Point Reyes Light - April 25, 2002
Audubon Canyon Ranch adds perch
By Brett Weinstein
Audubon Canyon Ranch is open for public viewing of heron and egrets nesting, carrying out their courtship dances, mating, and raising young high in redwood trees beside Bolinas Lagoon.
Using their own binoculars or telescopes mounted at overhead overlooks, members of the public can until July 14 peer down into the nests of great blue herons, great egrets, the common black-crowned night herons, and the little snowy egrets.
This year, visitors will be able to see more of the great blue herons than they could in the past because Audubon Canyon Ranch has created a new overlook on the north side of Picher Canyon directly across from their nests.
The trail to the new overlook begins at Audubon Ranch Headquarters near Highway 1. (In fact, the rookeries are so near the highway that motorists without stopping often see white egrets nesting in Picher Canyon’s redwoods.)
Continuing up the trail past the new overlook is the Preserve Overlook, from which hundreds of nests can be seen in the tops of redwood trees.
Importance of lagoon
Audubon Canyon Ranch includes three canyons, and creeks running down them all in the wet season drain into Bolinas Lagoon. For long-legged wading birds such as herons and egrets, the edge of the lagoon with its variety of small fish, frogs, and crustaceans is an ideal feeding ground.
Eight miles of nature trails traverse the preserve’s canyons, offering hikers a chance to meander past creeks and redwoods, birds and other wildlife – in all, more than 90 species of landbirds as well as such mammals as blacktail deer, bobcats, and gray foxes. The ranch also contains a display hall, bookstore, and picnic grounds.
How it all started
In the latter half of the 19th century, loggers stripped what is now Audubon Canyon Ranch and other parts of the lagoon’s watershed of giant redwoods and firs, as nearby San Francisco grew into a major city. Land around Bolinas Lagoon was cleared and used for dairying, grazing, or potato cultivation.
As a result of the logging and non-contour plowing especially, erosion became severe on the hills around the lagoon, which began to steadily silt up.
In 1875 Captain Peter Bourne built a New England-style ranchhouse beside Bolinas Lagoon and allocated more than 500 acres for his dairy ranch.
Subdivision plans
Eighty years later (in 1955), a small land firm bought Bourne’s property with the intention of subdividing it.
Recognizing the area’s natural beauty and importance to wildlife, the Marin and Golden Gate Audubon Societies opposed the development, and in 1961, Dr. Martin Griffin and environmentalist friend, William Picher, spearheaded a project to raise $337,000 to purchase the land.
Not only did he play a leading role in preventing the area from becoming sites for high-priced homes, Griffin went on to create Audubon Canyon Ranch. Sponsoring his nonprofit organization were the Marin, Golden Gate, and Sequoia Audubon societies.
It has been lost to history whether long-legged wading birds nested in Picher Canyon and nearby before Bolinas Ridge was logged in 1850; however, after second-growth redwoods became mature, they were found there in abundance. And when Audubon Canyon Ranch preserved the second-growth redwoods, it appeared the rookeries had been saved.
Harbor District
Soon, however, it became evident that for the heron and egret colonies to exist where they were, the birds’ main hunting ground, Bolinas Lagoon, had to be secured as well.
But in 1957, the Legislature created Bolinas Harbor District and gave it until 1967 to develop a marina, as well as a commercial and recreational area that incorporated Bolinas Lagoon’s 110-acre Kent Island.
In response, Audubon Canyon Ranch, Marin Conservation League, and the Nature Conservancy quickly launched a fund-raising drive to acquire Kent Island and save the lagoon. Also alarmed by the intensive development planned were county Supervisors Peter Behr and Tom Storer, who proposed the Harbor District be dissolved. In 1969, the issue was put to a vote of local citizens, and the results were 313 to 266 in favor of dissolution. State government then resumed ownership of the lagoon.
Eventually, the Marin County Park System acquired the lagoon as a wildlife preserve.
Cypress Grove Preserve
As time went by, Audubon Canyon Ranch expanded its operations to also include the Bouverie Preserve in Sonoma’s Valley of the Moon and Cypress Grove Preserve in Marshall.
Today, Cypress Grove Preserve is used primarily for research on Tomales Bay and its watershed studies, as well as marine life in general. Because long-term biological studies are underway, Cypress Grove is usually closed to the public.
Over the years, Cypress Grove served as a hunting lodge, Coast Guard housing, and home to the late Clifford Conly, a highly regarded San Francisco architect, interior designer, and landscaper.
Audubon Canyon Ranch wouldn’t have Cypress Grove were it not for Conly. In 1950, Conly returned to Cypress Grove to fulfill his childhood dream of someday owning the 9.5-acre property. Upon his arrival, Conly found a neglected and run-down Victorian hunting lodge and several decrepit cottages, but he bought it and set out to restore it.
Conly had barely moved in when he found himself fighting the county’s West Marin General Plan which proposed building 50,000 homes and developing several shopping centers, and commercial-recreation complexes.
Late-night phone call
To forestall this possibility, Audubon Canyon Ranch began buying shoreline property for preservation. The most remarkable purchase was of Cypress Grove.
In 1970, Griffin telephoned Conly and offered to buy Cypress Grove. Conly had been sleeping when Griffin called, and he was barefoot and freezing when he reluctantly answered the phone. After a brief discussion, Conly told Griffin that he’d give him the property if Griffin would just let him go back to sleep. Conly then gave Audubon Canyon Ranch future ownership of the land and finally turned over the keys in 1992.
When heronry is open
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the overlooks are open to the public on weekends and holidays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Natural-history guides are on hand to answer questions, provide information on individual species, and direct telescopic views of the birds’ mating displays, eggs, and chicks. Schools and other groups can arrange midweek visits by calling 868-9244.