photo credit: Shandra Back
The Calvi Ranch 

 A Sonoma County conservation group recently acquired a historic ranch just west of Occidental. They say the purchase prevents the property from being sold off and carved into housing parcels.

LandPaths acquired the 69-acre Calvi Ranch through a combination of purchase and donation from the Calvi family. The Sonoma County conservation group closed the deal in November.

The property includes coastal prairie, second-growth redwoods and wildlife habitat.

“We’re looking out now toward that distant meadow through countless second- and old-growth redwood trees emerging from the prairie,” said Craig Anderson, LandPaths’ director of external affairs. “Bay trees underneath them shining, those leaves shining brightly with the morning dew. We’re coming up on a bay tree here that’s too large for even two people to reach around. It would take three. You don’t see that in many places. It’s a really remarkable tree.”

The land was purchased in 1935 by Italian immigrant Rico Calvi, who ran a sawmill on the property for decades before passing it on to his children. Today, the ranch sits at the end of a narrow neighborhood road, about half a mile from LandPaths’ Grove of Old Trees preserve.

There are currently no trails. Anderson said the site will not be ready for public access for at least two to three years. The organization must complete environmental surveys, engineering studies and other county compliance steps before opening the land.

The ranch is located on the ancestral homeland of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. Anderson said LandPaths plans to work with tribal representatives as it develops a long-term stewardship plan.

Despite the lengthy process to secure the land, Anderson said the effort was worth it.

“Possibly the largest gift we can give is to provide this place to remain undisturbed, without additional home sites put into it,” he said. “There are many wonderful places for home sites. We all need them in our gem of Sonoma County. But I would be one to say this place is pretty nice just as it is.”