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In 50 years, a child may stand on a hill overlooking southern Sonoma County and ask her dad, "Whose land is this?"

And her father may answer, "It belongs to you and me and to everyone else who lives here -- and we can hike through it and climb over it and play on it."

On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors advanced this vision when it approved a $2 million contribution from the Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District toward the purchase of the 1,657-acre Roche family ranch.

The money will allow the nonprofit Sonoma Land Trust to complete the acquisition of this property, which borders the Tolay Lake Ranch Park. When the sale is complete, more than 20,000 acres of bay lands, marshes and woods will be publicly preserved.

Some of the land is fragile, marshy or otherwise inaccessible and won't be open to the public. But the Land Trust plans to eventually turn the Roche property over to Sonoma County Regional Parks.

This will nearly double the size of Tolay Lake and could lead to the creation of a seven-mile trail that would allow people to hike all the way to the San Pablo Bay.

Taxpayers and those who've contributed to the land purchases in the area should be proud of the legacy they are leaving.