John Muir property seen from Franklin Ridge circa 1892.

John Muir property seen from Franklin Ridge today.

TEN YEARS AGO, WHEN WE organized our land trust, no one in this community realized what a major effect it would have on the future of Martinez. We ourselves have been amazed, but--like a mountain climber who looks up rather than back to maintain sure footing--we keep moving.
Martinez is a city of 36,000. It started as an Italian fishing village at the turn of the century and grew to a thriving town, the county seat. Although it is only 20 minutes from Berkeley when traffic is light, it was bypassed during the period of urban growth that plopped subdivisions and shopping centers onto the hills and into the valleys where cows had grazed in much of Contra Costa County. Now, however, more and more new local residents commute from here to the San Francisco metropolitan area.
The home of John Muir, a National Historic Site, stands in Martinez, and although his orchards have been replaced by streets and houses, the hills have remained open, stretching north toward the glittering waters of the Carquinez Strait, southwest toward the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
Many local residents feel blessed by what remains of the natural landscape. For them, the Martinez Regional Land Trust promises a future that includes hills covered with grass and wildflowers, and tree-shaded creeks that flow freely toward a healthy bay. The land trust also nourishes a growing sense that citizens are the driving force behind the preservation of their environment.
We came together with a modest goal: to protect the open space within a planned subdivision, Stonehurst, in the Alhambra Valley. Our success in that venture emboldened us to take on something bigger. In 1992 the National Park Service was trying to acquire 325-acre Mt. Wanda, a hill that had been part of John Muir's property, to add to the historic site. The Park Service had about $3 million but needed $150,000 more. The East Bay Regional Park District contributed half of that sum, but with $75,000 still missing, the project was in jeopardy, along with a key section of the Bay Area Ridge Trail planned across Mt. Wanda.
We offered to raise the missing $75,000, though we were by no means sure how we would do so. Money came pouring in, in amounts ranging from dollar bills to an anonymous $12,000 donation. With the contributions came letters of thanks. We began to learn that a land trust has power to move a community from resignation to positive action. Our vision expanded.
When you hike up Mt. Wanda, passing five varieties of oak, you arrive at a spot that offers clear views across an open landscape. Visitors are often astounded. To the east stands solemn Mt. Diablo, one of the highest peaks in the region, while northwest a blanket of grassy hills billows toward Port Costa on the Carquinez Strait, through which the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers flow to San Francisco Bay.
Just beyond 500-foot Mt. Wanda, Franklin Ridge rises to a height of 1,000 feet. It's the top of our watershed. Franklin Creek flows from its northern slopes to Alhambra Creek, which flows through downtown Martinez en route to the Carquinez Strait. Vaca Creek descends the other side of Franklin Ridge into the Alhambra Valley, joining Alhambra Creek as it curves north. Along the top of Franklin Ridge lies Sky Ranch--our biggest and most recent preservation project. The eventual fate of this 242-acre ranch will likely determine the future not only of the land trust but also the entire region. If we succeed in preserving the ranch, the Bay Area Ridge Trail will run across it, mountain lions and deer will roam through it, and the future of ranching and farming will be more secure.
Much of the land within miles of Sky Ranch is already protected, either in parks or, less securely, as part of the 60,000-acre Briones Hills Agricultural Preserve, established in 1988 by agreement among 12 surrounding municipalities and the county. The agreement--unprecedented nationwide in terms of its size--provides that no growth-inducing water or sewer systems are to be installed within the preserve's boundaries. As pressures for urbanization grow, it will be sorely tested.
Such pressures are mounting. In 1993 a Taiwanese development company bought the Franklin Canyon Golf Course, at the foot of the ridge, and proposed to privatize it and build a conference center and 1,100 residences. That plan, scaled down to 830 units, was put before voters in the City of Hercules, who turned it down. No new plan has been submitted thus far. Meanwhile, another developer, based in the Philippines, bought Sky Ranch sight unseen, then placed it on the market for close to $1 million. The new owner soon learned that developing Sky Ranch would not be easy, due to issues of access and water, along with community opposition. The land stayed on the market for three years.
In 1996 our land trust approached the owner, Mercury Marketing Corporation, with an offer. We settled on a purchase price of $685,000 and an option period of 18 months, which expires June 20, 1998. By October 1997 we had secured more than $285,000 from Shell Martinez Refining Company, Tosco Refinery, East Bay Regional Park District, the J. M. Long, Lesher, and Strong Foundations, and many individuals. We have a long way to go in the next eight months.
When I lose heart I walk the old stagecoach road that winds along Franklin Creek to the ridge. I sit awhile in this place where the sky seems closer than a curtain. Land and time reach toward distant horizons.
John Muir wandered the grasslands of Mt. Wanda, perhaps as a respite from his responsibilities cultivating 860 acres of orchards that he owned with his father-in-law. He surely crossed Sky Ranch and hiked the ridge, just as mountain lions cross it now to travel between Mt. Diablo and Briones Park. A mountain lion was seen up there not long ago. No one claims to have seen John Muir on Sky Ranch, but we like to think we are continuing his work by setting this land aside as a special place for wildlife as well as people. Those who support our efforts are touched not only by this wilderness but also by the hope it inspires.

Tina Batt is the executive director of the Martinez Regional Land Trust. She is well acquainted with Alhambra Creek, for during winter storms it has more than once overflowed into her basement.