“I’ve been waiting for this moment for 70 years,” Marty exclaimed from a folding chair at the morning briefing, his voice mildly shaking yet strong and certain, his hands resting on a cane that looked more like a wizard’s staff than an elder’s aid. A mixture of light laughter and awe-filled respect spread throughout the newly acquainted firefighters gathered in the dawn’s early light. Dr. L. Martin Griffin, known as Marty by friends and colleagues—99 years young and mind still sharp as a tack —is the man who made this gathering possible when he brought together a different community of friends so many years ago to protect a 1,000-acre California coastal ranch from development. In doing so, they founded the nature conservation organization, Audubon Canyon Ranch. No longer a dairy ranch, this West Marin wetland, and watershed is now his namesake, Martin Griffin Preserve. And while the Martin Griffin Preserve has been protected from many threats including imminent development, the remov...