Communities turn to land trusts as costs rise

New York

AT the Hog Island Oyster Company in Marshall, California, diners eat at picnic tables overlooking Tomales Bay, where oysters and clams grow just offshore.

But while lunch reaches your plate with virtually no food-miles on it, that is not true of Hog Island's staff.

"We have 57 employees here at the farm," said Terry Sawyer, the operation's co-founder. "Maybe a dozen of them live out here."

"Out here" is the westernmost reaches of West Marin, i…