As it appeared The Land Trust newsletter, Summer 2001
The Land Trust was born in my living room in 1976—a quarter of a century ago. It was not the product of some distasteful development threatening the valley or some cataclysmic event that brought concerned citizens together. Rather, it was the result of a small group of people, hoping to preserve some of the remaining natural beauty and splendor of Napa County. Having recently learned of the emergence and growing successes of local land trusts in other parts of the country, the group realized that a land trust would be good thing for Napa County.
I had retired from a business career and June and I had recently moved from Berkeley to our retirement home near Stags Leap. I had done volunteer work for the Nature Conservancy and for the Trust for Public Land, both nation-wide organizations, and had learned some of the rudiments of non-profit land conservation work.
June, always a dedicated protector of nature, was becoming enthusiastic about land conservation and had begun a relentless campaign to form a local land trust in Napa County. She allowed me no escape, even though I knew how much time and effort and dollars it would cost us to help to create this new organization.
Creating a Land Trust; raising money, recruiting members, holding board meetings, and occasionally completing a complicated and difficult land saving project is hard, tedious work. But June would not let go of the idea and insisted on moving the concept and the organization forward.
At about the same time Harry Tranmer, a professor at Napa College, had found an important viewscape property on Mt. George overlooking Napa City, that was crying out for preservation. The Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land were unable to work on the project, but Harry convinced June and me that we should acquire the property for later transfer to a non-profit organization for preservation. Now Harry joined June in insisting that a Napa Land Trust be formed.
Founding board members were June, me, Harry, Vic Fershko (the attorney who incorporated the Land Trust), and John Whitridge (who went on to form Napa Landmarks). Other founding members were Duane Cronk, Nan Grundland, Harold Kelly and George Sterling. Early board meetings were held at our house on Silverado Trail. Our 1976 budget was $2,500 - $2,000 to be raised from membership dues and $500 from fundraising. No staff; no payroll; only extreme frugality. We spent $400 on the newsletter and $150 to incorporate.
Our initial focus was to achieve the Conservation Easement on the Mt. George property. When eminent botanists discovered a sizable growth of a rare Ceanothis species on the mountain, this discovery made the 640 acre parcel an even more worthwhile preserve than its viewscape value alone had offered. A series of Conservation Easements followed and finally the ownership of the entire mountaintop was transferred to the Land Trust in 1995.
Our next project was the Wantrup property in Pope Valley. Once again neither the Nature Conservancy nor the Trust for Public Land was able to handle the project. We finally convinced the owner, Dr. Wantrup, an agricultural economics professor at U.C. Berkeley, that we were worthy of his trust. He donated a conservation easement during his lifetime and then the fee simple interest and a meaningful endowment at the time of his death.
More successful projects large and small followed. Membership increased steadily. We began to add staff. John Hoffnagle had enough faith and courage to become our executive director. Martha Wise became our second staff person. A succession of wonderful people agreed to become board members and officers. More wonderful people helped us with generous financial support - none more important to us than Dr. Giles Mead. Henry Gundling served several terms as president of the board of trustees and somehow transformed our reputation in the community from "a bunch of tree-hugging pinko weirdos" to that of a "highly respectable and worthwhile community organization"
To watch the wonderful progress that has been made over the years and continues to be made by a large group of hard working board members, officers, and most importantly, by staff and staff management, is truly gratifying.
June and I are proud to have been a part of it all.
The Land Trust of Napa County
1700 Soscol Ave., Suite 20, Napa, CA 94559
Phone: 707-252-3270
Fax: 707-252-1071
info@napalandtrust.org