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Map Satellite This miscellaneous area includes a number of parcels held by the Audubon Canyon Ranch in or adjacent to Tomales Bay. Several of the holdings are tidelands or small saltwater marshes. There are three larger holdings, Walker (Keyes) Creek marsh, Cypress Grove and Hog Island.
At Walker Creek the dominant community is saltwater marsh, with pickleweed, Salicornia virginica, the main element. The marsh is an important feeding and resting area for a number of shorebirds including long-billed curlews, Numenius americanus, whimbrel, Numenius phaeopus, and dowitchers, Limnodromus spp.
Cypress Grove is primarily disturbed grasslands but there is a fresh-to-brackish-water marsh.
Hog Island is virtually surrounded by eel grass, Zostera marina. Brant, Branta bernicla, feed and winter nearby. Harbor seals, Phoca vitulina, haul out on the island. The vegetation is primarily exotics.
Integrity: The salt marshes and tidelands are in relatively good condition, while the uplands, including Hog Island, have been heavily grazed or cultivated. Efforts are being made to re-vegetate portions.
Use: Private.
March 1978
Inventory of California Natural Areas
Revision © 2008 Steven Louis Hartman
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