Gareth Plank 
Board Secretary

Gareth joined the Board in 2018, after many years of working with Siskiyou Land Trust to place conservation easements on 5,680 acres of the Whipple and Plank family lands in Scott Valley. After years of negotiation and hard work, these easements were completed in 2010, becoming the first of many SLT agricultural easements.

Gareth knew from an early age that he wanted to ranch. He set his goal to acquire one by the age of forty. His desire to ranch was predicated on his desire to raise his children in an environment rich in nature and to put his beliefs in stewardship into a practical application. Previously, he had a successful career at major New York and Zurich based investment banks as a senior “sell-side” equity analyst specializing in nonbank financial institutions with an emphasis in real estate finance.  

His ranching dream was accomplished after a seven-year search through most of the western states, when he found the ideal location to relocate his young family from the San Francisco Bay area. He realized his goal by buying Scott River Ranch in 1998 at the age of forty. Located in the heart of Scott Valley, this almost  4,000 acre ranch encompasses the watersheds of the Marble Mountains, Trinity Alps, and Scott  Mountains. Gareth currently runs an organic grass-based operation on the ranch and has been  heralded as was of the most ecologically balanced ranches in the country.

Gareth leads a tour of the ranch for SLT visitors.