The 83-year-old renowned landscape painter, whose work has been displayed at museums across the country, has spent hundreds of hours and years of work over the last few decades maintaining and curating his land into a sweeping prairie that has come to serve as the inspiration for his work and his livelihood.
The recent announcement that the Peninsula Open Space Trust has purchased the final 2,284 acres of Sargent Ranch marks a historic turning point for Santa Clara County. This acquisition officially ends the decade-long threat of the Sargent Ranch Quarry, an industrial project that would have irreversibly damaged one of our region's most sensitive landscapes. This victory is not just a win for land conservation, but a monumental achievement for the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which has long fought to protect Juristac, a sacred ceremonial site.
We are failing our children by blaming adjacent issues, like attending anti-ICE protests, rather than confronting the reality that the youth in our community no longer think twice before pulling a trigger. This is not our youth's fault; this is our fault, our system's fault. Rather than using our tax dollars to invest in the lives of our youth through violence prevention and education, we continue to prioritize punishment.
The Klamath Indigenous Land Trust recently purchased 10,000 acres along the Klamath River, signifying one of the largest Indigenous-led private land purchases in U.S. history as salmon continue to make their historic return to the newly revived watershed. The expansive property, located mostly in California and extending into Oregon, includes the sites of reservoirs that existed up until the removal of four of the Klamath's dams in 2023 and 2024.
As small colleges across Massachusetts struggle to stay afloat, Hellenic College and Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology is taking a different path: selling up to 25 acres of land for conservation and directing $25 million into its endowment, a move leaders say will help secure the Brookline institution's long-term future. Over the past five years, the school has successfully turned its financial situation around. As of June 30, 2025, the endowment was just over $38 million, up from $28.5 million in 2019, according to financial statements.
Next time you're winding through the forest along I-80 on the way to North Tahoe, keep an eye out for a pretty blue lake to the right near Emigrant Gap. Nestled in the Sierra Nevada foothills, that lake Lake Putt is part of a 650-acre undeveloped property now being transformed into the Gateway Park at Tahoe National Forest, set to offer camping, trails, fishing and nature learning opportunities when it opens in 2028.
In 1995, Betsy Pratt, longtime owner of Mad River Glen, Vermont, made the bold decision to sell the ski area to the skiers, by way of a co-op. At the time, the co-op could only raise enough money to buy the ski area itself, and the Pratt Family retained control of some 1,100 acres next to the ski area that was included in the initial land acquisition in 1948.
Known as the Nunn-Paulsen inholding, the land was donated to the nonprofit Save Mount Diablo by Bob Nunn in memory of his late father, Ron Nunn, who died in August at 92. Although my father had many stories to tell, one that always stuck with me and that I also share is when he could look and see Mount Diablo, he knew he was home, Bob Nunn said in a statement.
The John Muir Land Trust announced plans to acquire the Wagner Ranch Nature Area in Orinda in the hopes of turning it into a community spot and educational center, the trust said this week. The 16-acre parcel is next to Wagner Ranch Elementary School, and the trust said the land could become an outdoor classroom for children. The acquisition is not yet final, and a "due diligence period of several weeks comes next," the trust said in a news release Tuesday.
You are invited for an evening with the people who helped preserve the beautiful Martha Property in Tiburon. Join Marin Green Drinks this October 14, 2025, with Jerry Riessen of the Tiburon Open Space Committee and Erica Williams from the Trust for Public Land. Discover the passion and dedication behind this decades-long effort. If you appreciate nature and the work of those who help to protect it, this event is for you.
It was March 2025, a little over a month after Outside Magazine had laid Keyes off as editor-in-chief. He'd been at Outside since 2007. "I really thought I was done with journalism, just because it's been such a roller coaster," he told me. But still, in the back of his mind, he had the germ of an idea for a newsroom dedicated to covering public lands.
U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna is hosting an education town hall in Cupertino on Sept. 28, when he will discuss his latest work in Congress and answer questions from constituents. The town hall is set for 4-5:30 p.m. at Cupertino High School's gym, 10100 Finch Ave. It is open to attendees on a first-come, first-served basis on the day of the event. RSVP to http://bit.ly/46GrseE.
In the latter part of the 19th century, prospectors flocked to the Red Mountain Mining District in southwestern Colorado, staking hundreds of 10-acre claims alongside streambeds, on aspen-covered slopes and just about anywhere else in the "public domain" they thought might hold gold or silver. After five years, federal mining laws would allow them to patent, or take title to, the claims they wanted.
