The Mackey family, descendants of five Murphy brothers who came to Tuolumne County in the 1860s to homestead the Murphy Ranch southeast of Sonora, has entered into a partnership with the nonprofit California Rangeland Trust by setting aside 427 acres of the 435-acre ranch as a conservation easement, according the Sacramento-based trust.
The Murphy Ranch, which is marketed as the Murphy Family Ranch and Winery, is located off Lime Kiln Road about 6 miles southeast of downtown Sonora. Mackey family spokesman Robert Mackey could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The Murphy Ranch in Tuolumne County dates to 1862 with the passage of the original Homestead Act, according to the Mackey family and their website for the Murphy Family Ranch and Winery.
“To help develop the American West, Congress promised large acreages of land to anyone who agreed to live on and farm the land,” the Mackey family says. “The deal was simple — work the land for five years and you got title to the land.
“Five Murphy brothers took advantage of the deal and moved to California to build a better life for themselves and their future families. They chose Tuolumne County acreage right on the border between the booming gold rush towns of Sonora and Jamestown.”
The trust announced the partnership with the Mackey family on Tuesday and described the agreement to protect the Murphy Ranch in Tuolumne County as “a significant milestone in its ongoing commitment to conserve the Golden State’s natural resources and working landscapes.”
The trust, founded by and for ranchers in 1988, is devoted to conservation of ranches and rangeland to preserve their shared way of life and to protect the resources inherent to rangeland, including rangeland agriculture and the natural ecosystems they steward.
Through the recent conservation agreement with the Mackey family and the Murphy Ranch, the trust has now partnered with 100 ranching families to conserve 100 ranches statewide, protecting more than 420,000 acres of rangeland, the trust said.
“Partnering with 100 ranching families to conserve their private working rangelands is more than a milestone — it’s a reflection of the trust, collaboration, and shared purpose that make lasting conservation possible,” California Rangeland Trust chief executive officer Michael Delbar said in the announcement.
“Each conservation easement tells a story of stewardship and resilience, ensuring that California’s working lands continue to thrive for generations,” Delbar said. “Yet, as our state faces mounting pressure from development, our work is far from over. Together, we must stay focused on finding solutions to protect these landscapes and the livelihoods they sustain.”
The trust cites the 2022 Census of Agriculture, which shows 141,733 farms and ranches and more than 20.1 million acres of farmland were lost nationwide between 2017 and 2022.
The trust also cited 2016 data from another nonprofit, the American Farmland Trust, that shows California could lose an additional 797,400 acres of agricultural land by 2040 due to development and land-use changes. That’s a decline the California Rangeland Trust describes as a threat to “food security, wildlife habitats, and the legacy of sustainable land stewardship passed down through generations of ranching families.”
Homesteaded in 1862 under the Homestead Act, the Murphy Ranch in Tuolumne County has remained a part of California’s landscape for generations, the trust said.
“Unfortunately, the early 1960s were not kind to our ranch: the last Murphy brother died and the Great Jamestown Fire burned down the original farmhouse” and numerous other structures, the Mackey family says on their website for the Murphy Family Ranch and Winery. “Thereafter, the ranch fell into decades of disuse and neglect.”
In the early 2000s, the trust said, Robert Mackey and his family, descendents of the Murphy family, assumed ownership, dedicating themselves to keeping the 435-acre property productive and sustainable while preserving the region’s long-standing ranching heritage and their family legacy.
“Beginning in 2015, the remaining descendants of the Murphy brothers — Bob, Mary, Kelli, and Griffin Mackey — committed to renewing the Murphy brother’s mission and rebuilding the Murphy Ranch,” the Mackey family says. “Since then, we have replaced most fencing on the ranch, built an eight-stall Stable, hay barn, roads, wells, pumps, water storage silos, vegetable garden, olive grove, and multiple heirloom fruit tree orchards.”
Today, the Murphy Family Ranch and Winery raises white dorper sheep, kiko goats; Akaushi, Wagyu, and Red Angus cattle; quarter horses; heirloom fruit and olive oil; and will soon offer estate wines, the Mackey family says.
The agreement to protect the Murphy Ranch, between the Mackeys and the trust, was accomplished through what the trust calls a bargain sale conservation easement. It’s a type of purchased conservation easement that employs both a purchase and donation component, the trust said.
The Mackeys did not sell any portion of the Murphy Ranch to the California Rangeland Trust.
Rather than receiving funding for the full conservation easement value on their land, the Mackeys donated a portion of the easement value, the trust said.
“When someone owns land, they also own certain rights — like the ability to graze cattle, build structures, or develop,” the trust said. “Through the conservation easement, the landowner is choosing to give up their development rights, but they still own the property and can continue operating on it.”
California Rangeland Trust is the holder of the conservation easement, which means it has the perpetual responsibility of monitoring the property annually to ensure the terms of the conservation easement are being upheld.
The trust bills conservation easements as win-win agreements because landowners get to conserve their land and receive compensation, while retaining ownership of the property and keeping it in production.
“Wildlife wins because habitat is conserved,” the trust said. “Future generations win by maintaining scenic working landscapes that provide food, clean water, fresh air, habitat, and other benefits.”
Funds for the conservation easement were secured through a grant application process through the state Department of Conservation, and the California Rangeland Trust submitted the grant applications for the Mackey family.
The trust said Wednesday its policy prohibits releasing the cost of the conservation easement that now protects the Murphy Ranch in Tuolumne County.
