1980s
Agriculture in the spotlight as land protection picks up steam
As development pressure mounted, Sonoma Land Trust stepped in as early champions for farmers, pioneering protection tools and creating policies that kept working lands in production and protected Sonoma County’s bucolic character.
Conserved
In response to development pressures across the county and state, SLT sponsored the first Farmlands Conference to share advantages of new conservation easement policy with the agricultural community.
Reta Lockert was SLT’s first employee, hired at 10 hours a week when the organization was still a small volunteer effort with no formal office.
Two key properties, Halperin, 11 acres and Lower Ranch, 528 acres, were acquired. SLT began to assemble one of its most well-known and influential projects spanning thousands of acres.
Created in partnership with the American Farmland Trust, this foundational document helped advance agricultural conservation nationwide.
A key milestone in connecting people and communities with nature, the first guided outings took place on protected lands, and were hosted by Bill Kortum, Sue Smith, Ken Stocking, and others.
SLT’s first office, a 350-square-foot room in a building on Broadway in the town of Sonoma.
u003cpu003eCharles Laufenburg purchased this property outside of Calistoga in 1887 and his son Charlie, born on the property, maintained it as a working ranch. He lived 90 years on the property.u0026nbsp;u003c/pu003e
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