Metallica's James Hetfield turns over 1,000 acres of open space to Marin Agricultural Land Trust

Metallica front man James Hetfield has officially turned over 1,000 acres of land as open space that will end up with the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, after the county Board of Supervisors signed off on the deal Tuesday.

Last fall Hetfield — whose band is known for multi-million-dollar hard rock albums such as “Master of Puppets” — and his wife Francesca gave 240 acres of their Lucas Valley property for an agricultural conservation easement, which essentially makes it open space in perpetuity. The couple had previously placed 440 acres of their Rocking H Ranch in a conservation easement in 2005, donated to the county’s Open Space District. Then in 2009 Hetfield dedicated another 330 acres to the district.

Now with Tuesday’s action, it all goes into the hands of MALT.

“(MALT) can further their mission of preserving Marin’s farmland, and we can further our mission of providing open space and recreational opportunities,” said Craig Richardson, senior open space planner.

Said Marin Supervisor Damon Connolly, president of the board: “We wholeheartedly agree with this,” before leading a unanimous vote in approval.

In a statement in November, the Hetfields said: “Our family is very happy to work with MCOSD and MALT on re-establishing agriculture and maintaining the scenic corridor of the ranch. 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.”

It is unclear what, if any, effect these dedications might have on the Hetfields’ previously stated interest in building four, single-family houses on 40 acres of their remaining land.

A representative of the Hetfields, Scott Hochstrasser of Fairfax, president of International Planning Associates, said Tuesday the Hetfields have not submitted plans to build homes. The county did approve a modification to a planned garage on the property last month.

Hetfield purchased 1,150 acres in Lucas Valley in 1999. The property is in rural, rolling hills about 6 miles northwest of downtown San Rafael, not far from Skywalker Ranch.

In 2008, Hetfield sparked an outcry when he built a 300-foot-long metal fence to prevent people from hiking and riding through his ranch property. The county of Marin spent $650,000 building a new trail, the 680 Trail, to provide an alternative connection between the Terra Linda-Sleepy Hollow Divide and the Loma Alta open space preserves. 

In 2011, Hetfield filed a pre-application with the county to build 27 to 34 homes on land he owns on the south side of Lucas Valley Road, east of his Rocking H Ranch, which was built in the early 2000s. Hetfield never followed up on that pre-application.

In 2011 he submitted a new pre-application with the county that called for building four single-family residences.

The pre-application proposed homes of 5,000 to 8,000 square feet on 10-acre lots. The proposal also called for preserving two historic family residences built by the Luiz family, which operated a ranch on the property before Hetfield bought it. Hetfield proposed improving these two residences and deed restricting them to create two affordable units. But nothing has come of that plan either.

In 2016, Hetfield said on a radio show that his wife and family were moving from Marin, where he had lived since the 1980s, to Vail, Colorado. Hetfield said at the time that he “got sick of the attitudes of the people” in the Bay Area, particularly his Marin neighbors.