A8 | HOLIDAY EDITION • NOVEMBER 22-23, 2023
A view looking towards the bay is seen through the window of a jeep during a
tour of Walt Ranch.
Walt
From A1
“It’s big and its size really facilitates the pro-
tection of a broad range of species,” Palladini
said.
Some oaks are blackened, a reminder of the
2017 Atlas Fire that burned through the prop-
erty at various degrees of intensity. Much of Walt
Ranch has rebounded and hardly looks like a fire
zone.
Some oaks and other types of trees have red
tags on them. These are among the 14,000 trees
that were once slated to be cut down to make
room for vineyards, before Walt became a na-
ture preserve.
Walt Ranch seems like two worlds. The eastern
half has the oak woodlands and views of the Vaca
Mountains. This area seems wetter, lusher.
The western side is a more arid chaparral land-
scape, with rugged Sonoma Volcanics soils and
views of the Atlas Peak area and a distant San
Pablo Bay.
Rare plants grow here, such as the holly-leaved
ceanothus. The California Native Plant Society
A ridge view at Walt Ranch is seen.
A dry grass landscape at Walt Ranch.
Mike Palladini with the Land Trust of Napa checks a trail camera set up
next Capell Creek during a tour of Walt Ranch.
NEWS
A screen grab from a trail camera shows a black bear drinking from Capell
Creek in Walt Ranch.
reports this plant is mainly found in Napa and
Sonoma counties.
Palladini is a perfect guide for nature lovers. He
is quick to point out the various plants — valley
oaks, Oregon ash trees, manzanitas, elderberries,
snowberries, Santa Barbara sedges.
He can recognize birds from both their sounds
and appearance. At one point, he got out of the
jeep, pulled out a spotting scope and quickly ze-
roed in on blue-crowned American kestrel.
A stop at perennial wetlands yielded a look a
wildlife captured by a wildlife camera. Palladini
inserted the computer card from the camera into
a computer.
Appearing onscreen were a western scrub jay,
deer, American robin, western gray squirrel,
acorn woodpecker and black bear. The black bear
got a close-up. In fact, it got so close, it appar-
ently knocked the camera over.
Walt Ranch in 2016 won county permission for
209 acres of vineyards. Estate homes were never
proposed, though county zoning left 35 of them
a possibility.
But Craig and Kathryn Hall of HALL Wines
ultimately settled on a different course for their
land. They sold Walt Ranch to the Land Trust
A group of band-tailed pigeons are seen flying at Walt Ranch.
NAPA VALLEY REGISTER
for $24.5 million earlier this year, donating $6.5
million of the purchase price.
Before the Land Trust can open Walt Ranch to
hikers, it must complete a management plan for
the property. Land Trust CEO Doug Parker earlier
this year said the plan will, among other things,
determine the best places for public access.
One might wonder why Walt Ranch is called
Walt Ranch. Kathryn Hall’s maiden name is Walt
and her late parents owned vineyards.
Whether Walt Ranch will remain Walt Ranch
now that it is a nature preserve is another ques-
tion. Kimberly Howard of the Land Trust said
a name change could be forthcoming at some
point.
What makes Walt Ranch special?
“I would say that Walt Ranch really well encap-
sulates, exemplifies, illustrates all of the reasons
that our area is a recognized global biological di-
versity hot spot,” Palladini said.
It has a breadth of native plant and wildlife
species. It has rare plants found only in this part
of California and nowhere else on the planet. It’s
incredibly beautiful, he said.
“Overall, it’s really just amazing,” Palladini
said.
NICK OTTO PHOTOS, REGISTER
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