[pct-l] Conservationists, developer reach major deal on Tejon Ranch

Thu May 8 19:21:27 CDT 2008

I was privileged to be at the press conference at Tejon Ranch today.  This
is a truly amazing and wonderful agreement.  Not only is the acreage being
set aside for a permanent easement and relocation of the PCT, they are
creating a conservancy to permanently protect 240,000 acres on the Tejon
Ranch (approx. 375 sq. miles, five times larger than San Francisco per the
governor), the possible creation of a new state park, and open public access
to this long-closed ranch.  This is not just good news for the PCT -- it's
good news for everyone.  The trade-off, and there always is one, is the
30,000 acres that they are going to develop.

This is simply huge.

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-bounces at backcountry.net]
On Behalf Of Ryan Christensen
Sent: Thursday, May 08, 2008 9:42 AM
To: Brick Robbins; PCT
Subject: Re: [pct-l] Conservationists,developer reach major deal on Tejon
Ranch

This article about this in the LA Times states that
10,000 acres are being set aside to realign a 37-mile
segment of the Pacific Crest Trail.

So this realignment would end the Antelope Valley
aquaduct crossing and bring the trail to the top of
the mountains?

ProDeal

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-tejon8-2008may08,0,25201.story

--- Brick Robbins <brick at fastpack.com> wrote:

>
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080508-0308-conservationdeal.html
> 
> Conservationists, developer reach major deal on
> Tejon Ranch
> By Noaki Schwartz
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
> 
> 3:08 a.m. May 8, 2008
> 
> LEBEC - A group of environmentalists and the owners
> of a large stretch
> of wilderness have reached a deal that would set
> aside the largest
> parcel of land for conservation in California
> history.
> 
> After years of legal tussles, conservationists
> including the Sierra
> Club have agreed not to challenge proposed
> development on the
> sprawling Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles in
> exchange for close to
> 240,000 acres, in a deal to be announced Thursday.
> 
> At 375 square miles, the preserve of desert,
> woodlands and grasslands
> would be eight times the size of San Francisco and
> nearly the size of
> Los Angeles, said Bill Corcoran, the Sierra Club's
> senior regional
> representative.
> 
> "There is, in my opinion, no other place like it in
> California - it's
> unrivaled in the diversity of native wildlife and
> plants," said
> Corcoran, who helped negotiate the deal. "Tejon is
> key to us because
> it's the only place where the Sierra Nevadas, the
> coastal range and
> Mojave Desert and Central Valley all meet."
> 
> Tejon Ranch sits atop the Tehachapi Mountains 60
> miles north of Los
> Angeles and is home to elk, wild turkeys, coyotes,
> bears and eagles,
> as well as a critical habitat for condors.
> 
> The Tejon Ranch Co. has been trying for years to
> develop three
> projects, or 10 percent of the 270,000 acre ranch,
> while appeasing
> environmentalists.
> 
> The other groups that have signed on are the Natural
> Resources Defense
> Council, Audubon California, Planning and
> Conservation League and
> Endangered Habitats League.
> 
> In 2005, the company and a national land trust
> hailed an agreement to
> sell more than one-third of the ranch for use as a
> nature preserve.
> That agreement, however, failed to satisfy the Tejon
> Natural Heritage
> Park Committee, a coalition of 12 conservation
> groups.
> 
> Less than a year later, another promising agreement
> fell through. The
> developer promised to set aside 100,000 acres as a
> natural preserve
> but environmentalists wanted more than double that
> size.
> 
> At the time, Sierra Club executive director Carl
> Pope and other
> environmental leaders said they would make the Tejon
> Ranch their top
> priority in California. Conservationists threatened
> to unite and file
> a lawsuit against the developer under the federal
> Endangered Species
> Act.
> 
> Instead they went back to the negotiating table.
> 
> "After nearly two years of negotiations, which were
> often difficult
> but always in good faith, we have achieved an
> unprecedented agreement
> protecting close to 90 percent of the ranch,"
> Corcoran said.
> 
> The Tejon Ranch Co. is dedicating 178,000 acres and
> about 62,000 will
> be purchased in part with state conservation bond
> money. While it is
> not clear how much the land will cost, the developer
> agreed to a state
> appraisal.
> 
> An independent conservancy will be set up to manage
> the land and the
> developer has agreed to donate some money for its
> upkeep, Corcoran
> said. The agreement also seeks to establish a large
> state park that
> will be open to the public.
> 
> "In my opinion it's a near certainty that California
> will never again
> see a private land conservation agreement of this
> size and ecological
> importance," said Corcoran.
> _______________________________________________
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> 

www.notesfromthetrail.com

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