Jump to content

Audubon Canyon Ranch: Difference between revisions

Edit links
Coordinates: 37°55′46″N 122°40′56″W / 37.9294°N 122.6822°W / 37.9294; -122.6822
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
No edit summary
m add {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
 
(27 intermediate revisions by 15 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|U.S. nonprofit organization}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Audubon Canyon Ranch}}

'''Audubon Canyon Ranch''' ('''ACR''') is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit environmental conservation and education organization headquartered in [[Stinson Beach]], [[Marin County]], [[California]], on the eastern shore of [[Bolinas Lagoon]]. The lands upon which ACR operates are within the ancestral territories of the [[Coast Miwok]], [[Southern Pomo]] and [[Wappo]] peoples.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Fimrite|first=Peter|date=2019-09-09|title=Artifacts alter timeline for Native Americans in California|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/Discovery-alters-timeline-for-Native-Americans-in-14423617.php|access-date=2021-04-28|work=San Francisco Chronicle|language=en-US}}</ref> ACR recognizes that Indigenous communities are very much alive today and striving to protect and maintain relationships with cultural and natural resources on ACR lands; they acknowledge that Indigenous lands are occupied by them and others.
Audubon Canyon Ranch was founded in 1962 to save a major heronry and block commercial development of Bolinas Lagoon in western Marin County, leading the way for the protection of Tomales Bay to the north. Today, Audubon Canyon Ranch stewards a system of [[nature preserves]] totaling {{convert|5,000 |acres}} across 26 properties in Marin County and [[Sonoma County]] and conducts conservation science that in turn informs its education programs and directs its work on some of the region's most challenging environmental issues.
ACR's conservation science program has monitored the North Bay region nesting successes of [[herons]] and [[egrets]] for over 40 years,<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://egret.org/north-bay-nest-monitoring |title= North Bay Nest Monitoring - Audubon Canyon Ranch|date= 12 February 2018}}</ref> collected long-term data sets on wintering shorebird and waterbird populations<ref>{{Cite web|url= https://egret.org/shorebird_survey |title= Shorebird Survey - Audubon Canyon Ranch |date= 7 August 2013 |publisher= Audubon Canyon Ranch}}</ref> on [[Tomales Bay]] for over 30 years, and is using GPS to track the movements of individual mountain lions<ref>{{Cite magazine|date=2019-09-24|title=Mountain Lions in Sonoma County, and a Man's Mission to Save Them|url=https://www.sonomamag.com/mountain-lions-in-our-midst-and-a-mans-mission-to-save-them/|access-date=2021-04-28|magazine=Sonoma Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> in the Sonoma Valley and Great Egrets and Long-billed Curlews on the coast. ACR's experiential nature education program, which turned 50 in 2020, has connected more than 300,000 Bay Area children and adults to the wonders of nature, cultivating environmental literacy and a conservation ethic. ACR's Fire Forward<ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-12-20|title=How will California prevent more mega-wildfire disasters?|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-will-california-prevent-more-mega-wildfire-disasters|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310100658/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/how-will-california-prevent-more-mega-wildfire-disasters|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 10, 2021|access-date=2021-04-28|work=National Geographic|language=en}}</ref> program, founded in 2017, is advancing our community's ability to use "good fire" to reduce risk and build ecosystem resilience against climate-driven wildfire events.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-03-18|title='Burn It on Our Terms': Using Flames to Curb Catastrophic Wildfire in Sonoma County|url=https://www.sonomamag.com/burn-it-on-our-terms-using-flames-to-curb-catastrophic-wildfire-in-sonoma-county/|access-date=2021-04-28|website=Sonoma Magazine|language=en-US}}</ref> ACR also stewards cultural treasures, including the literary legacy of American author [[M.F.K. Fisher]]<ref>{{Cite news|date=2021-03-16|title=Meet 3 Wine Country women who changed the way we eat|url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/lifestyle/these-wine-country-women-changed-the-way-we-eat/|access-date=2021-04-28|work=Santa Rosa Press Democrat|language=en-US}}</ref> at her last house at Bouverie Preserve.

==Martin Griffin Preserve==
{{Infobox protected area
{{Infobox protected area
| name = Audubon Canyon
| name = Martin Griffin Preserve
| alt_name = Martin Griffin Preserve
| alt_name = Bolinas Lagoon Preserve
| iucn_category =
| iucn_category =
| photo = Audubon Canyon Ranch 3435.jpg
| photo = The Bourne House, Martin Griffin Preserve.jpg
| photo_alt =
| photo_alt =
| photo_caption = Audubon Canyon Ranch in 2009
| photo_caption = Historic Bourne house at the entrance to the preserve
| photo_width =
| photo_width =
| map = California#USA
| map = California#USA
| relief =1
| relief = 1
| map_alt =
| map_alt =
| map_caption = Map of [[California]]
| map_caption = Map of [[California]]
Line 14: Line 25:
| location = [[Marin County, California]]
| location = [[Marin County, California]]
| nearest_city = [[Stinson Beach, California|Stinson Beach]]
| nearest_city = [[Stinson Beach, California|Stinson Beach]]
| coordinates = {{coords|37.9294|-122.6822|region:US-CA|display=inline, title}}
| coordinates = {{coord|37.9294|-122.6822|region:US-CA|display=inline, title}}
| area =
| area =
| established =
| established =
| visitation_num =
| visitation_num =
| visitation_year =
| visitation_year =
| governing_body =
| governing_body = Audubon Canyon Ranch
| website = {{URL|www.egret.org}}
| website = {{URL|www.egret.org}}
| embedded = {{designation list | embed = yes
| embedded = {{designation list | embed = yes
Line 26: Line 37:
}}
}}
}}
}}
The Martin Griffin Preserve encompasses {{convert|1,000| acres}} in West Marin, protected in perpetuity since 1962 as a wildlife sanctuary. The topography is characterized by its four canyons—Volunteer Canyon, Picher Canyon, Garden Club Canyon and [[Pike County Gulch]]—which vary in maximum elevation from 1,590 to 1,720 feet, and their associated streams and watersheds.
'''Audubon Canyon''' is a coastal valley in [[Marin County, California]], [[United States]],<ref>{{gnis|218457|Audubon Canyon}}</ref> which is associated with a small stream. The canyon provides habitat for a variety of animals and plants. Notably, its [[Sequoia sempervirens|redwoods]] provide nesting sites for [[great blue heron]]s, [[great egret]]s, and [[snowy egret]]s.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.sfgate.com/getoutside/1996/may/acr.html |title=Audubon Canyon Ranch - Bolinas Lagoon Preserve |accessdate=2008-01-19 |work=The San Francisco Chronicle |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070526174745/http://www.sfgate.com/getoutside/1996/may/acr.html |archivedate=May 26, 2007 }}</ref>


At the [[Bolinas Lagoon]] edge, [[California State Route 1]] borders the western edge of the property while the [[Golden Gate National Recreation Area ]]surrounds the northern, eastern and southern borders.
The stream descends the western slope of [[Bolinas Ridge]], crosses [[California State Route 1|State Route 1]], and drains into [[Bolinas Lagoon]] about {{convert|3|mi|km|0}} north of [[Stinson Beach, California]].<ref>[http://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?lat=37.93485&lon=-122.67629&size=l&u=4&datum=nad83&layer=DRG TopoQuest map], USGS, retrieved July 5, 2008</ref>


'''The Land'''
'''Audubon Canyon Ranch''', a private land preservation organization based in the North Bay, has preserved much of the canyon as part of its Martin Griffin Preserve, named after [[L. Martin Griffin, Jr.]], an environmentalist who helped save the area in the 1960s. The canyon was designated a [[National Natural Landmark]] in 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/site.cfm?Site=AUCA-CA |title= Audubon Canyon Ranch |publisher= [[National Park Service]] |work= nps.gov}}</ref> Several local chapters of the National Audubon Society, Marin Audubon Society and Golden Gate Audubon Society of the East Bay and San Francisco, organized to purchase property for the protection of heron and egret nesting sites.

Mixed evergreen forests blanket slopes overlooking the Bolinas Lagoon. Open hillsides support grasslands and coastal scrub, while freshwater habitats nestle in canyon floors. The preserve is home to more than twenty-five species of mammals, over ninety species of land birds, thirteen species of reptile, and eight species of amphibian.

The preserve's frontage along Bolinas Lagoon brings more than 60 species of waterbirds and shorebirds into view—from [[sandpipers]] to [[osprey]] to [[pelicans]]—as well as some of the resident [[harbor seals]].

'''The History'''

Operating for many years as a family-run dairy ranch called Canyon Ranch, the land is now protected in perpetuity thanks to the conservation efforts in the early 1960s of [[L. Martin Griffin]]<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-07-21|title=Marty Griffin, savior of Marin open space, nears 100th birthday|url=https://www.marinij.com/2020/07/21/marty-griffin-savior-of-marin-open-space-nears-100th-birthday/|access-date=2022-06-25|website=Marin Independent Journal|language=en-US}}</ref> (then president of the Marin Chapter of the National Audubon Society), Aileen Pierson, Stan Picher, and other dedicated volunteers who organized to purchase the property for the protection of heron and egret nesting sites.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.egret.org/martys-page|title=ACR Founder & Emeritus Director L. Martin Griffin, MD|date=4 June 2014}}</ref> The preserve was designated a [[National Natural Landmark]] in 1968.<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.nature.nps.gov/nnl/site.cfm?Site=AUCA-CA |title= Audubon Canyon Ranch |publisher= [[National Park Service]] |work= nps.gov}}</ref>
For over 40 years, the Martin Griffin Preserve was known as the Bolinas Lagoon Preserve of Audubon Canyon Ranch. In July 2010, the ACR Board of Directors formally renamed the preserve the Martin Griffin Preserve in honor of Marty Griffin's lifelong commitment to the environment and in recognition of the critical role he played in permanently protecting this section of the Marin County coastline.


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve]]
*[[Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve]]
*[[Bolinas Ridge]]
*[[List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area]]
*[[Pike County Gulch]]
*[[Pike County Gulch]]
*[[Stinson Gulch]]
*[[M.F.K. Fisher]]


==References==
==References==
Line 44: Line 65:
*{{Official website|http://www.egret.org}}
*{{Official website|http://www.egret.org}}


{{WestMarin}}
{{WestMarin}}{{Protected areas of California}}{{Clear}}


{{authority control}}
{{Clear}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Audubon Canyon Ranch}}
⚫
[[Category:Nature reserves in California]]
[[Category:Canyons and gorges of California]]
[[Category:Canyons and gorges of California]]
[[Category:Rivers of Marin County, California]]
[[Category:Valleys of Marin County, California]]
[[Category:Valleys of Marin County, California]]
[[Category:West Marin]]
[[Category:West Marin]]
⚫
[[Category:Nature reserves in California]]
[[Category:National Natural Landmarks in California]]
[[Category:National Natural Landmarks in California]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Marin County, California]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Marin County, California]]
Line 58: Line 79:
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1968]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1968]]
[[Category:1968 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1968 establishments in California]]
⚫
[[Category:Non-profit organizations based in California]]

[[Category:Environmental organizations based in California]]

[[Category:501(c)(3) organizations]]
{{MarinCountyCA-geo-stub}}

Latest revision as of 04:10, 9 January 2025


Audubon Canyon Ranch (ACR) is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit environmental conservation and education organization headquartered in Stinson Beach, Marin County, California, on the eastern shore of Bolinas Lagoon. The lands upon which ACR operates are within the ancestral territories of the Coast Miwok, Southern Pomo and Wappo peoples.[1] ACR recognizes that Indigenous communities are very much alive today and striving to protect and maintain relationships with cultural and natural resources on ACR lands; they acknowledge that Indigenous lands are occupied by them and others.

Audubon Canyon Ranch was founded in 1962 to save a major heronry and block commercial development of Bolinas Lagoon in western Marin County, leading the way for the protection of Tomales Bay to the north. Today, Audubon Canyon Ranch stewards a system of nature preserves totaling 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) across 26 properties in Marin County and Sonoma County and conducts conservation science that in turn informs its education programs and directs its work on some of the region's most challenging environmental issues.

ACR's conservation science program has monitored the North Bay region nesting successes of herons and egrets for over 40 years,[2] collected long-term data sets on wintering shorebird and waterbird populations[3] on Tomales Bay for over 30 years, and is using GPS to track the movements of individual mountain lions[4] in the Sonoma Valley and Great Egrets and Long-billed Curlews on the coast. ACR's experiential nature education program, which turned 50 in 2020, has connected more than 300,000 Bay Area children and adults to the wonders of nature, cultivating environmental literacy and a conservation ethic. ACR's Fire Forward[5] program, founded in 2017, is advancing our community's ability to use "good fire" to reduce risk and build ecosystem resilience against climate-driven wildfire events.[6] ACR also stewards cultural treasures, including the literary legacy of American author M.F.K. Fisher[7] at her last house at Bouverie Preserve.

Martin Griffin Preserve

[edit]
Martin Griffin Preserve
Bolinas Lagoon Preserve
Historic Bourne house at the entrance to the preserve
Map showing the location of Martin Griffin Preserve
Map showing the location of Martin Griffin Preserve
Map of California
Map showing the location of Martin Griffin Preserve
Map showing the location of Martin Griffin Preserve
Audubon Canyon Ranch (the United States)
LocationMarin County, California
Nearest cityStinson Beach
Coordinates37°55′46″N 122°40′56″W / 37.9294°N 122.6822°W / 37.9294; -122.6822
Governing bodyAudubon Canyon Ranch
Websitewww.egret.org
Designated1968

The Martin Griffin Preserve encompasses 1,000 acres (400 ha) in West Marin, protected in perpetuity since 1962 as a wildlife sanctuary. The topography is characterized by its four canyons—Volunteer Canyon, Picher Canyon, Garden Club Canyon and Pike County Gulch—which vary in maximum elevation from 1,590 to 1,720 feet, and their associated streams and watersheds.

At the Bolinas Lagoon edge, California State Route 1 borders the western edge of the property while the Golden Gate National Recreation Area surrounds the northern, eastern and southern borders.

The Land

Mixed evergreen forests blanket slopes overlooking the Bolinas Lagoon. Open hillsides support grasslands and coastal scrub, while freshwater habitats nestle in canyon floors. The preserve is home to more than twenty-five species of mammals, over ninety species of land birds, thirteen species of reptile, and eight species of amphibian.

The preserve's frontage along Bolinas Lagoon brings more than 60 species of waterbirds and shorebirds into view—from sandpipers to osprey to pelicans—as well as some of the resident harbor seals.

The History

Operating for many years as a family-run dairy ranch called Canyon Ranch, the land is now protected in perpetuity thanks to the conservation efforts in the early 1960s of L. Martin Griffin[8] (then president of the Marin Chapter of the National Audubon Society), Aileen Pierson, Stan Picher, and other dedicated volunteers who organized to purchase the property for the protection of heron and egret nesting sites.[9] The preserve was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1968.[10]

For over 40 years, the Martin Griffin Preserve was known as the Bolinas Lagoon Preserve of Audubon Canyon Ranch. In July 2010, the ACR Board of Directors formally renamed the preserve the Martin Griffin Preserve in honor of Marty Griffin's lifelong commitment to the environment and in recognition of the critical role he played in permanently protecting this section of the Marin County coastline.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fimrite, Peter (September 9, 2019). "Artifacts alter timeline for Native Americans in California". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  2. ^ "North Bay Nest Monitoring - Audubon Canyon Ranch". February 12, 2018.
  3. ^ "Shorebird Survey - Audubon Canyon Ranch". Audubon Canyon Ranch. August 7, 2013.
  4. ^ "Mountain Lions in Sonoma County, and a Man's Mission to Save Them". Sonoma Magazine. September 24, 2019. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  5. ^ "How will California prevent more mega-wildfire disasters?". National Geographic. December 20, 2019. Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  6. ^ "'Burn It on Our Terms': Using Flames to Curb Catastrophic Wildfire in Sonoma County". Sonoma Magazine. March 18, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  7. ^ "Meet 3 Wine Country women who changed the way we eat". Santa Rosa Press Democrat. March 16, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
  8. ^ "Marty Griffin, savior of Marin open space, nears 100th birthday". Marin Independent Journal. July 21, 2020. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  9. ^ "ACR Founder & Emeritus Director L. Martin Griffin, MD". June 4, 2014.
  10. ^ "Audubon Canyon Ranch". nps.gov. National Park Service.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Audubon_Canyon_Ranch&oldid=1268309162"