We need to raise $1.455 million to cover all the project costs (purchase price, long-term management, etc.) to acquire and protect the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch!
Will you help us save this distinctive piece of the Marsh Creek watershed? Please donate today to help!
In December 2023, Save Mount Diablo signed an option agreement to purchase the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch.
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch is the first property that Save Mount Diablo will be purchasing directly from the Ginochio family, which owns nearly 7,000 acres on and around Mount Diablo.
This property contains rare habitat connected to a major wildlife corridor, the Marsh Creek watershed; it is of very high ecological value.
Protecting the Marsh Creek Watershed
Marsh Creek. Photo by Cooper Ogden
Marsh Creek is the second longest and most undisturbed creek in all of Contra Costa County.
Connecting Mount Diablo to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, the Marsh Creek watershed is a vital wildlife corridor—one that we’ve been working to protect for decades.
Thanks to the work of Save Mount Diablo and our partners, more than 15 of the 33 miles of land along Marsh Creek have been protected.
Protecting the 98-acre Ginochio Schwendel Ranch will save a significant piece of land within this watershed from development.
A Rare and Biodiverse Habitat
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch. Photo by Scott Hein
The property contains unusual dacite volcanic habitat, which can support numerous rare and native plants.
In 2018, part of this property burned in the Marsh Fire, which affected some of our other properties within the Marsh Creek watershed.
Evidence of the fire can still be seen on the scorched trees that still remain on the property. These trees stand as a reminder that the land will burn again in the future.
Photos by Laura Kindsvater
As the land was doused with this year’s winter showers, it came alive. Around those still blackened trees bloomed an array of native flowers such as Henderson’s shooting stars, buttercups, and Pacific hound’s tongues.
Buckeye seeds lay sprouting across the woodland floor, and birds and butterflies fluttered throughout the trees and chaparral.
Save Mount Diablo staff visit the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch. Photo by Laura Kindsvater
We need to raise $1.455 million to acquire the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch!
Will you help us save this distinctive piece of the Marsh Creek watershed? Please donate today to help!
Save Mount Diablo staff hike through the trees at Ginochio Schwendel Ranch. Photo by Laura Kindsvater
