Recently, Save Mount Diablo completed our historic $15 million Forever Wild Capital Campaign—the largest and most consequential fundraising effort in the organization’s 50-year history.
Through Forever Wild, we raised the necessary funds to protect 1,681 acres of land in nine different properties. The total land conserved amounts to 2.6 square miles, an area bigger than Emeryville or the San Francisco Presidio.
Here is a property protected forever, through Forever Wild.
One of Save Mount Diablo’s top two priorities for decades, Curry Canyon Ranch is a Shangri-La of sycamore-lined creeks, lush canyons studded with boulders as large as buildings, and exposed grassland ridges with 360-degree views of nothing but gorgeous open space.
The three-mile-wide property was secured for $7.2 million with a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy, a loan from longtime supporters Dave and Dana Dornsife, and another loan from The Conservation Fund. We are currently working to transfer much of the property to Mount Diablo State Park.
Curry Canyon Ranch is 50 percent larger than Angel Island. It harbors half a dozen huge canyons and significant peaks, including most of Cave Point, half of Windy Point, and much of Knobcone Point. It contains a mile of rocky cliffs and wind caves and was once a destination for Mount Diablo’s tourists hiking along the historic Curry-Cave Trail.
The ranch includes the 1895 Olofson homesite and Native American cultural sites. It supports 12 of Mount Diablo’s 16 plant habitats and is home to more than 800 species of wildlife, including 30 that are rare or threatened. It is home to valley oaks that are 19 feet in circumference.
The property is the missing link in four major state park trail connections and is Save Mount Diablo’s biggest and most important acquisition project since North Peak.
Top photo: Al Johnson
