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A New Partner, the California Wildlife Conservation Board Grants $728,000 of the $1.455 Million Total Project Cost

WALNUT CREEK, CA—In a Bay Area conservation victory, Save Mount Diablo is delighted to announce that we closed escrow on the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch today.

With this purchase, we are permanently protecting this 98-acre property along the Marsh Creek wildlife corridor between Clayton and Brentwood—just one week after receiving approval for the last half of necessary funding.

We are incredibly thankful to the Ginochio family for their partnership with us, to the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) for providing significant funding to the project, to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, to the many generous individual donors who helped make the acquisition possible, and to Joan Morris for supporting the purchase in her newspaper columns.

Last Wednesday, on February 26, the California Wildlife Conservation Board approved a $728,000 grant towards the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch acquisition project, covering about half of the $1.455 million total project cost, in the first grant that Save Mount Diablo has ever received from them.

“We are immensely grateful to the Ginochio family and our supporters for helping make this important land acquisition possible. We are also thrilled and thankful to have officially started a conservation partnership with the California Wildlife Conservation Board by working together to protect the strategic Ginochio Schwendel Ranch,” said Save Mount Diablo Executive Director Ted Clement.

“Together with the WCB, we look forward to protecting other strategic lands within the mountain range that Mount Diablo is a part of and sustained by, the Diablo Range. The Diablo Range is 200 miles long and it runs through 12 counties, with Mount Diablo in its northernmost county of Contra Costa. The Diablo Range is an incredible wildlife habitat corridor supporting species like California condors, golden eagles, tule elk, mountain lions, and many other creatures. The Diablo Range is comprised of over 3.5 million acres, of which only about 25 percent is currently protected. It provides California with one of its best opportunities to meet many of its 30×30 goals,” he stated.

The Wildlife Conservation Board is a state grant-making agency dedicated to safeguarding California’s spectacular biological diversity and wild spaces for the benefit of present and future generations.

The Wildlife Conservation Board will be managing the new “San Andreas Corridor Program.”

The program includes $80 million advocated for by Save Mount Diablo as part of the bond funding approved by voters in November 2024 through statewide Proposition 4.

The program will protect land in the Inner Coast Ranges along the San Andreas fault, an area including the 200-mile Diablo Range.

Nurturing a Long-Term Partnership

Save Mount Diablo bought the Schwendel Ranch from the Ginochio family, one of the most significant landowning families in Contra Costa County.

The family owns nearly 7,000 acres on and around Mount Diablo, including some of Save Mount Diablo’s top conservation priorities.

The Ginochio family has lived in Contra Costa County since 1867. Save Mount Diablo’s relationship with the Ginochio family goes back decades.

Beginning in the 1980s, Save Mount Diablo worked with John Ginochio to stop the proposed “Diablo Foothills Freeway,” which would have cut through Diablo Foothills Regional Park near Castle Rock, Shell Ridge Open Space, Mount Diablo State Park, and the Ginochio family’s land.

Since then, John Ginochio and other Ginochio family members have been major conservation partners to Save Mount Diablo, supporting our work in numerous ways, such as practicing conservation grazing on several of our properties.

Protecting the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch deepens Save Mount Diablo’s relationship with the Ginochio family and opens up the possibility of additional collaborative projects on and around Mount Diablo.

The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch Is Special

As a strategic piece of the Marsh Creek watershed containing rare volcanic habitat, the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch has very high conservation value.

The property is adjacent to our Marsh Creek 5 property, a 7.4-acre site that includes an undercrossing of Marsh Creek Road for wildlife and a segment of Marsh Creek, Contra Costa County’s second longest and most undisturbed creek.

It’s near several other of our Marsh Creek properties as well.

Marsh Creek is a vital wildlife corridor in an arid region.

Piece by piece, for decades, we have been working to protect more and more of this riparian habitat, which stretches through eastern Contra Costa County, connecting Mount Diablo to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta.

To date, properties including 15 miles of the 33-mile creek have been protected by Save Mount Diablo and our partners.

The unusual volcanic geologic formations found on the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch support numerous rare and endemic native plants.

These formations can be easily seen as steep mushroom-like domes that are made up of high-silica igneous rock, resisting erosion more than the softer sedimentary rock surrounding them, which has worn away to reveal them.

Not only are these volcanic domes rare locally, but as they break down to mineral soils, they retain water more than surrounding areas; this helps them better support a different array of rare plants and wildlife.

Deep Gratitude to the Community Who Made This Purchase Possible

We’re very thankful to Joan Morris, who encouraged the readers of her columns in the East Bay Times and The Mercury News to make gifts towards the protection of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch.

Many of her readers donated to help preserve this property for generations to come.

Almost a year and a half ago, Joan Morris also helped us raise enough money to protect the Krane Pond property. Now, she and her readers are continuing to support our work, and for that we are truly grateful.

Heartfelt thanks to our community of supporters who made the acquisition of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch possible.

Image Captions and Credits

1. The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch with Mount Diablo in the distance. The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch is characterized by its rare volcanic domes. Photo: Cooper Ogden
2. The Wildlife Conservation Board logo. The Wildlife Conservation Board covered about half of the total cost of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch acquisition.
3. Blue oak woodlands at the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch. Photo: Mary Nagle
4. Map showing the location of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch and some of the other properties protected by Save Mount Diablo along Marsh Creek, the least-disturbed stream in Contra Costa County. Map: Roxana Lucero
5. Protecting the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch also protects more of the Marsh Creek wildlife corridor, which connects Mount Diablo to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta. Pictured here: Marsh Creek. Photo: Cooper Ogden
6. The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch supports a biodiverse population of native plants and animals. Pictured here: Collinsia species and Mount Diablo fairy lantern on the property. The Mount Diablo fairy lantern is endemic to the Mount Diablo region. Photo: Mary Nagle
7. Volcanic domes in the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch resist erosion and are visible as steep formations. Photo: Scott Hein

High resolution versions of images and drone footage of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch are available; please contact lkindsvater@savemountdiablo.org.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Laura Kindsvater, Senior Communications Manager

C: 925-451-8376, lkindsvater@savemountdiablo.org

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