FEDERATION OF WESTERN OUTDOOR CLUBS

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PUBLIC ACQUISITION OF UNDEVELOPED PORTIONS OF THE TEJON RANCH

    At over 270,000 acres, Tejon Ranch is the largest contiguous parcel of private land in California. Tejon Ranch has a landscape of park quality (national or state) and is one of California's most valuable unprotected natural areas. The property is a magnificent and diverse ecosystem at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, ranging from the oak dappled foothills of the Sierra Nevada, over the fir and pine topped peaks of the Tehachapi Mountains, and onto the poppy covered desert slopes of the Antelope Valley.

    Tejon Ranch is an important biological corridor connecting the southern Sierra Nevada with the Coast Ranges and southern California's national forests. It is a hotspot of biological diversity -- home to as many as 20 state and federally listed species, most notably the California condor, which is currently rebounding from the verge of extinction. The ranch is also rich in Native American cultural and sacred sites and is steeped in California history.

    The Tejon Ranch Company has recently announced a series of large-scale developments that threaten the natural and cultural heritage of the ranch. Development would occur within the designated critical habitat of the California condor and exacerbate the problem of urban sprawl along the I-5 corridor between Bakersfield and Los Angeles. A coalition of environmental groups, representing 440,000 members statewide and based on recommendations of biologists, have called for public acquisition of 245,000 acres of the ranch. That proposal would allow sensible development in appropriate areas of the Tejon Ranch.

    The Federation of Western Outdoor Clubs supports public acquisition of 245,000 acres of the Tejon Ranch south of Bakersfield, California in the Tehachapi Mountains. The Federation supports this proposal by a coalition of environmental groups, representing 440,000 residents of California, as well as qualified biologists. This would allow sensible development in appropriate areas in the remainder of the ranch.

[contact: Joe Fontaine, fontaine@lightspeed.net]


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