The land trust is arranging to purchase 7,334 acres of land in Mendocino County's Big River estuary for $25.7 million from Hawthorne Timber of Oregon. Hawthorne purchased the land in 1999 and planned to log it, according to land trust officials. The acreage includes 50 miles of the Big River and its tributaries and 1,500 acres of coastal wetlands.

The Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund made its million-dollar donation on March 19. Opponents of commercial development on the property, such as logging, say that the land needs a break from nearly a century and a half of logging. The land has become barren and defeated, and it takes away from the beauty and pristine nature of the land.

Mendocino Land Trust president Jim McCummings says more than 1,400 individuals and private organizations from 26 states, as well as state and federal agencies contributed to the purchase efforts. "We're grateful to hundreds of people and organizations that have stepped up to protect this property, and we're especially grateful to the Goldman Fund for closing this final gap,'' says McCummings.