Although James Hetfield was apparently less than thrilled with his Marin, California, neighbors when he moved his family to Vail, Colorado, a couple of years ago ("I got sick of the attitudes," he reportedly said), he has obviously let bygones be bygones.
Today, he officially delivered more than 1,000 acres of land to the Marin Agricultural Land Trust to be used as open space. The Marin County Board of Supervisors approved the deal last Tuesday.
Hetfield and his wife Francesca have been gifting parcels of land to Marin County quite regularly. The recent gift entailed 240 acres of their Lucas Valley property to be used as an agricultural conservation easement. In 2009, they offered 330 acres to the district, and had previously placed 440 acres of their Rocking H Ranch in a conservation easement.
James Hetfield and his wife have gifted a total of 1,000 acres of open space to Marin County.
“Our family is very happy to work with the Marin County Open Space District and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust on re-establishing agriculture and maintaining the scenic corridor of the ranch," the Hetfields stated in November. "We believe this is a huge community benefit, and one of our goals is to keep agriculture on the ranch for a very long time."
According to the Marin Independent Journal, Hetfield purchased 1,150 acres in Lucas Valley in 1999, which is six miles northwest of downtown San Rafael, and near the celebrated Skywalker Ranch.
It hasn't always been so rosy between the Hetfields and their Marin neighbors. In 2008, a fence was built to prevent riders and hikers from traveling across their ranch, and the county of Marin spent $650,000 constructing a new trail to the Loma Alta open space preserves. Hetfield has also opened a couple of pre-applications to build homes on