Introduction (Click--Here to Skip Introduction and go to 23 Regional Descriptions and Ownership) (Click here if you do not see a map in the bottom frame)

Mendocino County is a large rural county with more than 50% of the land owned by institutions whose principal owners do not reside in the County. There are a total of 2,246,840 acres or 3,510 square miles in the County. Approximately 10% (220,000 acres) of the county is owned by the Mendocino Redwood Company which is principally owned by the Fischer Family, who also own the Gap stores.

The project of describing the major owners of the land in the County is far from complete; it is an on-going project that needs your help. Please see the areas that are missing information. We are hoping that by putting the regions on this page and the data we currently have, it will encourage knowledgeable people to fill-in what is needed; a kind of "build the web page and the data will come" outlook. At some point, along with the owner's name and acreage owned, we will include reports of their stewardship/use of their large land holdings. Please help with this project and contact us at:

For this task it was found that it was easiest to describe ownership of the unincorporated areas of the County following watershed routes (the routes of the County's major rivers and streams). Please see the map in the scrollable frame below if you are unfamiliar with Mendocino County layout before proceeding. Also towns and cities are contained in each of the 23 regions to allow easy location within the County.

Some of the major rivers in the County and their total length in miles are:
Big, 36; Eel,197; Elk, 12; Garcia, 32, Gualala, 37; Navarro, 56; Noyo, 25; Russian, 100; Ten Mile, 16.

23 MENDOCINO COUNTY REGIONS; Regions shown on Map are approximate; regions tend to follow watersheds and/or major town boundries. Click-on a number on the map below and it will take you to description of that area and its major land owners. (shown in this frame)

1.
Starting at the Northwest border of Mendocino County including the towns of Percy, Leggett, Rockport, Westport, West Branscomb, and following the South Fork of the Eel River East to Ten Mile creek. This area includes parts of the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park and Standish Hickey State Rec.Area.

We need other major landowner's names for this region; please contact us if you can help

2.
Starting from the northern County border near Bell Springs following Highway 101 from Cummings including Laytonville and East Branscomb Region.

Some names that have surfaced as major landowners in this are:
Harwood Co.
Coastal Forest Lands (may have new name)
Skoyoko Bailey (town of laytonville)
Clover Ranch
Mitchell (hwy 101 region)
Hog Farm (Wavy Gravy)
John Pinches (former County Supervisor)
Geigers(Laytonville, big food store etc.)

We need major landowners names for this region; please contact us if you can help

3.
Starting at the northern County border of the Eel River going south to Dos Rios and Longvale Region. East of the Eel River including Round Valley, Covelo and Mendocino National Forest.

a)The Round Valley Indian Reservation starting at the Eastern edge of the Eel River and continuing East to North Covelo consists of 30,538 acres.
b) The Mendocino National Forest from the north County border south to Grizzly Flat Ranger Station is approximately 80,000 acres.

We need major landowner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

4.
Starting on the west coast of the County in the Westport region, East to Branscomb region, south to the Ten Mile River northern coastal edge.

We need major landowner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

5.
Starting on the west coast at south side of Ten Mile River going East to Sherwood Valley Reservation, continuing south on the coast to Cleone, including Mackerricher State Park and east of Cleone to Wanhala Camp.

a) Mackerricher State Park is 1598 acres

We need other major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

6.
The incorporated city of Fort Bragg including the Noyo River Watershed Region and the Pudding Creek region in North Fort Bragg and East to the Brooktrails western border.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

7.
South of Fort Bragg, south to included Caspar, east including all of Jackson State Forest.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

8.
The Town of Mendocino including Headlands State Park and Russian Gulch State Park

We need major property owner's names in the Town, please contact us if you can help.

9.
Starting south of the town of Mendocino and following the Big River Watershed to its eastern edge, continuing to include the towns of Comptche, the Orr Springs Area and the peak of the Comptche-Ukiah road region. The town of Little River and the Little River Watershed. The town of Albion and the Albion River Watershed to its eastern edge, South of Albion to and including the Salmon Creek Watershed

a) The Greenfield Ranch association of owners at the peak region of the Comptche-Ukiah road consists of approximately 5000 acres.
b) Montgomery Woods State Reserve is 1484 acres

c)The Little River watershed is 7661 acres.
Mendocino County Parks and Recreation and the State Parks - Van Damme Park (2163 acres) own much of the Little River watershed.

10.
Starting at the coast where Highway 128 and the Navarro River meet the Pacific Ocean, going east to include the Navarro Watershed and the Anderson Valley towns and regions of Navarro, Philo, Boonville and Yorkville.

Very approximate acreage shown, need better numbers.
a) Mendocino Redwood Company (Gap,Fischer Family) owns much of the mainstem of the Navarro and the North Fork and Glen Creek - about 50,000 acres
b) Congree Company (Chicago, Il) Anderson Creek, Ranchia Creek, 3 to 5,000 acres
c) Haines Ranch, Mountain View Road area, 7 to 9,000 acres.
d) Piper Ranch, Mountain View Road area.
e) Mailliard Ranch, Fishrock Road area,10,000 acres
f) Galibrath, Yorkville region
g) Berger Ranch, 1,000 acres
h) Bradford, 2,000 acres
I) Eva Johnson, Boonville and highways 253 and 128 about 2,000 acres.
J) Hendy Woods State Park is 650 acres

11.
Starting at the coastal Town of Elk going east to include the Elk-Greenwood Road and the Elk and Greenwood Creeks Watersheds, south to Irish Beach and including Mallo Pass Creek and Alder Watersheds.

Greenwood Creek Watershed is 16,000 acres and the Mendocino Redwood Company(MRC)(Gap) owns 10,000 acres
Elk Creek Watershed is 18,000 acres and the Mendocino Redwood Company owns 14,000 acres.
MRC owns Alder Creek, Mallo Pass Creek.

Other large land owners in Elk region:
Greenwood Ridge Vineyard, roughly 600 acres.
Curtis Berry
Jack & Kay Hayward.Sky Ranch Estates (subdivision)
Kirk Handley, Elk, is President of local landowner's association.
Bobby Beacon
Roger Burch (Cloverdale mill)
Ted Galletti owns the ranch adjacent to Hwy 1

12.
Starting at the coastal town of Manchester(region) and the State Beach, including the Garcia River Watershed going east to Mailliard Redwoods State Reserve.

Garcia River Watershed 114,000 acres, 110 sq. miles (information from FROG)
a)Pioneer (Old Coastal Forest Lands)
b)Mendocino Redwood Company (GAP - old LP holdings)
c)Mailliard (holdings extend toward Yorkville)
d)Bewley (import-export) timber, hunt club
e)Haines Ranch
f)Stornetta Bros.(owned by Amelia Stornetta, Judith Stornetta, and Edith Stornetta) is 1800+ acres; Walt Stornetta Family (dairy and farming)about 1,000 acres
g)Alden
H)Hawthorne-Campbell Group (old GP holdings)
Need approximate acreage.

Manchester State Beach is 1419 acres

13.
Town of Point of Arena and east to Ten Mile Road and south to Ross Creek region.

a) Rancher Billy Hay owns approximately 40% of the incorporated town including the water company which supplies the town plus 1,000 acres mainly south of the town including some of Moat Creek.
b) G. Jurak and L.Hubbert own 500 acres near Moat and Ross Creek.

14.
Starting at Schooner Gulch south of Moat and Ross Creek, east to Ten Mile Road and south including the town of Anchor Bay.

a) The town of Anchor Bay both east and west sides is owned by Richard McCoy
b) The beach campground next to Anchor Bay is owned by the Hendersons.
c) The La Chances own the acreage just South of the town.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

15.
The coastal town of Gualala, east including Old Stage Road region and the North Fork of the Gualala River Watershed, East to the Gude Moutain and Pardolee regions.

a) Gualala Redwoods is owned privately by a physician in Louisiana named Ollie Edmunds. Forest practices over the last few years have included major clear-cutting and the use of napalm to start firestorms to clear what remains after cutting. Also uses herbicides. Gualala Redwoods owns 28,000 acres in Mendocino County primarily in the greater Gualala river watershed.
b) Gualala Redwoods along with John Bower (Senior and Junior) are the major land and commercial property owners in the town of Gualala including the water company that supplies a large percent of the town. In 1994 Bower owned in at least 43 parcels shown on the county assessor roles many with unknown acreage.
c) Mendocino Redwood Company (Gap Stores-Fischer Family-Old LP holdings)
d) Bob Sundstrom owns Sundstrom Shopping Center.
e) Bob Rose owns Cypress Village
f) Chris Beach and Jay Baker are other major commercial property owners.

16.
Longvale region and East to the County border.

We need other major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

a) The Mendocino National Forest is about 40,000 acres in the region.described above.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

18.
The City of Willits (region)

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

19.
Starting south of the City of Willits to include Ridgewood Park, Pine Mountain, Redwood Valley and Calpella.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

20.
Potter Valley and Pomo Regions.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

21.
The City of Ukiah (region)

Some names that have surfaced are:

Jack Cox
Richard Seltzer
Alex Thomas and sons
Mountounis Co.
Masonite Corp.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

22.
East of Ukiah including the Talmage and north to Vichy Springs Region.

a) The owners of the Vichy Springs resort own approximately 700 acres in the region.
b) The Bureau of Land Management (Federal) own about 10,000 acres in Cow area near Vichy Springs.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help

23.
Hopland and the greater Hopland region to the southern border of the county.

Bradford Ranch is about 3000 acres.

We need major land owner's names for this region, please contact us if you can help