In 2012 the Marin County Open Space District purchased a 22-acre missing link in the Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve. With the assistance of the San Geronimo Valley Planning Group and San Geronimo Valley Land Trust, MOST raised the $100,000 purchase funding shortfall from many individuals and organizations (the $650,000 purchase had $450,000 in funding from the California State Coastal Conservancy and $100,000 from Marin County Parks). The one-mile Manzanita Fire Road passes through the scenic wooded/chaparral property and provides a key access point to the preserve. The land had been threatened with development over the years and was not included in the 1995 1,478-acre county purchase that became the Gary Giacomini Open Space Preserve; its preservation protected special-status species, including the northern spotted owl, two endangered Manzanita species, and Coho salmon.