History

The Restoration Trust was formed in 1998 to promote native habitat restoration and stewardship in central California by John Zentner, Dave Self, Mark Mullins and Scott Wolcott. John and Dave worked together at Zentner and Zentner, an ecological consulting firm; Mark was a businessman with long experience in habitat stewardship and parks management, and Scott was an executive at Granite Land Company, well-versed in construction, development and mining. All four were familiar with habitat regulation and mitigation in California and elsewhere and had worked together on both professional and personal projects.

At that time, development that resulted in wetland fill or other habitat loss, typically mitigated for that loss with on-site habitat restoration. This resulted in numerous subdivisions with wetlands, creeks, native grasslands or other native habitats located within the subdivision. Once the original developer and their ecological consultants had completed their work, though, the community had little or no preparation for dealing with these resources and they often became neglected or, even worse, dumping grounds for everything from lawn clippings to concrete waste.

The immediate genesis of the Trust was a 200-acre subdivision in Folsom, which had included a wetland violation. Zentner and Zentner helped the developer resolve the violation but the mitigation required substantial wetland and creek restoration, which replaced the softball and soccer fields that had been planned for the subdivision’s central open space. The wetlands and creek were restored and the subdivision gradually filled with new families. Unfortunately, the sales materials for the new homes had not been revised and many of these families had looked forward to central, readily accessible playfields for their children. Wetlands and a restored creek were not included in the home sales materials and the reaction of the community was quick and negative. Subsequent to several contentious community meetings, the nucleus of the Trust was formed as a way to engage the neighbors in the restored habitats. Six months later and after a series of educational and planting days, including one that concluded with a much-enjoyed native grass seed throwing contest, the community had formed its own support group for the wetlands and was well on its way to assuming management and stewardship for the restored habitats.

That initial experience informed the core of the Trust’s mission--the promotion of habitat restoration and stewardship by the local community. Since that first project, the Trust has successfully employed the same model in communities as diverse as Fairfield, Orinda, Sacramento, Malibu, Martinez, and Stanford. In Petaluma, our efforts were recognized by Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.

The model we use is simple, engage the local community through direct stewardship activities, typically including planting native species, eliminating noxious exotic plants, enhancing wildlife habitat, all with appropriate educational efforts. More recently, these latter have expanded significantly with Trust staff giving workshops on restoration or working in classrooms and with specific schools to develop campus or off-campus habitat education programs (see our Education tab for more information on this).

In 2007,  the Board amended the Bylaws to incorporate land trust capabilities into the Trust. The Trust had been working with a number of groups to develop long-term management plans and programs and several of these groups have asked the Trust to manage various lands. The Board evaluated the conditions of these sites and determined that long-term management was consistent with Trust purposes and would enhance our abilities to encourage community participation in the restoration of native habitats. Adoption of an expanded role as a land trust then followed, allowing the Trust to manage restoration sites for the development of native communities and for educational purposes. Our first project, the Dittmer Marshes, has allowed us to promote a native seasonal wetland and grassland and study the effects of grazing on both habitats.