"Protecting Marin Since 1934"

By Charlotte Smith

            Have you ever wondered who protects and preserves the natural assets of Marin County? For decades, the Marin Conservation League “MCL” has worked on a number of projects including saving the Angel Island Foundation. Angel Island was declared surplus by the federal government and could have been turned into private development, but MCL formed the Angel Island Foundation to save it rather than let it go on the auction block. MCL also and contributed $25,000 to establish the Tomales Bay State Park. Nona Dennis, vice president of the Marin Conservation League, worked for years to preserve our open spaces and provide continued access to some of Marin County’s natural wonders. According to Dennis, “Now about half of Marin County is protected, it’s open space for the public to enjoy. And then since that time, the direction of Marin Conservation League has been more to be a watchdog, because things don’t stand still and there are small projects that are constantly coming up that have environmental impacts and MCL is involved in reviewing them and trying to make them better projects.” Thus, the purpose of the Marin Conservation League today is to monitor these projects and determine their environmental impacts. MCL also continues to save threatened land that has important habitats.

            Almost ninety years ago, four women in the 1930s founded MCL and it is an organization that continues to preserve the nature and wildlife of Marin to this day. Nona says collaboration with other environmental groups is a key to MCL’s future. “I think we have been the leader in many environmental battles for the good of Marin, but we also have worked closely in collaboration with the Sierra Club, with Marin Audubon, with citizens, with local groups… and so forth. So I would say, I know it’s cliché, but it takes a village.”

Between 1934 and 1981, MCL helped to acquire and preserve many of Marin’s land. The total area of these lands is more than 11,000 acres. Many of these places were set aside for the public, such as places that became state parks. The Marin Conservation League was also the leader for establishing at a county level an open space district, which now has accumulated properties. This was all the work of the Marin Conservation League leading thousands of volunteers.

Nona has a strong belief that we should leave the land as it is for future generations of not only people, but also wildlife. She commits a great deal of her time and her effort to the Marin Conservation League because of her belief in its mission. According to Nona, we need to coexist with the wildlife. Part of that is for our own self-interest. “We, as humans, are part of a larger community. We need to be a part of this community, rather than ‘conquerers’ of it.”