Inside - April
• News from the Trail, Page 2
• MLT Welcomes New Staff, Page 3
• Save-the-Redwoods League Grant,
Page 4
• Volunteer for Earth Day, Page 5
• Calendar of Events, Page 6
Service Learning: Marin Academy
Students Become Big River Stewards
by Matt Coleman, Big River Stewards Volunteer
Coordinator
Twelve visiting students from Marin Academy, their
teacher and chaperones gave an early boost to the Big
River Stewards efforts to remove invasive plants from
Big River in 2008 by donating 210 hours of labor over
four days at the end of February. Marin Academy,
located in San Rafael, is a 400-student independent
college-preparatory school with a strong commitment to
experiential education and community service.
On their first workday, February 25th, the hard-working
students and their leaders tackled the patch of mature
Ammophila, or European Beach Grass, on Big River
Beach, removing approximately a third of the remaining
infestation. They learned that Ammophila had been
deliberately introduced to the West Coast to stabilize
shifting sand dunes and that this now widespread invasive
is implicated in the decline of the Western Snowy Plover,
a highly-endangered bird species which nests on open
beaches.
Simultaneously, two students worked to remove Yellow
Bush Lupine from Big River Beach using the Land Trust’s
weed wrenches, eventually treating about a fourth of the
beach west of Highway One. The goal is to remove this
invasive Lupine species prior to seed set. Yellow Bush
Lupine is native to California beaches south of Bodega
Bay, but introduced in our area,
On February 26th, the students shifted their efforts to
the Big River Haul Road, removing invasive plants as
far up as mile six, thanks to the loan of the Mendocino
Woodlands Camp Association’s 15-passenger van.
First, the students finished removing a patch of English
Ivy, a project begun in January during the monthly Big
River Stewards invasive plants workday, from a stand of
big second-growth redwood trees at lower Nelson Gulch.
They learned that this widely-planted ornamental, unlike
many other invasive plants, is shade tolerant which means
it can remain a problem even after forest regrowth leads
Continued on Page 5
2008
The mission of the Mendocino Land Trust
is to conserve important natural resources
of Mendocino County, including working
farmlands and forests, wildlife habitat, open
space, scenic vistas, watersheds, and to
facilitate public access.
“We kicked that ivy’s butt!” Marin Academy students, their
teacher, and chaperones stand behind the huge pile of invasive
English Ivy they removed from big redwoods near the confluence of
Railroad Gulch and Big River in February. Photo by Matt Coleman
Public Access Organization: Land Trust
to Accept 19 Additional Coastal Access
Easements
by Tamira Jones, California Coastal Trail Coordinator
Consistent with the Land Trust’s mission statement
that says “facilitate public access,” the Board of Trustees
passed a resolution on February 29, 2008 accepting an
additional 19 Offer-to-Dedicate (OTD) public access
easements from the American Land Conservancy (ALC).
This action furthers the Land Trust’s continuing evolution
as a public access organization.
The Land Trust recognizes the need to protect existing
coastal access and find meaningful ways to work with
landowners to create trail networks that allow people to
experience their coast responsibly. Planning, permitting,
construction and operating coastal access trails is time
consuming, expensive and requires a very diverse skill set
to make them a reality. In Mendocino County, which does
not have a parks district, this ground-breaking work has
been taken on collectively by the land trust community.
The Board and staff are under no illusion concerning the
amount of work required to officially open these public
access easements and selected them carefully for viability
for access and management success from a list of 72 held
by ALC.
Over the next year, with funding from the State Coastal
Conservancy, staff will evaluate each easement and
prepare for their eventual opening. The Land Trust is
committed to creating sustainable trails to facilitate access
along the Mendocino Coast while respecting landowner
rights and resource protection. We look forward to a long
future of operating and maintaining the 40 OTDs we now
hold.
 The President’s Perspective by Dave Jensen
Spring, the season of rebirth and new growth, has come to the
Board of Trustees Mendocino Land Trust. As you read through this newsletter, you will find
the signs of that rebirth and growth in every article.
President We are very pleased to have two new team members to help with
Dave Jensen
office management, financial tracking, public outreach and fundraising.
We are also accepting additional public access easements that we hope
Vice President
Bill Lemos will appreciably add more coastal access and to the Mendocino County
section of the California Coastal Trail.
Secretary Our Big River Stewards program continues to grow, both in the number of participants as well
Win Bowen
as in the impact of the work being completed. Speaking of Big River, we are working closely with
Treasurer
Parks to complete the interpretive panels for the kiosk and to initiate critical road repairs before the
Chet Anderson next winter.
In terms of land conservation, we are nearing completion on current projects and have been
Trustees assessing several new and exciting proposals. As you will read in James’ articles, we are also
Alan Falleri
actively engaged in the protection of our existing properties, a type of spring cleaning, if you will.
Barbara Weiss
Jeremy Isenberg When I was living in Cincinnati with its long gray winters, spring came overnight with the force
of a 7.2 quake. In our milder coast climate, the changes are more subtle, but once they begin they
are no less profound. Such is the spirit at the Land Trust - we are moving ahead with a renewed
Staff sense of vigor and purpose, excited by the promise of the coming year and ready to seize each
opportunity.
Executive Director
James Bernard
News from the Trail - Fall 2007
Big River Program by Tamira Jones, California Coastal Trail Project Coordinator
Manager
Michael Miller A number of exciting events have taken
place this winter - most notably the signing
Big River Stewards
of new California Coastal Trail (CCT) in
Volunteer
Mendocino County - this time on the Land
Coordinator
Trust’s property at Navarro Point! A mile
Matt Coleman
and a half loop trail was signed with the CCT
emblems on March 8, 2008, by the Navarro
California Coastal
Point Stewards in conjunction with a Stewards
Trail Project
workday. Three emblems were placed along
Coordinator
the trail by Stewards who also spent the
Tamira Jones
morning removing the first of the season’s
invasive plants and improving drainage
Development
around the parking lot and trail. The goal is
Coordinator
to integrate this trail segment into a Navarro
Headlands Trail that would connect to our Navarro Point Becomes Part of the California
Jenny Hall Coastal Trail. CCT Coordinator Tamira Jones is
public access easement one mile north, west
of the highway, out to a bluff with incredible flanked by Navarro Point Stewards Peter Warner, Chris
Administrative and Clutton, Win Bowen, Art Morley, and Dawn Cortland
Financial Assistant
views of the coastline. The larger vision
is to eventually have a contiguous trail to around the CCT emblem. Photo by James Bernard
Hilarie Coate
the village of Albion along the west side
of Highway One. This future CCT segment would connect the community of Albion with the
Navarro Point Preserve and allow community members to enjoy this coastal gem without having
The Mendocino Land
to get in their car. Awesome!
Trust is a member With growing awareness statewide of the Land Trust’s leadership in trail planning, the Land
of the Land Trust Trust was asked to provide a workshop at the California Council of Land Trust’s conference on
Alliance and the February 6, 2008, entitled, “From the Ground Up: Creating Strong Regional Trail Systems.”
California Council of James Bernard presented the workshop and participants from around the state catalogued an
Land Trusts impressive array of trail projects that are being undertaken by the land trust community and
discussed the problems and opportunities with planning, funding, and managing regional trails.

 Land Trust Welcomes New Staff...
Hilarie Coate, Administrative and
Financial Assistant
Hilarie Coate brings nine years of
operations and office management
experience in the technology industry
and six years as an executive assistant
at the Marin Country Day School
in Corte Madera to the Land Trust.
Hilarie’s experience in preparing the
school for their accreditation process was of particular
interest to the search committee as well her experience in
records management. Hilarie will assist the Land Trust in
implementing its recordkeeping policy and in preparing for
accreditation in the coming year.
Hilarie also has a background in accounting which will
enable the Land Trust to undertake more financial report
preparation for the Finance Committee and bookkeeping in-
house. Hilarie has produced handbooks and procedures that
are the cornerstone of well-run organizations.
We understand that Hilarie is goal-oriented, crisis-
resilient, and organized. We look forward to her capable,
collaborative approach and believe that volunteers will enjoy
working with her.
Hilarie started March 17 and lives in Little River and
is a member of the Mendocino Coast Broadband Alliance
as evidence of her volunteer spirit and commitment to the
betterment of the local community.
... And Bids a Fond Farewell to
Holly Newberger
Holly ended her seven-year tenure
with the Land Trust on January
15, 2008. Holly was the hub of
the organization and the glue that
connected people together. We have
missed the infectious laugh, the good-
natured presence among us, and the
smiling face that greeted visitors to the
Land Trust office.
Holly started her Land Trust existence in 2000 as the
Administrative Coordinator. Holly set up functional
systems for getting the business of the Land Trust done
and supported the massive undertaking of the Big River
acquisition. By 2004, Holly’s responsibilities had grown
into being the Membership and Outreach Coordinator
supporting development activities as well as managing
the office. Holly has said that she views her time with
the Land Trust as one of “professional growth and
personal pride” and that she “felt lucky to have worked
for an organization that so directly benefits our small
community.”
The Land Trust was well-served by Holly’s knowledge
of the community, her patience, and her ability to put
people at ease. As tangible evidence of this combination,
for the last five years, Holly made a complicated task look
easy - the coordination of the countywide Coastal Cleanup
Day each September, covering 24 beaches and drawing
350 people last year.
On March 3, Holly rejoined her former Land Trust
colleague Jenny Griffin working for The Conservation
Fund in Caspar. We will wave at our friend Holly as we
encounter her in the community she continues to serve.
Jenny Hall, Development
Coordinator
Jenny Hall completed a BS in
Business Administration and Marketing
at California State University, Chico
in December 2006, graduating Summa
Cum Laude and with Honors. Jenny
worked during her college years as a
Sales and Finance Representative at the
Harley-Davidson dealership in Chico.
Jenny will be building her knowledge of grant
research and writing, donor cultivation and retention,
event planning, membership acquisition, and capital and
endowment campaigns. Jenny will support the Land
Trust’s Development Committee.
We understand that Jenny is one of those persons who,
when given an unfamiliar task, self-starts, researches
thoroughly, and brings home a higher quality product in a
shorter amount of time than others given the same task. In
this type of circumstance, Jenny became the webmaster for
the Harley-Davidson dealership.
Since starting on March 10, we have found that Jenny
has facility with desktop publishing (she laid out this
newsletter and the latest Big River Lecture Series poster)
and is able to undertake multiple tasks and meet deadlines.
Jenny visited the Mendocino coast for years and, drawn
to the physical landscape, has relocated to the Ten-Mile
watershed.
Annual Environmental Partnership Potluck
Goes Green and Garcia (River)
The annual Environmental Partnership Potluck among
the members of the Mendocino Land Trust, the Dorothy
King Young Chapter of the California Native Plant Society,
the Mendocino Area Parks Association, and the Mendocino
Coast Audubon Society was attended by 65 people on
March 3, 2008 at St. Anthony’s Hall in Mendocino.
Craig Bell, Garcia River Watershed Coordinator and
river guide, was the speaker this year providing a talk
entitled “An Update on the Comprehensive Restoration and
Recovery of the Garcia River.” Craig’s presentation was
informative and his delivery was engaging and diverting.
Overall, the Garcia River restoration is a success story
with landowners acting as leaders in stewardship and with
cooperation among many actors and interests.
To underscore our collective need to leave a lighter
footprint on the planet, participants were asked to provide
their own plates, utensils, glassware, and cloth napkins to
minimize the amount of solid waste generated. As host, the
Land Trust provided locally-brewed coffee and decaf, and
water from large recyclable containers. Participants were
encouraged to bring other local beverages of their choosing,
including Mendocino-grown wine.
The move to a new location was well-received, as were
the efforts of the Land Trust to provide an atmosphere
conducive to fellowship with tablecloths and native plants
for attendees to take home, grown by the Mendocino Coast
Botanical Garden. 
 Letter from the Executive
Director
James R. Bernard
Service Learning at Big River,
Building Capacity, Postponing
Accreditation, and the
Demands of Stewardship
Service Learning at Big River. Matt Coleman and Big
River continue to be a successful combination in attracting
high school (not only Marin Academy, but also Mendocino
High School, March 14) and college students for service
learning opportunities. I’ll let the thank you notes from
Mark, a chaperone, and Mary, a student from Marin
Academy, tell you of their experience. “Matt—I was very
impressed with your ability to work with and teach these
students. Your enthusiasm and humor made the work and
education relaxed and fun. Thank you for spending the
week with us. Hopefully, we made a small difference and
are now educated to make a bigger difference in the future.
-Mark” “Being with you for the past three days has been
inspirational and made me want to do more and become
more aware and conscious of my footprint on the land…My
Mendocino memories will be associated with Matt—can’t
wait to spread the word about the service learning you
provide. -Mary” In these days of “nature deficit disorder,”
the Land Trust is actively reconnecting young adults with
the environment. The likelihood that more Marin Academy
students will return to help out at Big River in the future and
the students’ enthusiasm leads one to hope that they’ll be
part of the next generation of “weed warriors” working to
protect and restore California native plant communities.
Building Capacity. With addition of two new staff,
the Land Trust will continue to build capacity to better
address its responsibilities. While we are sad to lose Holly
Newberger’s unflappable Wisconsin charm, we are heartened
to add the energy, enthusiasm, and commitment that Jenny
Hall and Hilarie Coate bring to the Land Trust family.
Postponing Accreditation. Unfortunately, with the
staffing changes, our ability to enter the Land Trust
Accreditation Commission’s first round of 2008 in February
was compromised and we were not able to go forward
as planned. The Land Trust continues to prepare for
accreditation and hopes for a spot to open up later in 2008 or
through entering the lottery process again in 2009.
The Demands of Stewardship. Being a landowner with
stewardship responsibilities sometimes presents challenges.
In the process of overseeing AT&T’s replacement of two
telephone poles on the Caspar property that the Land Trust
is conveying to California State Parks, we discovered two
well-established homeless encampments on the property.
After posting several notices to the inhabitants of the
encampments on tent walls advising them of their need to
vacate, a team of staff and board members cleaned up the
sites March 21, filling two pickup trucks with debris. The
cost of humanely removing the encampments from the land
underscored the need for adequate stewardship endowments
for conserved properties.

Land Trust Receives Most Responses Ever
to Annual Appeal — Thank You All!
The Land Trust wishes to express our sincere
appreciation for the most responses our year-end Annual
Appeal has ever received. A significant number of
contributors returned to supporting the Land Trust after
being absent for a number of years—welcome back! Your
support is allowing us to hire additional land conservation
and development staff to ensure that we continue to meet
our responsibilities in a timely, credible manner and to
conserve more special places. We hope that you will
support the Land Trust as members and donors during this
challenging year.
Land Trust Defends Ridgewood Ranch Oak
Woodlands Conservation Easement
The Land Trust submitted written comments on the
Harris Quarry Expansion Draft Environmental Impact
Report (DEIR) to the Mendocino County Planning
Commission on February 15, 2008. The quarry expansion
includes new concrete and asphalt plants immediately
adjacent to the 1,689-acre Ridgewood Ranch Oak
Woodlands Conservation Easement completed in June
2007. The Land Trust’s comments focused on deficiencies
in the DEIR document that underestimate potentially
significant impacts from the proposed project on the
adjacent conserved oak woodlands community and on
the headwaters of salmonid-supporting Forsythe Creek,
the primary conservation values that were protected with
Wildlife Conservation Board funding, as well as noise and
viewshed impairments. Land Trust will be involved as the
project approval process plays out over the next months
with the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.
Land Trust and Save-the-Redwoods League
Partner on Interpretive Education Efforts
by Michael Miller, Big River Program Manager
The Big River Program received a generous $5,000 from
the Educational Grants program of Save-the-Redwoods
League on March 17, to develop four interpretive panels
for the new interpretive kiosk at Big River Beach. This
is matched by $3,000 from the Big River Fund. The Land
Trust estimates that approximately 21,600 visitors per year
could view the interpretative display materials.
The coastal redwoods ecosystem is dominant within the
watershed and descriptions of its significance, diversity and
health provide tentative panel topics:
• Redwood Forest Ecology focusing on evocative,
charismatic understory plants and animals—banana slugs,
salamanders, oxalis--and their functions;
• Redwood Forest Indicator Species Associated with Old
Growth. Birds such as Marbled Murrelet and Northern
Spotted Owl or Western Pond Turtles or Red Tree Voles;
• The Fritz Wonder Plot as an example of a fast-growing
alluvial flat grove; and
• Salmonids and the Redwood Forest Ecosystem
featuring a diagram of the primary salmonid habitat
indicators such as large woody debris, stream depth,
temperature, sediment, impediments and accessibility.
Volunteer as a Big River Steward on
Earth Day Weekend
by Matt Coleman, Big River Stewards Volunteer
Coordinator
Join the Big River Stewards program of the
Mendocino Land Trust and the Mendocino Woodlands
Camp Association for a Earth Day work weekend at Big
River and the Mendocino Woodlands on April 26th and
27th .
Come stay a night at the historic Mendocino
Woodlands Camp in the redwoods and help with Weed Winching. Big River Stewards Bill Heil, Linda Perkins
restoration projects at Big River. Complimentary lodging and Dale Gaynor celebrate the successful removal of “old-growth”
will be provided to volunteers in rustic private cabins at Jubata with the manual winch they used in the foreground.
the Mendocino Woodlands Camp, built by the Civilian
Conservation Corps during the Great Depression. Or Weed Winch Donation Aids Jubata
join us for either day. Removal
On the Saturday workday (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.), we’ll Special thanks are due to faithful Big River Steward
remove invasive English Ivy from a mature stand of Dora Nell Ross of Cloverdale for the donation of the
redwoods bordering Big River near Railroad Gulch, a “weed winch” that is aiding the Stewards’ monthly
project begun by the Stewards last October and continued invasive plants workdays. In February, volunteers
in February by visiting volunteers from Marin Academy. conducted a successful trial removing Jubata, the highly-
On Saturday night, a complimentary dinner will be invasive South American weed also known as Pampas
Grass.
served in the historic Camp One dining hall.
The made-in-USA cable winch, rated to two-tons
On Sunday, April 27th, after a complimentary of pulling force, allowed three volunteers to pull eight
breakfast and check-out, volunteers will head to Big massive Jubata clumps near Dry Dock Marsh in about
River Beach to remove invasive Ammophila (European two and a half hours. For comparison, during a Stewards
Beach Grass) from this scenic beach located between the workday at Laguna Marsh last year, three workers labored
Big River estuary and the historic village of Mendocino. for over an hour with hand tools to remove a single
Help us to finish removing the remaining “old-growth” similarly-sized Jubata clump.
ammophila and treat resprouts, too. The winch, which can be anchored to a vehicle or a
tree when working in locations without road access, is
Last year, the Earth Day Work Weekend added 74 attached to the Jubata with a webbing tow strap dug in
volunteer hours to the overall 1,778 hours volunteers around the base of the plant. As the cable is tightened,
donated in 2008 to removing invasive plants, controlling the Jubata is easily pulled from the soil. The largest
erosion and monitoring birds and aquatic resources at Big plant removed during the February workday had a root
River. Help us to make this year even more successful. diameter of over four feet.
For more information, or to RSVP, contact Big River For the past two years, the Stewards have been working
Stewards Coordinator Matt Coleman at (707) 962-0470 to remove small Jubata from the Main Haul Road. With
the aid of the winch from Dora Nell, the Stewards can
or email mcoleman@mendocinolandtrust.org. Lodging is begin to nibble away at already established infestations
limited to 25 participants. where large Jubata are very resistant to hand removal.
Service Learning: Marin Academy Students Become Big River Stewards continued from Page 1
to canopy closure. Left untreated, English Ivy can create a dense carpet, excluding native understory plants from wide
areas, and can even climb into the forest canopy, where it reportedly increases tree mortality. Then the students worked
to remove small Jubata, also known as Pampas Grass, from Dry Dock Marsh to about a mile and a half upriver. For the
past two years, the Stewards have been working to prevent the spread of this highly-invasive weed species along the Haul
Road by pulling small easily-removed sprouts before their rapid growth makes them much more difficult to remove.
Finally, on the same day, the students removed resprouted broom from a site about 4.5 miles up the Haul Road, initially
cleared two years ago by the Stewards. The main lessons of the day were that an “ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure” and that follow-up treatments of removal sites are an essential part of invasive plant control.
On February 27th, the energetic students worked to remove an English Ivy infestation from lower Railroad Gulch,
about ten miles upriver. Students measured diameter-at-breast-height (dbh) on mature riparian redwoods, then cleared
Ivy from around the bases of seven redwoods with basal diameters ranging from 7.5 to 9 feet, as well as removing small
“outliers” of this large infestation.
Finally, on February 28th, the Marin Academy students returned to Big River Beach ,where they removed resprouted
Ammophila, Yellow Bush Lupine, resprouted Scotch Broom, and finished removing a patch of invasive Ice Plant on the
beach east of Highway One.

Big River Stewards, Audubon to Host Bird
Survey Training
The Big River Stewards and the Mendocino Coast
Audubon Society are offering a free two-day bird survey
training workshop on May 3rd and 4th. The classroom
portion of the workshop, led by expert birder and
endangered species consultant Ron LeValley, founder
of the avian consulting firm, Mad River Biologists
will be held at the Stanford Inn on Saturday, May 3rd
from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. PowerPoint presentations and
audio recordings will train participants in identifying
birds by visual and audio cues, and in bird surveying
methodology.
On Sunday, May 4th, participants will meet at 7
a.m. at Big River Beach to practice field identification
skills on a guided hike up the haul road with the training
leader and other experienced birders from the Audubon
concluding around 11 a.m.
After completing the training, participants will have
the opportunity to put their new skills to work by signing
up for the annual Big River Bird Survey, an ambitious
project, begun in 2003, that is co-sponsored by California
State Parks, the Audubon Society and the Land Trust.
The survey seeks to document bird species present at the
Big River property and track changes in their populations
over time.
MENDOCINO LAND TRUST
P.O. BOX 1094
MENDOCINO, CA 95460
PHONE: 707 962-0470
FAX: 707 962-0444
Email: info @mendocinolandtrust.org
www.mendocinolandtrust.org
Post Office: Return Service Requested
Quarterly Calendar of Land Trust Events
April 19, 2008. Big River Beach Cleanup, 10:00 a.m. to
12:00 p.m. Contact mcoleman@mendocinolandtrust.org.
April 26-27, 2008. Big River Stewards Earth Day Work
Weekend with the Mendocino Woodlands Camp: April 26,
Invasive Plant Removal at Railroad Gulch, 11:00 p.m. to
4:00 p.m. April 27, Invasive Plant Removal at Big River
Beach, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Contact mcoleman@
mendocinolandtrust.org.
May 3-4, 2008. Big River Stewards Spring Bird Survey
Training. May 3 at the Stanford Inn, 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
May 4 at the Big River Beach, 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Point count bird surveys to follow. Contact mcoleman@
mendocinolandtrust.org.
May 14, 2008. Navarro Point Stewards Workday, 8:45
a.m. to 11:25 am. Please call Tamira Jones at the Land
Trust office if you are interested in carpooling.
June 1, 2008. Annual Membership Meeting. St. Anthony’s
Hall, Mendocino, 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Contact hcoate@
mendocinolandtrust.org for more information.
For additional information on any Land Trust events,
please call the Land Trust Office at 707-962-0470 or
contact us at info@mendocinolandtrust.org.
PRST STD
NON-PROFIT
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FORT BRAGG, CA