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.

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.

We are incredibly thankful to

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