“This is the best tree-lover’s monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world.” With these words, John Muir, naturalist, author and founder of the Sierra Club, thanked businessman William Kent for giving the federal government a grove of old-growth redwoods in Marin County, 14 miles north of San Francisco. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt designated this coastal valley as a national monument and named it Muir Woods, as Kent had insisted. Today, visitors to this green cathedral sometimes find themselves speaking in a whisper, or not at all, in the presence of these ancient giants which are often over 200 feet in height and more than 1,000 years old. With Muir Woods as an early model, it is not surprising that Marin County has become a national leader in open space preservation.

Roughly half of Marin County’s land area is preserved, including Stinson Beach, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

Marin County has over 105,000 acres of parkland representing roughly one third of its total land area. The National Park Service operates the Point Reyes National Seashore and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, which in combination stretch from San Francisco Bay to the northwestern corner of the County. In addition to preserving over 60 miles of the Pacific Coast, Point Reyes National Seashore offers 140 miles of hiking trails and is home to California sea lions, elephant seals and tule elk.

California manages six state parks in Marin County. The most prominent is Mount Tamalpais State Park, with a 2,571-foot peak that forms a well-known landmark throughout the San Francisco Bay region. In addition to scaling Mount Tam for a spectacular view, hikers can explore a 50-mile trail system within the park as well as connections to an additional 200 miles of trails that wind through adjacent parklands and watershed protection areas maintained by two water districts.

In 1972, Marin voters approved the creation of the Marin County Open Space District to acquire and manage the County’s outstanding natural landscapes and significant environmental lands as identified for preservation in the Comprehensive Plan, including oak-bay woodlands, savanna, grasslands and salt marshes. The District is funded primarily by a local property tax assessment representing one percent of all property tax revenues. The Open Space District now has 34 open space preserves offering 175 miles of trails within 14,675 acres of land. The County has published a trail guidebook designed to encourage the public to hike, bike and, hopefully, maintain its support for the program.

The dairy farms and cattle ranches of western Marin County have been threatened by development for decades, even after zoning code changes increased the minimum lot size to 60 acres. In 1980, a group of dairy farmers formed the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT) designed to purchase easements from landowners who want to stay in farming. Funding comes largely from grants, particularly from the California Coastal Conservancy. As of 2007, the Farmland Preservation Report estimated that 40,188 acres of agricultural land had been preserved in Marin County, making Marin one of the ten most successful locally-operated farmland preservation programs in the county.

Through skillful planning and strong development controls, Marin County has succeeded in concentrating growth in a linear corridor in the eastern quarter of the county near Highway 101, where it can more easily be served by transportation and other urban infrastructure. That leaves roughly the western three quarters of Marin County in rural and natural uses for future generations. In combination, the open space preserves, protected farmland, watersheds and parkland mentioned above total over 160,000 acres, which is roughly half of the County’s land area. This feat is particularly remarkable considering that Marin County is in the heart of the booming San Francisco Bay region right across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.