The Wagner Ranch Nature Area has been off limits to the general public since it was carved out of Orinda Unified School District land, but it’s hoped that views like this one will be open to the public in the near future. The Land Trust’s final public hearing on what residents are looking for in the Nature Area is scheduled for April 28.
After years of controversy, the Wagner Ranch Nature Area’s future as a valuable Orinda asset is assured – but now the real work begins.
The John Muir Land Trust (JMLT) took over approximately 16 acres of land from the Orinda Union School District (OUSD) in December, the culmination of a long negotiation. Up next is a 7 p.m. April 28 meeting at Wagner Ranch Elementary School, when the trust will take public comments on what the JMLT should do with the property.
“We have lots of ideation,” said Linus Eukel, the executive director of the trust. “We’re in a visioning process, which is communitarian.”
In the past, the site has been used by the Friends of the Nature Area (FONA) for educational purposes, and more than 15,000 OUSD students have studied local flora and fauna there. But the site has been closed since March 2023 after significant damage due to winter storms, and the district and FONA were unable to move forward on reopening the site, in part because of the cost of removing downed trees and ensuring the safety of the area.
The JMLT will now embark on raising roughly $5 million to open the parcel to the public, but the first step is to decide what the finished project will look like.
“We have not purchased the property just to protect it,” said Eukel, so plans will call for public access – but the extent of that public access must be decided before work on the area can begin.
For example, if students are to return to the parcel, then whatever buildings are needed must be up to code, and access must be ADA-compliant.
Eukel does envision restrooms and shade structures, and “enough amenities to be open to the public.” But “to build it,” he said, “we have to raise the funds.”
And that’s where the JMLT administrative resources and history of land acquisition comes into play. Locally, the trust has purchased the 604-acre Carr Ranch just south of Lamorinda, 84 acres in the Painted Rock area near Campolindo High School and 23 acres on Acalanes Ridge.
After the final community meeting on April 28, the trust will put together a plan and begin raising the money to make it work.
“This is not an exercise in economy,” said Eukel. “Once we have the idea, we have to fund it.”
Eukel feels the new plan should include an educational aspect.
“We want to restore the concept as it was before,” he said, but naturally many residents are hoping for expanded public access over and above classes for elementary school students.
“It’s a special place,” said Eukel.
