Contra Costa County
WHF maintains 6 preserves within Contra Costa County.
Alamo Creek
Gale Ranch
Intervening Properties
Montanera
Old Ranch Preserve
Wendt Ranch
Contra Costa County (Spanish for: Against the Coast) is a suburban county in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Contra Costa County's physical geography is dominated by the bayside alluvial plain, the Oakland-Berkeley Hills, and Mount Diablo, an isolated 3,849-foot upthrust peak at the north end of the Diablo Range of hills. The summit of Mount Diablo is the origin of the Mount Diablo Meridian and Base Line, on which surveying of much of California and western Nevada are based.
Alamo Creek
Acreage: 372.8ac
The Alamo Creek project site, currently owned by Shapell Industries, encompasses approximately 609.5 acres in Contra Costa County, California, south of Camino Tassajara and east of Interstate 680 near Danville, California. WHF will hold the conservation easement on the property and be responsible for ensuring compliance with the easement and management plan. The property has numerous ephemeral and intermittent streams and a perennial creek-Alamo Creek-a segment of which traverses the northwestern edge of the project site. Alamo Creek is a tributary of Arroyo de la Laguna and, ultimately, flows to South San Francisco Bay.
The proposed project comprises construction of 907 residential units with associated streets, schools, parks, and other infrastructure on approximately 236.7 acres. Approximately 372.8 acres of the site will be preserved as open-space lands composed of 305.8 acres of new open-space land and 67 acres that were previously dedicated as open-space land by the Wendt Ranch project. The preserve area will protect California red-legged frog and habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox, and will protect two special-status plant species-San Joaquin spearscale and Congdon's tarplant.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
 Reparian |
 Wetlands |
 Woodlands |
Species Found Within this Preserve
 California Red Legged Frog |
 San Joaquin Kit Fox |
 Congdon's Tarplant |
 San Joaquin Spearscale |
Gale Ranch
Acreage: 850ac
The Gale Ranch preserve comprises 850 acres of open space in Contra Costa County, California. The preserve area encompasses wetlands, perennial streams, ponds, tributary drainage channels, and grasslands. As part of the WHF's responsibilities, we generated an open-space management plan, will monitor implementation of the plan, and will design interpretive trails and signs. In addition, WHF is responsible for developing a non-native species management program for species such as yellow starthistle and bullfrogs. Finally, as with two other of our conservation easements, WHF will institute a grazing program to manage native grasses and non-native weeds.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
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Wetlands |
 Grasslands |
Intervening Properties
Acreage: 213ac
Intervening Properties is a 28-acre onsite preserve and a 185-acre offsite preserve in Contra Costa County, California. The onsite preserve area is part of a 157-acre residential development adjacent to Danville, California, and is in the Alamo Creek drainage of south central Contra Costa County. When completed, the property will contain mitigation wetlands, riparian zones, and protection of endangered or threatened species such as the California red-legged frog, San Joaquin kit fox, and Congdon's tarplant. The offsite preserve comprises upland grasslands and oak woodlands that are potential habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox, yellow-legged frog, and the tiger salamander. WHF is responsible for active management in both areas.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
|
Reparian |
Wetlands |
Grasslands |
Woodlands |
Species Found Within this Preserve
|
California Red Legged Frog |
San Joaquin Kit Fox |
 California Tiger Salamander |
Congdon's Tarplant |
Montanera
Acreage: 749.1ac
More information about this preserve coming soon.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
|
Reparian |
Wetlands |
Grasslands |
Woodlands |
Old Ranch Preserve
Acreage: 134.3ac
More information about this preserve coming soon.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
|
Wetlands |
Wendt Ranch
Acreage: 86.3ac
The Wendt Ranch project encompasses 155.23 acres in Contra Costa County, California, of which 68.93 acres were developed for housing and 86.30 acres placed into an onsite, open-space preserve. The preserve will be protected by a conservation easement for California red-legged frog habitat. The conservation easement covers a stretch of the east fork of Alamo Creek with setbacks, setbacks from the west fork of Alamo Creek, a 4.53-acre seasonal wetland (buffalo wetland) with its buffers, and upland grasslands located east of the east-fork channel. In addition to the red-legged frog habitat, the management plan provides a limited 10-year post-construction wetland monitoring plan to ensure that the development has not had a negative effect on the size or function of the buffalo wetland.
The conservation measures associated with this project are geared toward the California red-legged frog and are to:
1) enhance or restore suitable habitats near occupied or potential habitat areas such that low water temperatures, hiding cover, and egg-laying cover are maintained, and
2) avoid or minimize actions that could increase or attract non-native predator populations to both occupied or potential red-legged frog habitat, maximizing the isolation of California red-legged frog populations from all introduced aquatic predators.
Habitats Found Within this Preserve
|
Wetlands |
Grasslands |
Woodlands |
Species Found Within this Preserve
|
California Red Legged Frog |