Newsletter for friends and supporters of Save Mount Diablo
Save Mount Diablo’s Diablo Range Expansion
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jim Felton, President
Burt Bassler, Treasurer
Giselle Jurkanin, VP & Secretary
Keith Alley
Steve Balling
John Gallagher
Liz Harvey Roberts
Claudia Hein
Scott Hein
Shirley Langlois
Bob Marx
Doug Matthew
Amara Morrison
Phil O’Loane
Robert Phelps
Malcolm Sproul
Jeff Stone
Achilleus Tiu
Ted Clement, Executive Director
Seth Adams, Land Conservation Director
Sean Burke, Land Programs Director
Karen Ferriere, Development Director
Monica Oei, Finance & Administration Director
Tuesday Bentley, Accounting & Administrative Associate
Venanzio Favalora and Alyxa Ray, Caretakers
Juan Pablo Galván Martínez, Senior Land Use Manager
Shannon Grover, Sr. Development Associate & Event Manager
Dana Halpin, Administrative Assistant
Brit Hutchinson, Event Coordinator
Samantha Kading, Assistant Development Director
Morvarid Keymanesh, Staff Accountant
Laura Kindsvater, Senior Communications Manager
Queenie Li, Database Coordinator
Katie Lopez, Staff Accountant & Office Administrator
Roxana Lucero, Land Stewardship Manager
Joanne McCluhan, Executive Assistant
Mary Nagle, Communications Associate
Kendra Smith, Education & Outreach Coordinator
Haley Sutton , Land Stewardship
Associate
Amidst the climate and biodiversity crises, we must do more to address the problem and protect the natural world we are part of, and depend on, for life itself. Save Mount Diablo has decided to do its part, and do more to protect Mount Diablo and its sustaining Diablo Range, because a more intact natural system will be more resilient.
The Diablo Range is an incredible natural system and wildlife habitat corridor that is about 200 miles long, with Mount Diablo as the northern head of this important body that contains over 3.5 million acres, of which only about 25 percent is protected. It is filled with biodiversity and large privately owned ranches and other open spaces.
To give you a sense of how biologically rich the Diablo Range is, consider the following. In September of last year, six California condors were tracked by GPS transmitters, paid for in part by our Mary Bowerman Science and Research Program, flying in the Mount Diablo area. It was the first confirmed visit by a condor flock in our area in over 100 years. As the California condor population rebounds from near extinction in the 1980s, condors are reestablishing themselves in their largely intact Diablo Range. The Diablo Range also has the highest concentration of nesting golden eagles on the planet.
At our annual Board strategic plan retreat, in January, it was decided we would expand our geographic scope to cover the entire Diablo Range in the following ways:
• Expand our advocacy efforts to the full 12 counties of the Diablo Range, where before it was only for seven of the 12 counties; and
• Expand the area within which we will consider accepting land or conservation easements using others’ acquisition funds to the southern Santa Clara County line and Pacheco Pass, where before it was to the northern Santa Clara County line.
What stays the same is that we will keep focusing our acquisition funds from Mount Diablo south to Corral Hollow.
When I started working for Save Mount Diablo in November 2015, we worked in two counties. Now we work in 12. Thankfully, your support has enabled us to step up and do more at this critical time when more must be done to protect our natural world.
With Gratitude,
Fire, Drought, Rain and Hope: Three Wild Years in the Diablo Range 1
Five Times the Size of Yosemite
National Park: Save Mount Diablo’s Diablo Range Expansion 2
First Flock in 100 Years: Six California Condors Visit Mount Diablo and Contra Costa County 12
Save Mount Diablo to Open Two New Loop Trails in Curry Canyon 13
Save Mount Diablo Options
Ginochio Schwendel Ranch 14
Break the Logjam! Grow Mount Diablo State Park for Greater Good 16
Balcerzak Inholding: Restoring a Remote Piece of Mount Diablo 17
Pine Canyon Cleanup: Eight Workdays in One Weekend 18
Save Mount Diablo Dedicates Krane Pond Property 20
Fighting Climate Change and Creating Habitat: One Plant at a Time 21
Empowering Our Team: Presenting Our Remarkable New Staff! 22
Get the Inside Scoop on Our Conservation Victories 22
Jean Vieth: Helping People Experience and Explore the Natural World 23
Tribute and Memorial Gifts 24
By Joan Hamilton
With the help of ranchers, scientists, and land managers, the film Fire, Drought, Rain and Hope explores life in California’s inland Coast Ranges after the huge fires of 2020. It ventures into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love.
• MORGAN TERRITORY, where the fire hit closest to home—and rare plants bounced back by the millions on incinerated slopes.
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ON THE COVER : Panoche Valley, Diablo Range. Save Mount Diablo expanded to include the entire 12-county Diablo Range in early 2024.
PHOTO: SCOTT HEIN
OHLONE WILDERNESS, where wildlife biologist Amanda Murphy studies rattlesnakes, Alameda whipsnakes, and whiptail lizards living in a vast open space on the urban edge.
MÁYYAN ‘OOYÁKMA–Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, where activistecologist Stuart Weiss and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority have helped make the City of San Jose safer.
HENRY W. COE STATE PARK, where the fire made resource managers’ jobs easier in an expanse of wild country four times the size of Mount Diablo State Park.
PINNACLES NATIONAL PARK AND BEYOND, where author and conservation biologist Joseph Belli “babysits” condors as a volunteer for the National Park Service and teams up with soulmate Seth Adams of Save Mount Diablo to survey wildlife in the range.
• • CORRAL HOLLOW, where a fifth-generation ranching family survived the fire and helped establish a new state-park unit.
DEL PUERTO CANYON AND MOUNT HAMILTON, where experts in insects, eagles, and other wildlife cross the Diablo Range together on a soggy spring day in 2023.
The last part of the film, “Hope: and Audacious Plans,” maps out Save Mount Diablo’s strategies for winning broader protection for the range in this era of climate change.
The 83-minute film is the brainchild of longtime Save Mount Diablo staffer Seth Adams, and includes interviews with Doug Bell, Joseph Belli, Sean Burke, Ted Clement, Mark Connolly, Celeste Garamendi, Scott Hein, Andrea Mackenzie, and Kip Will. It showcases the photography of Scott Hein and Cooper Ogden. Writing, production, and narration are by Joan Hamilton.
The film is available now for viewing on Save Mount Diablo’s YouTube channel at https://bit.ly/FDRH.
By Seth Adams, Land Conservation Director
Mount Diablo State Park has grown to 20,000 acres in 100 years. What if I told you another 20,000 acres of the Diablo Range could be protected in the next 18 months? Or hundreds of thousands of acres over the next six years? A million acres over the next 50 years?
THE GIANT DIABLO RANGE runs some 200 miles north to south through Central California between Highway 101 and Highway 5. It crosses 12 counties and covers 3.5 million acres— five times larger than Yosemite National Park.
Save Mount Diablo first focused on protecting the region around Mount
Diablo’s main peaks, and with that focus, we’ve gained protection for over 120,000 acres of public lands north of Altamont Pass, from just 7,000 protected acres at the time of our founding. That’s 75% of what we think is important. This area in the East Bay from the Livermore Valley north to the Delta remains our highest priority, but
the remaining conservation properties here are smaller and more expensive. Conversely, the Diablo Range south of the Altamont area offers the potential for conservation on a much larger scale, with a greater bang for the buck.
The Diablo Range’s 3,500,000 acres (almost 5,500 square miles) are largely undeveloped, sparsely inhabited, and
intact—crossed by major highways in just two places (the Altamont and Pacheco passes). Lying in the rain shadow of the outer coast ranges, it is arid, rocky and rich— a place where evolution happens faster. Its wilderness-quality spine of 3,000–5,000 foot peaks hosts an incredible diversity of topography and ecological communities.
The range is recognized as a biodiversity hotspot and serves as a genetic reservoir supporting the flora and fauna of surrounding natural areas, including Mount Diablo to the north,
the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west, and the Carrizo Plain and Tehachapis to the south.
Despite its size and importance the range is relatively unknown to the public and decision-makers. It is therefore largely unprotected, with only about 25% (875,000 acres) having some level of protection. (For comparison, the much better-known Sierra Nevada Range is twice as large, and is 52% protected.) That’s why we believe the Diablo Range will be California’s next great conservation story.
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PHOTOS BY: SCOTT HEIN
Save Mount Diablo has now expanded its work to all 12 counties across the Diablo Range. Pictured here: Panoche Hills, Fresno County.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The Panoche Valley and Hills; map showing Save Mount Diablo’s land acquisition and advocacy areas in the Diablo Range; San Joaquin kit fox in the Diablo Range; American badger; tule elk.
IN JANUARY SAVE MOUNT DIABLO’S BOARD of Directors took the next steps in defining the role our organization will play in this great story by expanding our geographic focus to all 12 counties crossed by the Diablo Range.
Our acquisitions will still focus on the area north of Corral Hollow (dark green), but we’ll now be open to land gifts or conservation easements in the whole northern third of the range (green cross-hatch, south to Pacheco Pass), with an accompanying expansion of our stewardship programs.
At the same time, we will be expanding our advocacy efforts throughout the whole range, emphasizing partnerships with local, regional, and national organizations (orange outline).
The expansion of our work in this larger region has been rapid, responding to both threats and opportunities, at both the local and global levels. Threats include pressure from a growing population seeking their own little piece of rural paradise, leading to fragmentation of formerly intact wildlands, along with proposed large-scale water and energy projects. Not to mention the global threat of climate change, which is putting increasing pressure on our state’s native plants and wildlife.
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The Quien Sabe volcanic field east of Hollister includes Laveaga Peak (not shown), the highest point in Merced County.
Both the federal and state governments have now set a goal to conserve at least 30 percent of lands and freshwater and 30 percent of ocean areas by 2030, in a biodiversity initiative known as “30x30.” The aim is to reverse the negative impacts of biodiversity decline and climate change by protecting more natural areas, and to increase access to nature for communities that lack it.
As of 2023, California had conserved 24.4% of lands and 16.2% of coastal waters. The ambitious 30x30 initiative will focus agencies and funders on these goals.
With its massive scale, its relative
absence of development, and its status as a premier wildlife corridor for charismatic megafauna such as mountain lions and California condors, the Diablo Range presents an incredible opportunity for advancing the goals of the 30x30 initiative.
The places that have been well researched such as Mt. Diablo, Mt. Hamilton, Henry W. Coe, Pinnacles, and San Benito Mountain, all demonstrate that rich biodiversity. The range is a 200-mile mountain lion, golden eagle, tule elk, California condor freeway. It’s a superhighway for birds, reptiles and amphibians. And it stretches south past underserved areas in the Salinas and San Joaquin valleys
with limited access to parks and trails.
The best chance of reaching state 30x30 goals lies in the Diablo Range. It has the most, largest, highest biodiversity properties left in the state.
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THE NATURE CONSERVANCY has had its eyes on the Diablo Range for several decades, recognizing it as a global biodiversity hotspot. Beginning in 1998, TNC has worked to protect more than 100,000 acres in the Diablo Range, from Mount Hamilton east to the San Joaquin Valley. But new science and the state’s 30x30 goals have led TNC to ramp up its interest. And the organization has now given its renewed campaign a new name: “San Andreas Linkage.”
Here’s what TNC says about the newly christened project: “California’s Inner Coast Range [including the Diablo Range] contains what many consider to be the state’s most valuable unprotected wildlife linkage. The range runs along the San Andreas Fault, where tectonic activity created the conditions for amazing biodiversity, from plants found nowhere else on Earth to iconic species like pronghorn and tule elk. Though most people know the name San Andreas because of the fault line, the surrounding region has the potential to make a difference above ground with the establishment of the San Andreas Linkage. Our goal is to create a series of wildlife corridors that span nearly 600,000 acres—a refuge on the scale required to sustain the full suite of the region’s native species in the face of climate change. We are connecting multiple protected areas, many of which were previously isolated... This reconnected habitat will support a climate-resilient wildlife linkage and provide water resources for native species. It will also prevent further energy development from disrupting and fragmenting ecosystems.”
Wow! Big goals. Like Save Mount Diablo, TNC is both a land trust and a conservation advocacy organization, but with much greater capacity. It often works with local partners who have the knowledge and capacity to take over ownership or management of properties it acquires. So as TNC develops its goals for this ambitious new project, SMD will share its knowledge of the area to guide it to high priority locations, where the threats and opportunities are the greatest. We’ll consider owning or managing some of the acquired properties. We’ll help develop sources of funding, such as state resource bonds. And we’ll work with a range of partners up and down the San Andreas fault zone, to ensure stewardship and access. We’re even talking about a national monument to upgrade protection of 200,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management-owned land centered on the Panoche Valley and San Benito Mountain.
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Pinnacles National Park is home to endangered California condors that have been expanding their range across the Diablo Range and beyond.
I started with: What if I told you another 20,000 acres of the Diablo Range, the size of Mount Diablo State Park, could be protected in the next 18 months?
It’s already happening. In January other partners announced a deal on the 3,654-acre Richmond Ranch above San Jose, in the Diablo Range north of Henry Coe State Park. TNC is optioning another 15,000 acres, plus another 30,000 acres are in contract further south near Carrizo Plain. And the year’s just getting started!
Nine years ago, in 2015, when SMD began the planning for our Diablo Range project, the range was almost unknown to the public. Since then,
we’ve put the Diablo Range on the map for decision-makers and the public. We believe that the Diablo Range and the San Andreas Linkage are the most significant land conservation opportunities in California, and we’re excited to be at the center of the action.
The Board’s conclusion at our January planning retreat was that large areas of the Diablo Range lack defenders, especially at the edge of the San Joaquin and Salinas valleys. With the dual threats of climate change and declining biodiversity, now is the time to be bold, to stretch, and to build our capacity to the next level.
As part of the expansion of our area of work, we’ve increased our staff 60% over nine years, and in the process,
become one of the largest land trusts in the state. TNC’s San Andreas Linkage project is a rocket ship that SMD can climb on to further advance this work. So far TNC is mostly focused on the central and southern Diablo Range, while SMD is focusing on the northern part. Now we are beginning discussions with TNC about how best to collaborate and where we can participate most effectively.
With your support, we look forward to continuing to grow our capacity to be a proactive catalyst for the protection of at-risk wildlands in the Diablo Range in this time of great opportunity. Join us. Together we can save an entire mountain range! •
Six California condors visit Mount Diablo and Contra Costa County
By Mary Nagle
LAST SEPTEMBER , the National Park Service tracked the flight paths of some special visitors to the Diablo region: California condors! Six condors soared through the skies above Round Valley and Morgan Territory Regional Preserves, one even flying a mile or two west of Mount Diablo’s summit.
California condors have increasingly been exploring both ends of the Diablo Range. Because they prefer to fly above undeveloped areas, their flight tracks are demonstrating what we hoped—the connectivity and
high-quality habitat the 200-mile Diablo Range includes.
“We are excited to see more California condors from Pinnacles National Park continue to expand their range as they explore Mount Diablo and surrounding mountains. A number of condors are outfitted with GPS trackers, and that is how we know when they fly great distances from Pinnacles,” said Alacia Welch, Condor Program Manager for Pinnacles National Park.
We have this new information because Save Mount Diablo has provided funds for more GPS units, and volunteer Joseph Belli is tracking the condors more closely. The GPS trackers are partially funded by grants from Save Mount Diablo’s Mary Bowerman Science and Research program.
Recent visits from California condors
In 2021, a California condor visited Contra Costa County for
the first time in more than 100 years, taking an exploratory flight into new territory in the Round Valley–Morgan Territory area. Then, about a year later in 2022, another condor was tracked soaring over Brushy Peak Regional Preserve.
Now a flock of six condors have visited the Mount Diablo area, spending several hours flying over Round Valley and Morgan Territory Regional Preserves.
According to conservation biologist Joseph Belli, who volunteers for the California condor recovery program at Pinnacles, this is an exciting time for California condors because there are more birds overall, and most of them are young.
“I think it has to do with exploring and learning a potentially promising new landscape,” said Joseph Belli. “I think the birds are getting to know the area better, and I believe that if the population continues to grow, that will be the key to birds claiming territories north of San Benito County.”
In the 1980s, California condors nearly disappeared. Fragments of lead bullets were poisoning their food, among other impacts. Their population plummeted to 22 individuals.
All the wild condors were captured for captive breeding. Their recovery over the past 30 years has been inspiring. Condor releases into the wild began in the 1990s.
Though California condors are still critically endangered, the program has been a success. There are now hundreds of condors living in the wild.
So imagine: You’re on a trip to Mount Diablo today. The large shadow passing overhead might be a condor. What we’re waiting to witness is even more significant—a condor or flock of condors roosting on the summit building like they now do at Mount Hamilton’s Lick Observatory. And the first condors to nest at Mount Diablo, at Castle Rock or Curry Canyon Ranch. •
SAVE MOUNT DIABLO IS PROUD to have opened miles of recreational trails to the public, most recently at Curry Canyon Ranch and Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve.
In 2023, we opened the highly anticipated 1.25-mile Knobcone Point trail connection through upper Curry Canyon, making one of the wildest areas of Mount Diablo accessible to the public for the first time in over a century. This trail makes it considerably easier for hikers to travel between Curry Point and Morgan Territory.
Visitors can travel from Curry Point to Riggs Canyon, through the Knobcone Point Trail, experiencing marvelous views of the surrounding
hills and mountains. On clear days, hikers can take in the Crystal Basin of Desolation Wilderness rising high above the Sacramento Valley.
Now, we’re working to open even more of Curry Canyon Ranch to the public. This coming fiscal year, we plan to open a section of Curry Cave Road and another section of Knobcone Point Road, effectively opening two new loops for people to experience.
To prepare for the opening of these new trail connections, our staff will be installing access gates and informational signage.
Once the new trails are opened, visitors to Mount Diablo will be able to experience several new hiking routes. People will be able to take a short loop down Curry Cave past Save Mount Diablo’s recent Balcerzak acquisition and continuing farther down the hill to Curry Canyon Road and back up to Curry Point. Or they can travel on the longer route following Knobcone Point Road all the way down to Curry Canyon Road, and back up to Curry Point, or head north to visit the Frog Pond and Chase Pond area. •
WHEN SAVE MOUNT DIABLO opened Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve for public visitation in 2022, we unveiled four miles of new trails that wind through the 208-acre preserve.
On these trails, people have the opportunity to see rare species such as the northernmost stand of desert olive, Hospital Canyon larkspur, and threatened Alameda whipsnake, and perhaps catch a glimpse of golden eagles as they traverse through oak woodlands, grasslands, and riparian habitats.
While you’re waiting for our new trail connections to open, take a trip out to Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve. Groups of three to 100 people who make a reservation can have the whole preserve to themselves for the day, with no interruptions. • Make a reservation at Mangini Preserve at bit.ly/4mangini
Save Mount Diablo must raise $1.455 million in nine months
By Seth Adams
IN DECEMBER 2023, Save Mount Diablo optioned the 98-acre Ginochio Schwendel Ranch on Marsh Creek Road between Clayton and Brentwood.
The $30,000 option payment holds the property until December 2024 while Save Mount Diablo raises the money for acquisition and other project expenses.
The property includes extremely rare dacite volcanic habitat along Marsh Creek’s Dark Canyon section.
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch will expand on Save Mount Diablo’s adjacent 7.4-acre Marsh Creek 5 preserve, an unusual volcanic dome that was protected in 2011.
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch is the first property Save Mount Diablo is purchasing directly from Contra Costa County’s Ginochio cattle ranching family, which owns nearly 7,000 acres on and around Mount Diablo.
John Ginochio, a member of the Ginochio family, said, “I’m pleased to
make this deal with Save Mount Diablo. When you think of influence, people often think about big environmental groups. Personally, I think Save Mount Diablo is the most influential environmental organization in our area. I’ve worked cooperatively with them for over 50 years. They’re financially sound and have the funds to make solid deals and the integrity to go with it. We graze cattle on a number of SMD properties. I’m happy to see this part of the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch go to Save Mount Diablo because they have always been a good neighbor.”
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch supports listed species such as Alameda whipsnake and California red-legged frog, along with a whole suite of rare or unusual plants including endemic Contra Costa manzanita and Mount Diablo fairy lantern, western hop tree, and Hartweg’s umbrellawort.
The most common igneous rocks on Mount Diablo are old ocean crust formed as much as 190 million years ago deep out at sea. These rocks included parts of Diablo’s main peaks. In the Oakland hills, volcanoes erupted and spread lava and ash around 10 million years ago. And in various places around Contra Costa County, ash from eruptions farther away are consolidated as “tuff” beds.
The 4.83-million-year-old pink Lawlor Tuff is an age marker around Diablo, laid down on a flat to rolling landscape before the peaks were exposed, and steeply folded as Mount Diablo emerged.
Save Mount Diablo’s Marsh Creek 5 and Marsh Creek 6 properties are different. So is the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch.
We began studying the geology of the volcanic deposits after we acquired these Marsh Creek properties and
sponsoring research into their origin in grants in 2018 and 2019 from our Mary Bowerman Science and Research program.
These spots are of high silica, much younger igneous rock visible in mound- or dome-like surface exposures, within a four-mile northwest-southeast band, a mile and a half wide.
They’re strangely steep because they resist erosion and look like mushroom caps, compared to more erosive sedimentary Great Valley Sequence geology nearby.
Marsh Creek threads through them near the intersection of Morgan Territory and Marsh Creek roads.
The volcanic intrusions are one of the most limited habitats in the East Bay, retain water more than surrounding areas, and are often associated with springs and rare plants.
The Ginochio Schwendel Ranch includes part of the biggest mapped exposure of these dacite intrusions. The rare geology and plant habitat on the Ginochio Schwendel Ranch is just one more thing that makes Mount Diablo special, and worth protecting.
As with our neighboring Marsh Creek 5 preserve, we know the property supports listed species such as Alameda whipsnake and California red-legged frog, along with a whole suite of rare or unusual plants such as endemic Contra Costa manzanita, Mount Diablo fairy lantern, western hop tree, and Hartweg’s umbrellawort.
Save Mount Diablo and our partners have protected more than 15 miles of the 33-mile Marsh Creek riparian corridor.
Marsh Creek is the second-longest, least-disturbed creek in Contra Costa County. Protecting the ranch will preserve more land that drains to the creek, making a vital wildlife corridor safer for Mount Diablo’s animals.
If the ranch weren’t purchased by Save Mount Diablo, the most likely development threat would be minor subdivision and ongoing fragmentation to more houses over time.
Development would destroy the habitat and require removal of many trees, and wells would damage the unusual hydrology. •
Grow Mount Diablo State Park for greater good!
By Ted ClementMount Diablo State Park hasn’t added a new property since 2007—17 years ago!
FOR EIGHT YEARS , Save Mount Diablo has been trying to transfer its 165-acre Viera–North Peak property on the very slopes of Mount Diablo’s North Peak, for free.
After years of negotiations with Save Mount Diablo, the CEMEX quarry publicly announced in 2022 it would donate 101 acres to Mount Diablo State Park, next to the park’s Mitchell Canyon, including a section of the historic Black Point Trail.
Unfortunately, neither of these two properties, or others waiting, have been added to Mount Diablo State Park, so we need your help to move these great acquisitions forward.
We’ve worked closely with the state of California for over 50 years, helping them acquire land. When Save Mount Diablo was formed in 1971, Mount Diablo State Park was under 7,000 acres. The park is now about 20,000 acres with help from us and other partners.
However, about 17 years ago, California State Parks stopped making progress on any new additions to Mount Diablo State Park.
We’ve had to step in to save threatened properties that should be in Mount Diablo State Park until the state park could make progress, or these properties would have been lost. We have more than eight properties ready to be added.
Thankfully, Senator Steve Glazer,
A Thomas Kirker Creek: 10.5 acres
B Mangini Ranch: 208 acres
C Lot 25: 4.98 acres
D Krane Pond: 6.69 acres
E Young Canyon: 17.62 acres
F Anderson Ranch: 95.41 acres
G Marsh Creek 4: 2.65 acres
H Marsh Creek 6: 5.74 acres
I Marsh Creek 5: 7.365 acres
J Marsh Creek 8 (Big Bend): 51.14 acres
K Marsh Creek 1: 8.92 acres
L Marsh Creek 7: 7.57 acres
Assemblymember Rebecca BauerKahan, and other officials have been trying to help move California State Parks forward on land acquisitions, because this will be important to help the state of California meet its 30x30 goals and create more park opportunities for the public.
We are also grateful that a small working group has formed, made up of our terrific partners at California State Parks and the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy, to help us get lands added to Mount Diablo State Park. The group has a monthly meeting schedule.
However, we recognize that lands not being added to California State Parks is a large statewide issue, so our small working group, and the few
M Dry Creek: 5.18 acres
N Oak Hill Lane: 40 acres
O Wright Canyon: 76 acres
P Smith Canyon: 28.73 acres
Q Curry Canyon Ranch: 1,080.53 acres
R Balcerzak: 10 acres
S Highland Springs: 105 acres
T North Peak Ranch: 88.53 acres*
U Ginochio Schwendel Ranch: 98 acres*
* Projects underway
Note: this list does not include conservation easements held by Save Mount Diablo.
officials helping us, need the voice and support of the public to help elevate and further our efforts to break the logjam and get strategic lands added to Mount Diablo State Park. •
Save Mount Diablo removes tens of thousands of pounds of scrap metal
By Mary NagleTHE BALCERZAK PROPERTY is one of Mount Diablo’s last inholdings—land entirely surrounded by the state park.
It lies below Save Mount Diablo’s newly opened Knobcone Point Trail connection in upper Curry Canyon, nestled on the slopes of a rugged side canyon.
When we acquired this inholding, we took on the responsibility of cleanup and restoration with the intention of removing tons of debris that have been negatively affecting the property and the park.
Despite its remote nature, this property is far from undisturbed. By the time Save Mount Diablo acquired the Balcerzak inholding in August 2023, it had been heavily used for 40 years.
Balcerzak is a knoll at the confluence of several stream tributaries. We think much of the property had been part of a Native American seasonal village, but it was hard to tell. Livestock that had been impacting the surrounding state park for years had already been removed. But rock outcrops and groves of trees were inundated by massive quantities of construction materials and mountains of ranch debris. A full-sized unpermitted mobile home had been destroyed in place, and left as scrap next to a shed.
We’ve begun the long and laborintensive task of cleaning it up. A cleanup during the rainy season adds additional challenges.
Our staff and volunteers have been hard at work. Twenty-two volunteers, some from the Trail Dogs, accumulated 141 work hours over five workdays in 2023. In 2024, our dedicated volunteers have continued the hard work, helping us remove metal debris during a sixth workday.
So far, we’ve removed over 20,000 pounds of scrap metal from this property, filling metal recycling containers many times over!
The Trail Dogs and trash removal project crew also have been removing the perimeter barbed wire fencing that surrounded the property—roughly 10,000 linear feet—allowing wildlife to once again roam freely through this portion of Mount Diablo.
Cleanup has also been significantly aided by our new tractor, which was funded by the Hedco Foundation.
We’ve been using it to move large pieces of metal that would have otherwise taken a lot of time and people to move.
According to our Land Programs Director Sean Burke, what we’ve done so far “is barely scratching the surface” of the work needed to clean up this property.
Tens of thousands of pounds of ranch and construction debris are still on the property, along with a log cabin house and several barns and outbuildings, many of which are in disrepair.
There’s a lot more to do. But with the help of our volunteers, we’ve reunited the wildlife habitat between the property and the park. We’re working to transfer the property to Mount Diablo State Park. By the time we do, the property will be nothing but spectacular. •
PHOTOS BY: SCOTT HEIN, HALEY SUTTON Save Mount Diablo purchased the Balcerzak inholding last August. Removing scrap metal and trash from the property is bringing many positive benefits to the land and the surrounding state park.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people enjoy Mount Diablo State Park every year.
At Save Mount Diablo, we’ve been working to get more people outdoors. More visitors mean more impacts. We’re helping keep the balance by conducting volunteer workdays within the mountain’s parks.
Last November, in one weekend, we hosted eight volunteer workdays with over 100 participants, racking up more than 400 hours of work cleaning up Mount Diablo.
This was Save Mount Diablo’s fourth Pine Canyon Cleanup, a big volunteer effort that we started in 2020. The cleanup tackled muchneeded work simultaneously at Rock City, in Curry Canyon, on the
Sunset Trail, and at Diablo Foothills Regional Park.
Thousands of visitors to Mount Diablo have seen the extent of the graffiti that accumulated throughout Rock City. Our volunteers removed huge swaths of graffiti, some of which had coated the rock formations for years. They even climbed up into some of the caves to remove graffiti, restoring the caves’ natural beauty for visitors to enjoy.
Another group met just above the canyon at Curry Point to give the fire roads some attention. The group cleaned up trash and cleared debris off
the road to prepare it for tree chipping.
Meanwhile, at Diablo Foothills Regional Park, our hardworking volunteers spent the morning pulling out weeds—particularly stinkwort and horehound.
After a few hours, invasive plants collected in large trash bags were removed from the area. This will give native plants more space to flourish this spring.
Another group spent the weekend working on Mount Diablo State Park’s Sunset Trail, maintaining the trail to keep it accessible to hikers. As anyone who’s done this type of work knows, trail maintenance can be strenuous.
It was great seeing so many people gathered to spend their weekend getting their hands dirty, helping to
keep Mount Diablo accessible. We’re grateful for the newly formed Mount Diablo Trails Alliance for bringing a lot of volunteers out to work on the Sunset Trail project. All trail work conducted by the alliance uses proven techniques with a focus on safety, preservation, and access.
Thanks
Our fourth annual Pine Canyon Cleanup was hosted in partnership with the Bay Area Climbers Coalition, American Alpine Club, Mount Diablo State Park, East Bay Regional Park District, and Mount Diablo Trails Alliance.
A heartfelt thank-you to the American Alpine Club for the grant that helped make this event possible.
Grants like this are key in supporting our stewardship work.
Thanks also to the volunteers who donated more than 400 hours to take care of Mount Diablo! Together we can keep Mount Diablo healthy and beautiful, so that it can be enjoyed by visitors for generations to come.
If you’d like to help take care of Mount Diablo, please subscribe to our stewardship and Diablo Restoration Team email list at: bit.ly/smdnews.
Or check out our DiRT workday calendar at: savemountdiablo.org/dirt.
In a wonderful moment for East Bay conservation, Save Mount Diablo marked the dedication of its vital Krane Pond property on Thursday, March 14, 2024. The 6.69-acre property includes one of the largest ponds on Mount Diablo’s northern slopes.
About 34 people joined us at Lot 25 for the event because access to the Krane Pond property is limited. Lot 25, a section of Mount Diablo Creek we protected in 2012, will allow us the legal access to hike to Krane Pond. Nestled within the “Missing Mile” and bordered by Mount Diablo State Park, Krane Pond is an important location for wildlife.
The success of this conservation effort wouldn’t have been possible without the overwhelming support of our dedicated donors, who helped us raise $500,000 to purchase and restore the property.
We’d like to express special appreciation to all of our major donors who supported the project. We’re also grateful for the incredible support of 257 readers from Joan Morris’s East Bay Times and Mercury News column.
After the dedication, staff led a short outing to give participants the rare opportunity to see Krane Pond and understand firsthand why this land is so important. We’ll have volunteer workdays and lead more hikes there in the future.
As Save Mount Diablo celebrates the successful dedication of Krane Pond, we know that acquisition is just the first step. Stewardship is forever. We’ve been focused on a major cleanup of the Balcerzak inholding in Curry Canyon. Krane Pond will also need cleanup, but on a smaller scale. The real opportunity will be access improvements and restoration of the pond, which may include significant work on the pond dam and native plant restoration. •
DURING A BREAK between the showers that pummeled the Bay Area in early January, Save Mount Diablo’s staff gathered at our Marsh Creek 1 and 7 properties.
There, we planted the final 130 plants needed to surpass 3,000 plants in three years toward our goal of planting and protecting 10,000 trees and plants in 10 years. On this team outing, we got our hands dirty and completed a major milestone in this massive undertaking.
Our 10,000 Trees and Plants project was created in tandem with Save Mount Diablo’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) that describes what our organization will do to help address the climate crisis.
As part of our CAP, our stewardship strategy is to “manage natural lands to mitigate the effects of climate change
and enhance the resilience of natural and human communities.”
These native plants absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it through a process called carbon sequestration, an essential naturebased solution to climate change.
Our team planting day was the final of a few dozen outings over the year that helped us reach our goal for the third year of the project.
But we didn’t stop there. Throughout February, we held multiple planting days where volunteers and staff put hundreds more native plants into the ground. To date, we’ve planted and protected more than 3,500 native plants!
Our 10,000 Trees and Plants project is increasing healthy habitat coverage on Mount Diablo, leveraging the power of native plants to promote biodiversity.
As part of the project, in recent years, we’ve established new pollinator gardens at our Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve, Curry Canyon Ranch, and Marsh Creek 1 and 7 properties, two contiguous parcels crossed by Marsh Creek.
In this drought-ridden region, water sources are becoming extremely important. Establishing native restoration plantings in these areas supports the local wildlife that travels
along Mount Diablo’s waterways.
Meanwhile, the native bunchgrasses, shrubs, and trees we plant in these gardens and restoration sites will function as carbon sinks, absorbing more carbon from the atmosphere than is released. We’re doing our part to turn the tide against climate change, one plant at a time.
We have reached each yearly milestone with the continued support of our Diablo Restoration Team (DiRT), summer water crew, and student and corporate groups.
By inviting our communities of volunteers to join the effort, we’re growing people’s love for nature through meaningful and educational environmental service projects.
When volunteers of all ages join our stewardship programs, they receive a hands-on and informative experience, and leave with a growing desire to protect and care for the land. •
Morvarid Keymanesh joined Save Mount Diablo in 2023 as our Staff Accountant. She is so proud and happy to be part of the Save Mount Diablo team! She was born in Iran, and she moved to the US in 2009 with her husband. They have a daughter and a son. She has two bachelor’s degrees: one in solid-state physics that she earned in Iran, and the other in business administration with emphases in accounting and finance that she earned from California State University, East Bay. She has more than five years of accounting experience. Her favorite hobbies are camping, bike riding, and going out into nature with her family and friends. She loves nature and animals!
Kendra Smith joined Save Mount Diablo at the start of 2024 as our new Education & Outreach Coordinator. She has a BA in environmental studies from Sonoma State University, with a concentration in conservation and restoration, and brings over eight years of environmental education experience to her role. She worked as a naturalist for three outdoor science schools and as a zoo educator for Happy Hollow Park and Zoo before taking a year off with her partner to travel and learn about homesteading on an organic farm in Hawaii. She is excited to bring her passion for resilient, sustainable communities to supporting Save Mount Diablo’s mission. Kendra is an avid hiker, dancer, and jewelry maker and is continuing her sustainable living journey through gardening and preserving food.
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Looking for your next local hike?
Each week, we feature a different trail in our e-news. In every season and in dozens of parks, there’s always a great trail that we’re excited to share with you.
Subscribe to our e-news to hear about opportunities. Our subscribers are the first to know about our restoration workdays on Mount Diablo.
Whether you want to volunteer with us, get involved with local advocacy, or look for your new favorite hike, we’ve got something for you. We’ve had a lot of good news lately, with more on the way.
Join us! Subscribe to our e-news today. Visit bit.ly/smdnews
MOUNTAIN SUSTAINER
Jean Vieth
FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS , passionate, dedicated, and knowledgeable volunteers and supporters have been the heart of Save Mount Diablo’s conservation community.
Valuable contributions from generous people who help however they can—to plant, clear, repair, mail, teach, cook, build, water, and donate—have built the strong foundation for Save Mount Diablo’s successful conservation work.
Save Mount Diablo has been fortunate to include Jean Vieth among this group of essential volunteers. Jean has generously shared her time and talents, and she’s supported many aspects of Save Mount Diablo’s work since 2016.
Most recently, Jean has been supporting Save Mount Diablo’s outdoor education programs as a Discover Diablo hike leader and docent at our Mangini Ranch Educational Preserve.
As a lifelong gardener, hiker, and experienced backpacker, Jean appreciates how her role as a hike leader can help participants strengthen their connection to nature through a welcoming and enriching outdoor experience. For Jean, there’s a clear conservation purpose in this simple activity: “We need to experience and explore the natural world in order to love it. That love is what will motivate us to take care of our natural environment long term,” says Jean.
As a volunteer property steward for Save Mount Diablo’s Highland Springs property, Jean relished the rugged, sweeping views, and the excitement of discovering wildflowers on a protected slope.
“Nothing is as healing as spending time outdoors in wild and almost wild environments. Nature is the best place to heal, to strategize, to tap into our subconscious creativity,” Jean says.
Over time, Jean’s familiarity with Save Mount Diablo’s work and her connection to our shared conservation mission has deepened. Volunteering has brought inspiration and a sense of inclusion, knowing that she’s part of a vibrant movement that is bigger than one person, and accomplishing so much more than she could do alone.
This meaningful connection to land and to nature is the reciprocal gift that Jean hoped to find and cultivate through meaningful volunteer work—it’s her way of giving back to the natural systems, and to the mountain, which bring her daily joy and inspiration.
In addition to their volunteer support, Jean and her husband, Jan Diepersloot, are also Mountain Sustainers who make monthly gifts to Save Mount Diablo. It’s a simple process to set up automatic, recurring gifts, and that steady support helps provide a reliable foundation for Save Mount Diablo’s conservation initiatives throughout the year. •
FOR MORE INFORMATION about how you can support and be part of Save Mount Diablo’s work to protect, defend, restore, and connect people to Diablo’s wild lands, please contact Samantha Kading at skading@savemountdiablo.org or 925-949-4513.
TRIBUTE GIFTS and donations made in honor of or in memory of loved ones between July 1 to December 31, 2023 are listed below. Thank you to all of our supporters. Your generosity preserves, defends, and restores the mountain for all of us to enjoy!
Tribute names are indicated in bold. An asterisk (*) denotes donors who make monthly tribute gifts.
IN HONOR OF
Seth Adams
Nigel Ogilvie & Louisa Woodville
Tina & Tony Akins
Sandra & Steven Wolfe
Caryl Anderson Reese
David Reese
Carolyn & Steve Balling
Myrna Karsh
Kendra Barron
Rise Venditti
Carol Baxter
Vernon Koehler
Larry & Ellen Beans
Patricia Smith
Bedell Frazier Investment
Counselling, LLC Clients
Bedell Frazier Investment
Counselling, LLC
Adam Chavez
David & Kelly Chavez
Joanne Chiu
Anonymous
Kim Clark
Charlene McPherson
Drs. Frances & Gene Coburn
Marje & Stephan Schuetze-Coburn
Arly Anne Davies
Rebecca Davies
Tom DeJonghe
Joyce Hawkins
James Marchetti
Jack L. Ditzel
Anonymous
Dave Dornsife
Anonymous
Marcia & Greg Eiler
Carol Gegner
Holly Eliot
Mark Eliot & Kelly Moran
Leslie Enloe
Janet Grant
Jim & Bette Felton
Herb & Margaret Eder
Charla Gabert & David Frane
Anonymous
Peter Frazier
Joey & Bill Judge
Judy Gillivan
Jim Gillivan
Garrett & Cathy Girvan
Dick Heron & Sue Pitsenbarger
Sue & Mike James
Benjamin Graney and Family
Patrick Graney
Joan & Bruce Hamilton
Scott & Claudia Hein
Jack Harper
Donna Harper
Scott & Claudia Hein
Darlene Hecomovich
Michael & Jane Larkin
Nigel Ogilvie & Louisa Woodville
Frenchy Hendryx & Sean Burke
Taylor Schwerman
Michael Hill
Barbara & Robert Hill
David Holmes & Lori Turner
Michael & Jean Wells
Beth Johnke
Donna & Mark Johnke
Al Johnson
Emily DiGiovanni
Carol M. Johnson
Al & Carole Johnson
John Kiefer
Robert Brindley
Michael Ellis
Benjamin Ginsberg
Wei-Tia Kwok & Violet Hsu
Mary Sherman
Roseann Krane
Alice Ponti
Deborah Wechsler & Bruce Bilodeau
Brian Kruse
Margaret Kruse
Margaret Kruse
Sandra Woliver
Joseph Ludwig
Linda Van Loon
Christina Madlener
Alana McBrayer
Bunny Martin &
David Kurtzman
Julie Kurtzman
Alana McBrayer
Joan Morris
Nancy Rossiter
David Ogden & Sandy Biagi
Meredith Anderson
Richard Arthur Olsen
Puddles & Company, LLC
The Parton Family
Joanne Higa-Parton
The Peregrine Team, MDIA.org
Anastasia & Randall Hobbet
Hazel J. Sasser
David Ogden & Sandy Biagi
Fred Seely
Christine Seely
Joe Shami
Garrett Sanderson
Alan C. Shelton
Rebecca Shelton
Karen Sickenberger
Margaret Kruse
Ron Smith
Gilda Simonian
Malcolm Sproul
Nigel Ogilvie & Louisa Woodville
Haley Sutton
Rosemary Lee
David Theis
Jacqueline & Paul Royce
Jeanne Thomas
Douglas & Barbara Jones
Rosemary Thompson
Josie & John Fike
Victor Thompson
Josie & John Fike
Ken-ichi Ueda & Constance Taylor
Akemi Ueda
Stacy Walter
Katy Walter
Kenneth Winters
Julie Grisham
Carole Woods
Steve Pate
Linda M. Andersson
Bruce Fogel
Brendon Armstrong
Carol & Brad Hoy
Mary L. Bowerman
Robert & Janet Canning
Cathy A. Broder
Nan Busse
Eugene Callahan
Marianne Callahan*
John Cleary
Brett Stewart & Meagen Leary
Steven Colman
Cathy Colman
Frank Colombo
Michael Colombo
Roy Douwes
John Tullis
Scott Dowd
Jane Dubitzky
Mardi Duffield
Kristine Caratan
Roger Epperson
Richard Davis & Sandra Jones
Norval Fairman
Mary Fairman
Anna Louise Ferri
Larry Ferri*
Steve Fielding
Sue Fielding
Nancy From
Leif Käldman
Kevin Grimes
Anita Michel
James “Doc” Hale
Judy Abrams
Jeffrey Gilman & Carol Reif
Scott & Claudia Hein
Arlene Kikkawa-Nielsen
Christine Izumizaki
David Smith & Theresa Blair
Jean Hamilton
Alan Shelton
Rachel Shelton
Stanley & Janice Hansen
Karol Hansen
Bill Hartney
Karen Weichert
Jean P. Hauser
Barbara Hauser
Daniel J. Henry
Carol Henry
Art Hettema
Virginia Megley
Wm. Marlow Hicks
Mary Hicks
Toby T. Johnson
Donald & Carole Johnson
Byron Lambie
Jill Lambie
Manfred Lindner
Sylvia Pesek
Helen Luttringer
Brad & Diana Sage
Paula Lutz
Chuck & Jeanne Bettencourt
Rebecca Mallon
Patricia Baran
Carolyn W. Matthews
Mary Hatch
Carlene McNerny Abbors
Stephen Abbors
Carol Mintz
Leigh Mintz
Henry Moises
Louise Moises
Janet Montes
Terry & Glenn Gonzalez*
Melinda M. Moore
Joy Avery
Patricia Gilbert
Rozela Melgoza
Ed Ossman
Camille Ossman
Grover Peterson
Roland Brandel & Ellen Peterson
Alice Philipson
Petra & Alice Liljestrand
Elizabeth Jane Piatt
Sherry Piatt
Lewis Potter
Steven Raymond
James Rease Cole
Richard Davis & Sandra Jones
Rory Richmond
Keith & Cynthia Haydon
Joan Ringler
Terry & Corinne Sutherland
Roy the Cat
Noreen Doyle
Victoria Santos
Sue Tomidy
Leo Schindler
Vladan & Margita Lunacek
Linden H. Scott
Allen Scott
J. M. Sharp
Daniella Thompson
Derrick Ramsey Smith
Tobias Funk
Marvin G. Smith
Anonymous
Sam Smoker
Katherine & Lance Gyorfi
Ashley Stevens
Steven Raymond
Jim Stewart
Brett Stewart & Meagen Leary
Vivian Sweigart
Terry & Glenn Gonzalez*
Todd Tillinghast
Barbara Tillinghast
Robert M. Toronyi
Kathy Cook
Merri Lynn
Gilbert Raymond Van de Water
Margo Tarver
Rudy Van Pelt
Jeanette Hurwitz
Barbara Varenchik
Danny & Marti Brown
Harvey Wall
Linda Fessler
Doris Hasegawa
Leslie Oakes
Beverly Silveira
Virginia Weightman
Alma Weightman
Gary Whitehead
Christine Butler
We have made every effort to accurately spell names. If your name or donation has not been recorded correctly or was mistakenly omitted, we offer our apologies. Please contact us so that we can amend our records by sending an email to Queenie Li, Database Coordinator, at qli@savemountdiablo.org.
201 N. Civic Drive, Suite 190 Walnut Creek, CA 94596
TEL: 925-947-3535 www.savemountdiablo.org Save
Saturday, September 7, 2024 4:00–10:00 PM
JOIN US for an unforgettable evening at our 23rd annual Moonlight on the Mountain gala!
This dramatic outdoor event transports 500 guests up the mountain’s slopes to China Wall, where they are treated to an elegant three-course meal, live music, dancing beneath the stars, and both live and silent cocktail auctions—all while surrounded by the unparalleled, majestic views Mount Diablo has to offer.
This extraordinary fundraising event supports our critical conservation programs and benefits our work to preserve, defend, restore, educate, and enjoy Diablo’s wild lands.
For more information, and to inquire about event sponsorships, please visit bit.ly/moonmtn.
“My dream is that the whole of Mount Diablo, including its foothills, will remain open space . . . that the visual and natural integrity will be sustained.”
DR. MARY L. BOWERMAN