Two more West Marin ranches, including one that is home to the tallest privately owned peak in the county, will soon be added to the portfolio of farmland protected from development by the Marin Agricultural Land Trust. Last week, the Board of Supervisors approved $2.9 million in farmland preservation grants to help MALT purchase easements that will keep the two properties east of Point Reyes Station in agricultural production forever. Funding for the county grants came from Measure A, which voters first approved in 2012 and renewed last year. MALT will match the grants. The two properties—Hicks Mountain Ranch and Corda Family Ranch—have been owned and operated by the Corda family for over a century. The Dellinger family splits ownership of the Hicks Mountain Ranch, where they run a pasture-raised chicken operation. “My great grandfather bought the ranch in 1912. There’s a lot of my family’s blood and sweat in this soil,” Bob Corda, co-owner of the ranch, said in a statement. “We’re blessed to have been born into the privilege of the land’s ownership and to have inherited the responsibility of its stewardship—it’s a lot of work and you have to love it.” The 903-acre Corda ranch is located northwest of Stafford Lake. Two thirds of the property is grassland used for grazing cattle, while the rest is comprised of hardwood forest, Oregon white oaks and promising cropland. Almost four miles of Novato Creek runs through the property, and a creek conservation area management plan is underway with Marin County Parks. The 344-acre Hicks Mountain Ranch sits along Point Reyes-Petaluma Road east of Point Reyes Station and is home to the county’s tallest privately owned mountain, standing at more than 1,500 feet. Only a third of the property is ranchland, while the rest is a mosaic of coast oak woodland and bay trees. Currently, it’s used by brush-grazing goats for meat production. “This opportunity with MALT gives a strong family the chance to protect a great ranch,” said Angela Dellinger, co-owner of Hicks Mountain Ranch. “My late mother always believed that MALT was going to be the way we could protect our family’s ranches and turns out she was right.” MALT easements extinguish the remaining residential development rights and prohibit any subdivision of the land. According to Craig Richardson, a senior planner for Marin County Parks, several family members no longer wanted to be on the titles for the two properties. To continue agricultural uses without selling the land, MALT easements were the best option. “Once farmland is taken out of agriculture, it rarely comes back,” Zach Mendes, MALT’s director of land protection, said in a statement. “That’s why we prioritize protecting working farms and ranches. The conservation of places like the Corda Family Ranch locks in the land that enables a viable local food system in the Bay Area and secures the natural infrastructure that protects us amid a changing climate. It’s a win-win across the board.” This is the second hefty allotment of Measure A funds MALT has acquired in the last six months. In December, it was given $3.3 million to purchase easements that will keep the Bivista Ridge Ranch, near Marshall, and the Spring Valley Ranch, west of Hicks Valley, in agriculture production in perpetuity.