Prized California Landscape Preserved

(National Wildlife Federation)

National Wildlife
Dec/Jan 2009, vol. 47 no. 1
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Landmark agreement protects 240,000 wildlife-rich acres at Tejon Ranch

About 60 miles north of Los Angeles is a 270,000-acre working ranch that is the largest contiguous private landholding in California. With landscapes ranging from native grasslands to Joshua tree woodlands to oak and fir forests, Tejon Ranch contains critical foraging habitat for the endangered California condor and is home to more than two dozen other rare plant and animal species. To keep this biodiversity hot spot intact, NWF’s California affiliate, the Planning and Conservation League (PCL), helped negotiate a historic conservation and land-use agreement that will protect 240,000 acres, or roughly 90 percent of the property.

“We got out in front of the development process to protect natural resources and achieve a great conservation bottom line,” says Gary Patton, general counsel for PCL. While landowner Tejon Ranch Company retains the right to propose development of the remaining acreage for housing and business use, the proposals are subject to environmental review and can be legally challenged by groups not party to the agreement. An independent nonprofit, created and funded under the agreement, will oversee management of the conserved lands. To learn more, visit Planning and Conservation League.