1,200 Acres Of Ranch Land Near Castaic To Be Preserved

Nearly 1,200 acres of ranch land in northern Los Angeles County will be preserved as a wildlife habitat, it was announced Tuesday.

The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, in partnership with the Trust for Public Land, acquired 1,171 acres of the ecologically diverse and historic Hathaway Ranch, also known as Temescal Ranch, at the eastern edge of the Sierra Madre Mountains, adjacent to the Angeles National Forest and the Los Padres National Forest between Castaic and Lake Piru.

The $1.6 million purchase was spearheaded by the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, which has been working to permanently protect the 6,000-acre open space for more than three decades, with plans to one day preserve the entire ranch.

The acquisition brings the total protected section of the ranch — which is the largest private undeveloped land parcel in Los Angeles County — to 2,400 acres.

“This property will provide unparalleled outdoor recreation opportunities for the community and will protect some of Southern California’s most unique ecosystems,” said Guillermo Rodriguez, California state director for the Trust for Public Land. “We look forward to continuing to work with MRCA on a proposed trail network that will give visitors and residents alike the opportunity to explore the region.”

The Trust for Public Land worked with the California Wildlife Conservation Board to secure funding from the State Habitat Conservation Fund and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as part of the Endangered Species Act, Recovery Land Acquisition Program.

The preserved open space also advances Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 30 by 2030 initiative to protect the state’s biodiversity and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change, MRCA officials said.

Newsom this year signed an executive order for the protection of 30% of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030 to fight climate change.

“We must strategically and cooperatively conserve biodiversity in the state. Nature-based solutions are key to making California more resilient to the real and pressing threat of climate change,” MRCA Executive Officer Joseph T. Edmiston said.

“The completion of this major acquisition precisely demonstrates the MRCA’s ability as a public agency to work together with the many parties involved, including a nonprofit land trust, state government and California family landowners to protect critical land for the public benefit,” he said.

The land also is county-designated as a Significant Ecological Area because it sits in the east-to-west linkage between the San Gabriel and Sierra Madre mountains as well as a north-to-south linkage between the Sierra Madre and Santa Susanna mountains, both highlighted in the South Coast Missing Linkages Project, which is a plan for a regional network that would maintain and restore critical habitats between existing reserves.

It’s notably home to the California Condor and is near the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, in addition to mountain lions and one of the most extensive stands of coastal sage scrub and chaparral in Southern California, wildlife experts said.

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