Working with Gloria Thomas, who was born on the Thomas Home Ranch in 1928, the non-profit land preservation organization also helped stop a late 1990s proposal to annex over 2,700 acres stretching through the property up Nortonville Canyon. More than 1,500 houses had been proposed.

"The other bidder was almost certainly a developer," said Ron Brown, Save Mount Diablo's executive director. "This is the second time that SMD has saved the property. Working with the Thomas family we also stopped its development in the late 1990s."

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