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“After years of efforts, and despite being threatened with a County approved 40-lot subdivision plan for forty years, Save Mount Diablo is extremely relieved and pleased to announce that it has successfully acquired and protected the 95-acre Anderson Ranch which is rich in conservation values in the strategic Morgan Territory area. We thank our wonderful supporters and partners for helping us have the ability to complete this deal and with it deliver a holiday gift that will give lasting green returns to our community,” said Ted Clement, Save Mount Diablo Executive Director.

Thanks to a team of botanists contracted by the East Bay Regional Park District (EPRPD), the endangered Mount Diablo Buckwheat was identified as thriving at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve…

Thanks in part to a team of renowned botanists contracted by the East Bay Regional Park District
to survey wildland vegetation in Eastern Contra Costa County, the endangered wildflower Mount Diablo
Buckwheat was identified as thriving at Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve in Antioch, California.

In 2015, Save Mount Diablo (SMD) signed a ten-year agreement to purchase 87.2-acre North Peak Ranch from Steve and Brenda Benkly, for a total purchase price of approximately $1.1 million. The beautiful property rises from Marsh Creek Road just east of Clayton onto the slopes of North Peak, Mount Diablo’s second tallest and more rugged peak. It shares a boundary with Mount Diablo State Park. Steve and Brenda will retain 6.2 acres and continue to live in their small 1200 sq. ft. farmhouse, built in 1924, which first necessitated a subdivision process through the County to split the parcel. SMD is also acquiring right of first refusal on that smaller parcel where the Benklys will continue to live.