[pct-l] LA Times Article

[bnc at mscsoftware.com (Brian Casey)]

Developer Creates an Opening

Tejon Ranch agrees to sell 100,000 acres for a wildlife corridor. Some
see the move as a gambit for housing projects.

May 29, 2003

       By Daryl Kelley, Times Staff Writer


       Developers of the vast Tejon Ranch north of Los Angeles have agreed to
       sell more than one-third of their 270,000 acres to a land trust, in an
       effort to establish a wildlife corridor of public land stretching 
from the
       Sierra to the sea.

       The Tejon Ranch Co. plans to announce today an agreement with the Trust
       for Public Land California for the potential sale of a 25-mile-long
       section of the Tehachapi Mountains that links the Sierra Nevada 
range with
       the Los Padres and Angeles national forests and the Pacific Ocean.

       The developers are entering into the agreement as they lay the 
groundwork
       for building a small city along the flanks of the Tehachapis on open 
land
       that has been devoted largely to raising cattle since 1843.

       The wildlife corridor would preserve a core of open space across the 
crown
       of the mountains. But it would still require migrating wildlife to 
cross
       Interstate 5, the state's major north-south freeway, via existing 
bridges
       and underpasses, a perilous journey that some animals already undertake.

       "We think this is a unique and historic opportunity to create the 
missing
       link between the coast and the Sequoias," said Reed Holderman, regional
       director of the national trust's western division. "It's one of the 
most
       biologically important properties in the state. It's the size of 
Yosemite
       Valley, and it's just 60 miles from Los Angeles.... This place is 
like a
       museum in the wild."

       Important details have yet to be worked out. Which 100,000 acres 
will be
       sold, how much they will sell for, and the source of the money are 
to be
       determined in the next year or so, after the trust completes a
       conservation plan and after state, federal and private funds are 
secured
       for the purchase, said Tejon Ranch President Robert A. Stine.

       "We're talking about a fantastic piece of property that's been 
preserved
       for 160 years," Stine said. "And we're going to ensure that a 
significant
       part of the ranch is going to stay that way forever."

       Though environmentalists concur that the Tejon Ranch property has 
enormous
       ecological value, many are reserving judgment about the planned 
wildlife
       corridor until they see its final outline.

       Some critics say the potential deal is a political gambit intended 
to gain
       support from government agencies and working capital from taxpayers 
so the
       land-rich but cash-poor developer can move forward on three large 
housing
       or commercial projects on other parts of the ranch.

       During the next decade or two, Tejon plans to build a community of 
70,000
       residents near Gorman in northern Los Angeles County, dozens of huge
       warehouses at the base of the Grapevine mountain pass and a resort
       community near Lake Tejon, both in southern Kern County.

       Combined, those developments would be far larger than the newly 
approved
       20,885-home Newhall Ranch project near Santa Clarita, the biggest
       residential complex yet approved in Los Angeles County. Moreover, the
       Tejon projects would effectively link urban Southern California with 
the
       rural Central Valley, filling parts of a 75-mile expanse between Santa
       Clarita and Bakersfield that is now nearly all open space.

       Though environmental groups generally consider Tejon Ranch a crucial
       wildlife habitat that must be preserved, several criticized Tejon 
for what
       they see as the company's secretive ways and refusal to allow them onto
       the ranch to conduct wildlife studies.

       They also said the Trust for Public Land, often using public money, 
pays
       too much for undevelopable lands, driving up the price that other
       conservation groups have to pay for properties. The trust usually 
serves
       as a broker that evaluates sites and arranges conservation deals 
between
       private land owners and government agencies.

       "We're all in the dark on this," said David Myers, executive 
director of
       the Wildlands Conservancy, owner of the 97,000-acre Wild Wolves 
Preserve
       just west of the Tejon Ranch. "But we've been very concerned in the 
past
       because [the trust] pays so much. And there's a big concern that
       conservation dollars are going to be used to fund the development of
       [Tejon's] remaining 170,000 acres."

       Kristeen Penrod, executive director of the South Coast Wildlands 
Project,
       said she considers Tejon Ranch the most important wildlife corridor in
       Southern California because four ecological regions come together there.

       "Of all 15 of the connections that we're studying right now, Tejon 
Ranch
       is the one true wildlife linkage," said Penrod, in Sacramento on 
Wednesday
       to meet with state officials on preserving Tejon Ranch.

       But Penrod said her efforts to work with Tejon have been rejected.

       "The conservation community wouldn't be so up in arms [about Tejon] if
       they would share information with us and not do everything under the
       table," she said. "One hundred thousand acres sounds like good news, 
but
       the configuration of the 100,000 acres makes all the difference."

       Penrod said all three Tejon development plans infringe on key wildlife
       corridors.

       Stine, Tejon's chief executive, said he welcomes information from any
       group for analysis by the Trust for Public Land. But he said that some
       environmentalists who supported a lawsuit to block Tejon's warehouse
       project now want to offer his company advice.

       "Our answer is that as soon as we finish with the litigation, we'll be
       glad to talk to you," he said.

       Holderman said his group has cut deals for 30 years, regularly paying
       below market value for land while saving 1.5 million acres nationwide.
       Public agencies are very careful to get their own appraisals, he said.

       "If they don't concur on the land value," he said, " they don't do the
       deal."

       Holderman said the work of experts such as Penrod will be gathered 
during
       the next several months to determine precisely which of Tejon's lands
       should be purchased.

       "I can understand their frustration, but we're just at the beginning of
       the process," he said.

       Not that Tejon's resources have not been studied repeatedly by state
       agencies, all of which have declared it an environmental jewel, 
Holderman
       said. A top Audubon Society official described the ranch last year 
as "an
       ecological gold mine."

       The ranch's backbone extends across a mountain range that peaks at 
nearly
       7,000 feet and is covered with tens of thousands of acres of mixed
       woodlands ? 200-foot pines and 450-year-old oaks. This area, called the
       Highlands, would be the heart of the wildlife preserve, Stine said.

       And at least two long, wide fingers of public lands would reach out
       westward from this core. One corridor would run 17 miles along the 
grassy
       foothills to Interstate 5. The San Joaquin kit fox, an endangered 
species,
       occupies this area, as does the rare blunt-nosed leopard lizard and the
       California burrowing owl.

       The second corridor would center in Bear Trap Canyon and allow mule 
deer,
       badgers, mountain lions, bears and elk to move west toward bridges and
       underpasses near Gorman.

       Tejon wildlife studies haven't detected much crossover from the 
ranch west
       across the freeway: one badger and a few mule deer in two years of
       monitoring. But Myers of the Wildlands Conservancy said he sees deer
       crossing the freeway near Grapevine regularly.

       "You see deer on the center divider of I-5 all the time in the 
evening,"
       he said.

       Even if wildlife were not to cross the freeway, Stine said the 100,000
       public acres ? much of it wild and virtually inaccessible ? is enough
       wilderness to sustain existing wildlife.

       "You have enough bulk in this one area," he said Wednesday, pointing 
from
       a helicopter to mountainous woodlands and hillsides covered with 
vibrant
       yellow wildflowers, "that these species can survive and thrive from now
       on."

--
Brian Casey
bnc@mscsoftware.com