A privately owned mountaintop in the heart of Marin County off-limits to the public for decades will soon be set aside as open space, offering hikers a new summit to explore.
On Tuesday, the Marin County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve transfer of a 161-acre property atop King Mountain, an oak- and redwood-studded knoll a few blocks from downtown Larkspur that the county calls “an iconic natural landscape,” to county ownership. With funding from a charitable foundation, the property was recently purchased by Marin Open Space Trust for permanent protection, marking a victory for conservationists who have long considered it to be a missing piece of a prime hiking preserve.
“This is one of the last ridgetops in Marin that had yet to be protected,” said Chris Chamberlain, Marin County Parks director. “It’s an exciting moment for the community and for us.”
The undeveloped knob of land rests just below the eastern peak of Mount Tamalpais and is prominent enough to be visible to westbound drivers on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. Though much of the mountain is shielded from development and held as an open space preserve, its coveted peak had not previously been assured protection.
In the 1980s, as property on the mountain drew interest from real estate developers, locals formed the King Mountain Open Space Association to advocate for its conservation, according to the group’s president, David Moller. The county bought and then set aside 131 acres of the mountain’s lower flanks and negotiated a scenic easement over another 129 acres of private land at its higher reaches…