Last December, Sonoma County based LandPaths announced they were acquiring Calvi Ranch, a 69-acre parcel of land a half mile from the magnificent Grove of Old Trees in Occidental.
Owned by the Calvi Family for the last 90 years, the property is located on the ancestral homeland of the Kashia Band of Pomo Indians and the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. It has been and is a crucial piece of wildlife connectivity, headwaters protection and now, eventually programming, grounded in equitable access to nature.
This land could easily have been sold for multiple millions and decimated to make room for housing, a golf course or a hotel, but the Calvi family wanted to keep it as close to “as is” instead. Craig Anderson, executive director of external affairs at LandPaths, spoke to the acquisition’s multifaceted win for conservancy, the environment, the local landscape and more. Said Anderson, “The state of the world, both locally and globally, requires that we are thoughtful in how we assess and prioritize our community efforts at LandPaths with other needs.”
He continued, “Given this, we still felt it incredibly important to protect this truly incomparable Sonoma County vestige of wildness, and to do that in a way where the trees, prairie and creatures that live therein would have the best chance of flourishing now and for future generations.”
In terms of the recent history for the property, prior landowner Gene Calvi said that in addition to ownership of the land for the past 90 years, “The adjacent 23-acre parcel, referred to as the picnic grounds, has been in our family for over 60 years.” He admitted, “This parcel was the hardest for me to give up because of its beauty,” adding that the parcel “is amazing, with its mass amount of redwood trees and Fay Creek that runs through it most of the year.” Calvi concluded that “after showing Craig Anderson the ranch and picnic grounds owned by my family, I knew I was speaking to the right person.”
Structured as part sale and part donation by brothers Gene and David Calvi, the deal involves land their father Nico purchased in 1935 as a new immigrant from Italy. Nico Calvi operated a sawmill there for decades, but its small, car-engine-powered saw was only suited for cutting smaller trees. Consequently, the old-growth and mature second-growth forests were left intact, remaining as they are today.
The acquisition was also made with support from California State Coastal Conservancy as well as donors including Jean Schulz, wife of another person known for bringing joy into the world, Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz. Jean Schulz said that upon first visiting the Calvi Ranch, she was “blown away by the variety of the landscape and the pristine condition that I saw. What a gift to our generation, and the next.”
While the acquisition is cause for excitement, Anderson said the process for next steps won’t be a rushed one. “With time, there will be a planning process,” he noted. Anderson added that it’s important to “[be] mindful of the need to balance access with respecting private property and promoting community safety and well-being. Access to wild nature for people who might not otherwise have the opportunity, and who seek nothing more than an opportunity to enjoy the quiet and nourishment by spaces like this, comes with that obligation.”
Next steps include LandPaths working with interested tribal representatives, along with a neighborhood group, Friends of the Grove (or FOG), and other community members to create a site-management plan. This plan will be the basis of an application to the County of Sonoma for a Conditional Use Permit, a necessary step in opening the property up to passive (walking) public access, including environmental education for local school children.
For more information visit landpaths.org.
