What We Do

MCL’s Mission

To Preserve, Protect and Enhance the Natural Assets of Marin in a Changing Environment

Environmental Goals

Preserve Natural Resources By Stewarding Public Lands

When MCL founders chose their course to protect the scenic coastal shorelines and inland ridges of Marin from exploitation and set them aside for the public’s future enjoyment, they were also prescient! Protected natural areas have become the cornerstone for conservation of biodiversity, a concept unknown to MCL’s founders.

When MCL founders chose their course to protect the scenic coastal shorelines and inland ridges of Marin from exploitation and set them aside for the public’s future enjoyment, they were also prescient! Protected natural areas have become the cornerstone for conservation of biodiversity, a concept unknown to MCL’s founders.

Decades later, over half of the county is natural, open, and public – host to thousands of plant and wildlife species. These protected lands are also host to millions of visitors every year, seeking relaxation, the rewards of nature, and health and fitness.  Diverse new visitors are encouraged to join them. This means constant vigilance to ensure that the long-term ecological health of our public lands is not compromised by the inevitable footprints of human overuse, even as other threats such as wildfire, invasive species and forest disease challenge land managers in a time of changing climate.

The Parks and Open Space Committee works with public land managers on a variety of projects to address these concerns, such as:

  • MCL closely tracks and supports projects in and around Muir Woods that are restoring health and habitats for sensitive species in the Redwood Creek watershed;
  • We evaluate the County’s proposed road and trail improvement projects and advocate only for those improvements that will protect sensitive resources and ensure safe experiences for all open space visitors;
  • MCL has been a steward of Mt. Tamalais since our founding, advocating for protecting the long-term health of the mountain and, in recent years, monitoring One Tam’s coordinated efforts toward that objective.

Reduce Wildfire Risk While Protecting Native Habitats

Wildfire is “natural,” an agent of ecosystem renewal and positive change. It can also be deadly, destroying lives and homes and wildlife habitats, and releasing toxic pollutants into air and water, and emitting huge quantities of greenhouse gases.

Fueled by a build-up of live and dead vegetation, driven by wind, and exacerbated by extreme drought conditions, wildfire is now an ever-present threat in Marin. Removing vegetation that fuels wildfire is an urgent need, yet presents a challenge: How to retain the unique functions of vegetation to sustain…food webs, habitat for birds and other wildlife, rare plants, storm runoff, microclimates, soil health and carbon sequestration, even as we drastically remove it?  Through ongoing partnerships, MCL is leading a collaborative approach to managing the risks of wildfire in Marin while promoting ecologically sound practices.

Our Fire and the Environment Working Group successfully supported Measure C, which created the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority, and continues to play a leadership role in the roll-out of the Authority programs. Some of its work includes:

  • The Ecologically Sound Practices collaborative (co-founded and co-led by MCL) is developing “best practices” in vegetation management, working with the new Authority, FIRESafe Marin, Marin Master Gardeners, and others;
  • Promoting pro-environment language and ecological principles that are part of Marin County’s Community Wildfire Prevention Plan; and
  • MCL’s Fire Policy which includes recommendations for fire management tools such as prescribed burns, grazing practices, and others, while minimizing damage to habitats and native vegetation.

Preserve Ecological Systems and Watersheds

Everyone lives in a watershed. Miles of ephemeral creeks and intermittent streams thread through Marin’s watersheds, connecting ridgetops to bay and ocean, land to water. Some watersheds drain the agricultural lands and villages of West Marin into Tomales Bay or into coastal estuaries and the ocean. Watersheds to the east, largely obscured by urban development and human activity and its by-products, drain to the San Francisco and San Pablo Bay.

Whether east or west, these watersheds demand constant attention to function well – to control storm runoff and minimize sediments and downstream flooding, remain clear of other pollutants, sustain upland, riparian, and aquatic habitats, including endangered fish populations, and ensure that receiving streams, bay, wetlands and ocean waters remain healthy. MCL understands that it takes comprehensive public policy, well-funded green-infrastructure, diligent volunteer efforts, and broad public education to manage a watershed.

Our Land Use, Transportation, and Water Committee advocates for protecting and restoring natural systems and watersheds that sustain urban and other environments. Its work includes:

  • Tracking board actions and plans for both Marin Municipal and North Marin Water Districts for meeting the County’s drought-challenged water supply needs.
  • Advocating that Marin Water (MMWD) implement revised pricing and implement specific sanctions to support and encourage increased conservation of water.
  • Opposing the City of Novato’s approval of Costco’s proposed 36-pump gas station on a site that lies between a vulnerable mitigation wetland and the Novato Creek floodplain.
  • Supporting Bay Conservation and Development Commission’s plan to protect sensitive eel grass and bayland habitats from the impacts of anchor-outs in Richardson Bay.

Reduce GHG Emissions and Increase Carbon Capture

To reduce and prevent the most catastrophic effects of the climate crisis, it is imperative that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) be rapidly brought to a point where reduced emissions are more than offset by drawing more carbon out of the atmosphere than is released into it.  At the same time human societies must become resilient in adapting to the catastrophic effects.

Disadvantaged and minority communities will be among the first to suffer from these effects, so it is imperative that they be participants in adaptive planning and education. MCL and its climate colleagues are studying every means to reduce GHG’s emissions overall. No strategy can be overlooked. As a consequence, MCL is advocating for the implementation of a robust series of solutions.

We must also capture excess carbon already in the atmosphere by promoting enhanced management of Marin’s agricultural soils, grasslands, wetlands, forests to achieve higher levels of natural sequestration with multiple co-benefits.

The Climate Action Working Group regularly convenes Marin’s climate activists and advocates focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Some of its actions include:

  • Defending MCE Clean Energy against ongoing attacks by PG&E and other big Investor Owned Utilities.
  • Encouraging MCE to invest its profits in innovation — in renewable energy and electrification technologies and programs, and in resiliency projects for underserved communities.
  • Hosting MCE, PG&E and County managers, independent experts and other speakers’ presentations and discussions on such topics as: microgrids, MCE Clean Energy’s regulatory challenges and electric vehicle (EV) initiatives, methods of reducing building-related emissions, prospects for national legislation on greenhouse gas emission reductions, and more.

Foster Sustainable Communities

Over the decades, Marin’s towns and cities have grown up to replace thousands of acres of grassy former dairy ranches, historic once-tidal marshes, and wooded valleys, primarily in the eastern part of the county. Linked by a main north-south transportation corridor, the urban settlement pattern is dense but, nonetheless, has left elements of former upland and bayland habitats as well as ridges and greenbelts separating communities.

With strategic planning, we have preserved some vestiges of native ecosystems within the urban fabric.  At the same time, we must assure a growing population of a healthy environment with clean water, air and green spaces, and equitable access to affordable housing and transportation, education, health and public safety, and household goods and services. Balancing these priorities continues to challenge both the governance and citizens of Marin.

The Land Use, Transportation and Water Committee advocates on a wide range of planning processes:

  • MCL regularly contributes to shaping our towns’ and cities’ General Plans to include pro-environment language and policies;
  • Participates in meetings on State Route 37 (SR37) and advocates that the SR37 Traffic Congestion Relief Project minimize disturbance to a tidal wetland as it adapts to sea level rise;
  • Contributes to the Adapting to Rising Tide’s (ART’s) regional, multi-jurisdictional coordinated planning effort to adapt San Francisco Bay communities to sea level rise; and
  • Submits comments on redevelopment Environmental Impact Reports to assure consideration and preservation of environmental resources when possible.

Preserve and Enhance Biodiversity

Marin County’s remarkable diversity of native plants, wildlife, and natural communities is one of its greatest assets. Native plant communities, shaped over thousands of years by local conditions and ecological relationships, provide the foundation for healthy ecosystems and support the countless species that depend on them. From grasslands and oak woodlands to wetlands and forests, these interconnected landscapes sustain the ecological processes that make Marin unique.

This biological richness cannot be taken for granted. Habitat fragmentation, invasive species, climate change, and development pressures continue to place increasing stress on the natural systems that sustain native plants and wildlife. Conservation is not simply about preventing the loss of individual species. It is about protecting the relationships between species, preserving functioning ecosystems, and maintaining the ecological resilience that allows nature to adapt and thrive.

Marin Conservation League believes biodiversity should be a guiding consideration in decisions that affect the natural environment. Protecting native habitats and the species they support is essential not only to preserving Marin’s natural heritage, but also to ensuring healthy landscapes for future generations. As environmental challenges grow more complex, safeguarding biodiversity remains one of the most effective ways to strengthen the long-term health and resilience of both natural and human communities.

Connect Natural and Working Landscapes

Much of Marin’s landscape exists outside parks, preserves, and other protected lands. These privately managed lands shape the health of watersheds, wildlife habitat, soil, and open space across the county. What happens on one property can have lasting effects well beyond its boundaries.

For decades, Marin Conservation League has recognized that conservation cannot be achieved through public lands alone. Protecting biodiversity requires stewardship across the broader landscape and cooperation among the people and institutions that manage it. When natural and working lands are cared for responsibly, they can support habitat, store carbon, protect water quality, and strengthen the resilience of surrounding ecosystems.

This approach also recognizes a practical reality: conservation goals are most durable when they align with the long-term stewardship and viability of the lands on which they depend. Lasting environmental protection requires solutions that work not only ecologically, but also economically and socially.

The Parks and Open Space Committee promotes conservation across Marin’s interconnected landscapes, recognizing that the health of public lands is influenced by the lands and communities that surround them. Examples of its advocacy include:

  • Engaging in the Point Reyes National Seashore General Management Plan process to advocate for strong environmental protections and the long-term ecological health of the Seashore.
  • Advocating for the Marin Carbon Project and the County to reduce greenhouse gases by promoting carbon farm plans that sequester carbon in rangeland soils and related conservation practices.
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