thornton_ranch_malt
The Thornton Ranch, which sits between Walker Creek and the Brazil, Sartori and Zimmerman ranches, is MALT’s latest conservation victory. It has been in Gary Thornton’s family since 1852.   David Briggs

Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) has secured a $2.3 million conservation easement that will permanently protect the 1,013-acre Thornton Ranch in Tomales from non-agricultural redevelopment and subdivision. Owner Gary Thornton, a descendant of the dairy-farming Marshall brothers who founded the eponymous town, inherited the land in 2000. He began exploring the option of a conservation easement with MALT in 2006, after selling his dairy herd to pay part of the $1.1 million estate tax levied…