East Bay Trails: Newly Expanded Fernandez Ranch Opens To Public

MARTINEZ, CA — John Muir Land Trust is holding a property dedication and public opening Saturday, June 3 of its newly expanded, 1,185-acre Fernandez Ranch off Highway 4 between Hercules and Martinez. The 483-acre property formerly known as Franklin Canyon is merging into adjacent Fernandez Ranch and receiving visitors for the first time.

The event is being held on National Trails Day. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, the public is cordially invited to celebrate by coming to view the property at 1081 Christie Road in Martinez. A dedication ceremony will begin at 10:30 a.m., to be followed by docent-led tours and hikes.

Fernandez Ranch offers miles of new multi-use trails for hiking, mountain biking, equestrian activities and off-leash dog walking. These trails connect to the extensive trail system of adjacent East Bay Municipal Utility District lands, the 550-mile Bay Area Ridge Trail and the 500-mile San Francisco Bay Trail. The property offers 1.5 miles of ADA-accessible paths, three picnic areas, easy parking and a staging area for horse trailers.

• Directions to Saturday's event: Heading east on Highway 4 take the first exit after Franklin Canyon Golf Course onto Christie Road. Use caution as Christie Road is a minor exit. Fernandez Ranch is .7 miles down Christie Road on your right. Plenty of parking.

Visitors can taken in panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay from elevated ridgetops as they walk through diverse ecosystems of oak-studded slopes, pockets of bay forest, open meadows, and freshwater wetlands. Riparian scrub along its creeks includes arroyo willow, thickets of California blackberry and short-spiked hedge nettle.

“It’s a natural paradise for lovers of the outdoors,” said Linus Eukel, executive director of John Muir Land Trust, the Martinez-based nonprofit organization which protects and cares for open space, ranches, farms, parkland and shoreline in the East Bay, including Contra Costa and Alameda counties.

The natural habitat of Fernandez Ranch is home to the endangered Alameda whipsnake, Cooper’s hawk, northern harrier, California red-legged frog and western pond turtle. Younger visitors will be delighted by bugs, birds, beetles, newts and animal tracks. The keenly observant will spot nests of San Francisco dusky-footed woodrats—piles of twigs and branches often several feet tall. At dawn and dusk, deer emerge from the woods and coyotes howl.

“A unique aspect of Fernandez Ranch is the transition from coastal to interior habitats, and the impressive diversity of oaks and oak woodland types these habitats support,” said Jake Schweitzer, senior ecologist at Vollmar Natural Lands Consulting. “These include coast live oak, black oak, Oregon oak, valley oak and blue oak habitats. They in turn support an equally diverse array of wildlife species.”

Fernandez Ranch is named for pioneers Bernardo and Carlotta Fernandez, who were early entrepreneurs in Contra Costa County. In 1853 as a young seafarer, Bernardo Fernandez came to the East Bay where he established a successful freighting business between Contra Costa and San Francisco, and eventually grew a small land holding to over 20,000 acres of Contra Costa’s fertile soil. Today’s Windmill Trail follows the route of the old ranch road, passing by a historic windmill and the remnants of a mid-century dairy farm. Although the dairy ceased operating in 1960, cattle still graze the surrounding hills. The Fernandez family remained diligent stewards of the ranch for many generations before offering the property to JMLT.

John Muir Land Trust acquired an initial 702 acres from the Fernandez family in 2005, then raised $3.5 million for a restoration project that began in 2008 to restore Rodeo Creek’s eroding banks and to complete the staging areas and trail system. The second acquisition, the 483-acre Franklin Canyon property was the direct result of community advocacy.

The city of Hercules had approved multiple applications for residential and commercial development over the years; but citizens, voters, labor organizations and local environmentalists formed a movement to preserve the land instead. These supporters helped JMLT raise the $2.5 million necessary to purchase the land to be merged with existing Fernandez Ranch and preserved in perpetuity.

Phillips 66 provided a generous grant to prepare the property for public opening and for ongoing stewardship. As a member of JMLT’s Corporate Council, Phillips 66 sponsors the Pure Muir Gala and annual Stargazing event, and teams of employee volunteers have helped build trails at Franklin Canyon and Sky Ranch.

East Bay Municipal Utility District manages 50,000 acres of habitat in the East Bay and Sierra foothills, and views the newly expanded Fernandez Ranch as a vital addition to watershed lands it owns and manages.

"EBMUD’s commitment to protect the environment for future generations is at the core of our mission statement,” said Richard Sykes, director of Natural Resources for EBMUD. "Nothing we do is more important than protecting the public’s access to drinking water — a limited and precious resource in California."

JMLT's Eukel said opening "this beloved landscape marks a hugely satisfying conclusion to years of hard work and the contributions of thousands of JMLT supporters, foundations and public agencies who made this possible."

"It is a gift to future generations shared by members of the surrounding communities, and celebrated by everyone who lives in and loves the East Bay," Eukel said.

Image via John Muir Land Trust