Atira Conservation has partnered with LandPaths to support their purchase the 265.67-acre Lobban Conservation Easement in Sonoma County, California.

The Sonoma County Agricutlural Preservation and Open Space District has identified Lobban — located in the Southern Mayacamas Region landscape unit — as a “priority conservation area essential to conservation goals” As a priority conservation area, this property provides natural resources, scenic, recreation and other ecological functions and the majority of the property is considered the last remaining linkage for supporting regional connectivity.  The Conservation Lands Network, a regional conservation strategy for the San Francisco Bay Area, indicates that many birds, mammals, plants, reptiles and amphibian species benefit from the protection of this critical linkage land.

Lobban is bordered by Mark West Creek to the north, with shared borders to the west with LandPaths’ existing 120-acre Rancho Mark West Preserve and private property, and to the south with Saddle Mountain Open Space Preserve, along with additional private property.  Lobban is also bounded by Mark West Creek and supports reproducing populations of federally threatened coho salmon and steelhead trout. The habitat on the Lobban property is comprised of redwood and Douglas-fir forests, interior mixed hardwood, valley oak and critical creek habitat.

LandPaths will own and steward Lobban to include it in the Rancho Mark West Preserve as a single conservation area. The united preserve will be managed for the protection and restoration of its redwoods, montane hardwood forests, riparian and grassland habitats for watershed health, environmental education and passive recreational public use in keeping with resource conservation goals.  Lobban will also become part of a larger 1,355-acre conservation area in the Southern Mayacamas Region, considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in the nation. 

• Property Cost: $3.12 million
• Atira Conservation Funding: $28,358