California's Big Ranch Gets Rescued

About 60 miles north of Los Angeles lies a 269,000-acre working ranch, the largest contiguous private landholding in California. Tejon Ranch is at the junction of the southern Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Coast Range and is home to more than two dozen rare plant and animal species, including California condors and native grasses. The land, however, is targeted for housing and business developments that threaten to destroy and fragment the landscape's natural splendor. Recognizing these threats, NRDC helped negotiate the largest land conservation deal in California history, a plan that will conserve 240,000 acres, or about 90 percent, of the ranch. The Tejon Ranch Company retains the right to propose development of the remaining acreage, but proposals can be legally challenged by environmental groups not party to the settlement. The agreement also establishes and funds the Tejon Ranch Conservancy, which, with NRDC's participation, will oversee preservation of the ranch's diverse landscape.