Owner Bob Smullen, who bought the property in 1967, had asked the Park Service last summer to move up his land on the park's list of purchases because of financial hardship.

The deal closed on Aug. 15, 17 years after the property was added to the GGNRA's shopping list.

Two of the three parcels making up the property sold for $225,000 each. A third, larger parcel went for $300,000. Smullen got $46,000 in addition for his tree-farm business.

Current zoning allows for construction of one house on the property. However, Smullen subdivided into the smaller lots in 1974 before the zoning was enacted, and legally could have built three homes.

"We just got the parcel," said Neubacher, whose park administers GGNRA lands north of Bolinas. "It's mainly going to be open space. We haven't gone into the planning phase."

Park purchases have become infrequent. Doug Nadeau, chief planner for the GGNRA, explained that budget cuts have slowed the acquisitions. These days, he said, the only deals being struck are with landowners threatening to develop or pleading hardship.

When late Congressman Phil Burton was in office, "we had lots of money every year, and we just went down our priority list," Nadeau said.

Now, he added, "people within our boundaries are getting impatient [to sell or develop] and I don't blame them. What it requires is that people do a lot of saber-rattling and telling the county that, 'I'm going to develop my property.'"