ran th ro u g h fields o f blue an d gold wild-

flowers as we searched for his favorite p lant, the stately green gentian. At

Yosemite Valley, we stood w ith Bugs in aw estruck silence stra in ing to hear

the cry o f “Let the fire fall!” from Glacier Point th ree th o u san d feet above the

valley floor before the m o o n rose over H alf D om e.

In 1937 the G olden Gate Bridge was built, connecting the city o f San

Francisco w ith the fertile valleys o f M arin an d S onom a counties. T h a t same

year I enrolled as a p re -m ed s tu d en t at the w orld -renow ned University o f

California cam pus at Berkeley, w ith a tu itio n o f ju s t twenty-five dollars a

semester.

In 1940, d u ring a b ird ing course (n o t a p re -m ed course) taugh t by Alden

Miller, a fam ous orn itho log ist o f his day, we visited the egret h e ro n ry on

Bolinas Lagoon th a t is now p a r t o f A udubon C anyon Ranch. The Lagoon

was a welcom e con trast to the stench o f the p u ru len t tideflats an d garbage

d u m p s o f the East Bay shoreline.

I first learned o f the w ord “ecology” in 1938 from a b o o k I have carried

w ith m e to nearly every rich botanical region o f the state, The Flowering

6 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

1 WORDS TO t m I t

Plants o f California, by the fam ous University o f California

bo tan ist Willis L inn Jepson for w h o m the Jepson Bishop

Pine Preserve at Tomales Bay State Park is nam ed. I have sat

on m o u n ta in tops and by the sides o f m arshes fascinated by

his descriptions o f the m ore th an 1,400 native species

found only in California.

Ecology th en was a b ran d -n ew field; the in te rd ep en ­

dence o f the tidal m arshes an d aquatic and b ird life was

only dim ly perceived by biologists an d n o t at all by the gen ­

eral public.

In the sum m ers o f 1940 and 1 9 41 ,1 was in troduced to

the g randeur o f the forests and the salm on rivers on the

fog-bound redw ood coast n o r th o f M arin County. I jo ined

five rugged UC class m em bers, all S onom a C o u n ty farm

boys, in a logging cam p venture on the N avarro River in

M endocino County. We spent m ore tim e exploring an d fishing the heavily

forested Eel, Trinity, and K lam ath rivers th a n we did splitting fence posts and

railroad ties, b u t we m ade enough m on ey to enroll for an o th e r sem ester at

UC.

We d id n ’t know then th a t o u r cam p was the last gasp o f the ben ign era o f

h an d saws and selective logging, o r th a t w ith in a few years the m agnificent

o ld-grow th forests w ould be p lu n d ered w ith m ach ine logging and clear c u t­

ting for the w ar effort an d for the endless dem ands o f California’s postw ar

growth.

I was a yo u n g and

rather naive physician

in M a rin C o u n ty a t the

end o f W orld W ar II.

M y grandfather, Pop

Stoddard, predicted I ’d

either be a preacher or

a doctor, or both.

Trained as a Medical Sleuth

In 1941 I enrolled in S tanford M edical School in an A rm y Specialized

Training Program . After three years I in te rned at the old S tanford Hospital

in San Francisco u n d e r the prestigious Dr. A rth u r Bloomfield, an expert

diagnostician. After g radua tion I spen t tw o years as a C apta in in the US

A rm y M edical Corps, ho n in g m y skills in psychiatric diagnosis at a large

receiving hospital where m y task was to get pa tients back to the ir ho m e states

as quickly as possible.

After the war, I w atched as tens o f thousands o f soldiers re tu rn in g from

the w ar never m ade it hom e. First land ing in seductive California, they

stayed, adding to the state’s crush ing post-w ar p o p u la tio n growth.

After leaving the A rm y I re tu rn ed to S tanford H ospita l for an o th e r year

o f tra in ing as Dr. Bloom field’s special resident in in te rna l m edicine. “The

A W A K E N I N G T O D A N G E R 7

Chief,” as we called h im , tra ined us to be m edical sleuths. I used this tra in ing

later to diagnose an d trea t env ironm enta l ills. For example, I’d take a careful

h istory o f a tide land dredging project, m ake a th o ro u g h inspection o f the

site, talk w ith people it affected, read everything available, study m aps, visit

the agencies in charge, an d com e up w ith a diagnosis an d a plan o f attack for

tha t particu lar problem . T hen I’d pred ict the ou tcom e, o r prognosis.

Dr. Bloomfield in troduced m e to m any o f the o ld -tim e families, som e

w ould call th em elite, o f M arin County. A m ong these longtim e residents

were a few w ho were already w orking to p ro tec t M arin from ra m p a n t

growth. But there were m any m ore ready to exploit M arin ’s po ten tia l for

developm ent. By the end o f the war, all the efficient electric ra ilroad lines in

M arin had been ripped up to m ake way for freeways and autos. By 1946

M arin was already at risk o f being Los Angelized.

Welcome to Marin

Right after the w ar ended, m y wife M im i a n d I settled in Sausalito, a

charm ing backw ater on R ichardson Bay, an a rm o f the San Francisco Bay

just n o r th o f the G olden Gate. We had m et as classmates in m edical school

an d had four daughters: Linda, Anne, Carol, an d Joan.

A young orthoped ist, Calvin Terwilliger, an d his wife Elizabeth were ou r

neighbors. O ne day she p h o n ed a n d said, “M arty, I w an t you to com e right

over to the Valhalla Restaurant. I’m m eeting the City C ouncil there and

Elizabeth Terwilliger,

a neighbor in Sausalito,

led tours to instruct both

yo u n g a n d old about the

wonders o f salt marshes

and tidelands. Th irty

years later she taught

President Reagan how

to fla p his arm s like a

duck, a vulture, and

a gull on national

television.

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

we’re going to walk th em th ro u g h the tow n an d show

them there’s n o t a single decent p layground for o u r

children. I’ve also found a vacant lot th a t w ould be

ideal and we sim ply m ust persuade the City Council

to buy it and equip it!” I w ent, overw helm ed by her

e no rm ous energy. Needless to say, the C ouncil bo u g h t

and equipped the little park. For years M im i and I

rem ained the Terwilliger family physicians.

This was m y first step in to the conservation politics

o f M arin. A busy family an d professional life in te r ­

vened for m any years before I to o k another.

D uring the fifties m y m edical practice, w ith fre­

quen t house calls, p u t m e in touch w ith all parts o f

M arin County, where the p o pu la tion was starting to

increase dramatically. I w atched w ith grow ing anxiety

as the extensive salt m arshes o f R ichardson Bay, C orte

M adera Bay, an d San Rafael Bay were slowly filled and

tu rn ed into housing and shopp ing developm ents. O ne

day I noticed th a t the beautifu l m arsh where the C orte M adera Town S hop ­

ping C enter now stands was for sale for only $200 per acre. “Suitable for Fill­

ing,” the sign said. I was heartsick because I knew the large egret he ro n ry

h igh in a Larkspur redw ood grove just to the west d epended on this m arsh

for its food supply.

A friend was pa rt o f an investm ent group th a t was opera ting a garbage

d u m p on the tidelands o f San Rafael Bay w hich had been purchased from

the state som e years before. “It’s the greatest investm ent in the w orld!” he

said. “We get pa id to take the garbage a n d we are given a depletion allowance

tax break o n the tidelands as they are filled in.”

B a y or R iver?

The w h i t e a r e a , a c c o r d in g to a n A r m y En­g i n e e r ’s s tu d y , s h o w s w h a t w o u l d b e lef t if all s h a l l o w p a r t s w e r e fi lled.

Tidelands on San

Francisco B ay were

being filled a t an

alarm ing rate as this

1960 m a p suggests.

Terminally 111, Prognosis Hopeless

To me, R ichardson Bay appeared to be term inally ill. I jo tted dow n m y

diagnoses: tidal arm s severed by roads and railroad tracks, po isoned by the

dum ping o f m ash from a whiskey distillery, sm othered w ith sewage sludge

du m p ed in cover o f darkness by the developers w ho ran the san itary d is ­

tricts, and dying from toxic wastes d u m p ed d u rin g four years o f w ar effort.

In 1957, R ichardson Bay faced ex tinction from filling by one o f m y own

medical colleagues w ho was also a developer. It looked hopeless for the bay

and, by extension, for all o f M arin County.

A W A K E N I N G T O D A N G E R 9

O w ners o f this garbage

d u m p on San Rafael

B ay go t a ta x w riteo ff

in 1952 as they filled

in the rich marshlands.

M arin M unicipa l W ater

D istric t annexed these

a n d other San Francisco

B ay tidelands to supply

w ater fo r the an ticipated

developm ent. Offshore

are the M a rin Islands,

h om e o f the B ay A rea’s

largest colony o f Great

Egrets a n d Snow y

Egrets.

In 1957 I received an urgen t call from Elizabeth Terwilliger. “Marty,” she

said, “M rs. L ivermore and I have started the M arin A udubon Society to try

to save R ichardson Bay from being filled for housing. We’d like you to be on

the Board o f Directors. I w on’t take ‘n o ’ for an answer.” I ju m p ed at the

o p p o rtu n ity o f learning from these tw o dedicated w om en w ho were the

heart and soul o f the conservation m ovem en t in M arin.

M y repu ta tion as a physician had preceded me. “We’ve all heard o f your

m edical accom plishm ents,” Caroline Liverm ore said w hen we m et. “But

d o n ’t you th in k it’s equally im p o rtan t for people’s health th a t we save the

m arshes and bays a n d establish parks an d open space?” I agreed heartily w ith

this wise w om an.

Thus began m y long association w ith C aroline Livermore, w hich lasted

un til she died in 1968. I literally appren ticed myself to her. I recognized tha t

she and her “ladies,” as she called them , had the vision, connections, and

clout to be effective; and I eagerly m obilized m y m edical practice and col­

leagues to jo in th em in helping save the bays an d lagoons o f M arin County.

10 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