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For Immediate Release:
May 8, 2008 |
Eric Antebi 415-279-0748 (cell)
Parker Blackman 415-990-4781
(cell)
Barry Zoeller 661-204-1919
(cell)
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Landmark agreement between Tejon Ranch
Co., leading environmental groups would preserve prized California
landscape without environmental group opposition to planned
development
 TEJON RANCH, CA (May 08, 2008) Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE: TRC) and
many of the nation’s major environmental organizations,
including The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council,
Audubon California, the Planning and Conservation League and
the Endangered Habitats League, today announced one of the largest
conservation and land use agreements in California history when
they unveiled a landmark agreement on the future of the Tejon
Ranch. The unprecedented agreement would provide for the permanent
protection of 240,000 acres of the historic Ranch — approximately
90 percent of the entire landholding — the location and
size of which made it the most sought-after conservation property
in the state.
“The success of environmental organizations and Tejon
Ranch Co. in reaching this historic agreement to protect a California
treasure illustrates something that I have stressed since taking
office — we can protect California’s environment
at the same time we pump up our economy,” Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger said.
"The Tejon Ranch is one the most environmentally remarkable
collections of ecosystems in California,” said Senator
Barbara Boxer (D-CA). “I want to commend ranch owners
and the environmental community participants for working hard
to ensure that future generations get the opportunity to experience
this wonderful gift."
The 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch, the largest contiguous private
landholding in the state, is an invaluable piece of California's
natural heritage and a hotspot of biological diversity at the
confluence of four major ecological regions — the Sierra
Nevada, Mojave Desert, Coastal Range and San Joaquin Valley.
The area protected under this agreement is eight times the size
of San Francisco, and in Southern California, would stretch from
Santa Monica to Seal Beach, from Burbank to Brea. With landscapes
ranging from native grasslands to Joshua tree woodlands to oak
and fir forests, the Ranch contains critical foraging habitat
for the California condor and is home to over two-dozen other
rare plant and animal species. (High resolution photos, maps
and video B-roll are available for viewing and downloading at: http://www.tejonpreserve.com/ )
"The previous ban on lead ammunition, the pullback of development
from four of the five principal foraging ridges and the protection
of the vast expanse of the ranch's backcountry are important
steps forward in the condor’s recovery," said Graham
Chisholm, director of conservation for Audubon California.
The Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement is designed
to:
- Ensure permanent protection of unfragmented expanses of open
space and natural habitat throughout the Ranch,
- Provide an option for environmental partners to acquire additional
lands otherwise suitable for future development,
- Allow Tejon Ranch Co. to proceed with entitlement and development
of its planned communities of Centennial and Tejon Mountain
Village and its development project at the base of the Grapevine
without opposition from the signatory environmental organizations,
and
- Establish and fund a conservancy to develop and implement
a Ranch-wide management plan to restore and enhance the conserved
land.
“Our vision has always been to preserve California’s
legacy and provide for California’s future, and this agreement
does exactly that,” said Robert A. Stine, President and
CEO of Tejon Ranch Co. “The agreement we’ve reached
is good for conservation, good for California and good for the
company and its shareholders.”
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for conservation
of California’s wildlife heritage on a staggering geographic
scale," said Joel Reynolds, Senior Attorney and Director
of the Southern California Program of the Natural Resources Defense
Council (“NRDC”). "Tejon Ranch is the critical
biological connection between the Sierra Nevada and the mountains
of Southern and coastal California."
Bill Corcoran, Senior Regional Representative for the Sierra
Club, explained that the Tejon Ranch had long been one of his
organization’s highest national conservation priorities. “Getting
to today’s agreement was difficult and both sides took
considerable risks in staying at the table,” he said. “It
has been well worth it to protect the stunning beauty of Tejon
Ranch and its critical role as the keystone of Southern California’s
natural legacy.”
The agreement was reached after nearly two years of scientific
analysis of conservation values on the Ranchlands and extensive
talks regarding their future. For the environmental organizations,
it conserves forever — undeveloped and unfragmented —the
ecological treasures of the Ranch, the largest contiguous private
property remaining in California. Through a combination of dedicated
conservation easements and designated project open space areas,
Tejon Ranch Co. will permanently protect approximately 178,000
acres. Today’s agreement also lays the groundwork for the
public to purchase an additional 62,000 acres of Tejon Ranch,
resulting in a total of 240,000 acres of conserved land. The
partners to the agreement have already approached California
leaders for assistance in securing federal, state and private
funds needed to accomplish this goal.
Gary Patton, general counsel for the Planning and Conservation
League, highlighted the importance of keeping this large, undeveloped
landscape intact. “Without this agreement, the individual
parcels that now comprise the Tejon Ranch could ultimately be
sold separately. That would fragment the property, and its biological
and natural resource values would be lost. This agreement will
help make sure that an independent conservancy can provide for
unified and permanent protection.”
“We commend the Tejon Ranch Company and its partners for
taking a comprehensive look at the entire property,” echoed
Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League. “That is
why this agreement came together.”
For Tejon Ranch Co., the agreement guarantees the right to proceed
with its existing development plans in three locations on the
western edge of the Ranch without opposition by the environmental
organizations. “Without a doubt, this agreement is good
for the Company and its shareholders,” said Michael H.
Winer, Portfolio Manager for Third Avenue Management LLC, the
company’s largest shareholder, and member of the Tejon
Ranch Co. Board of Directors. “It’s the key to unlocking
the value of Tejon Ranch. By removing the potential obstacles
that have plagued similar development efforts in California,
we’ll be able to move ahead with the entitlement processes
on our current development projects in a much more timely fashion.”
The 240,000 acres of conserved lands will be overseen by an
independent non-profit conservancy created and funded under the
agreement to develop and implement a Ranch-wide management plan
in collaboration with the Tejon Ranch Company. The mission of
the conservancy, for which funding is guaranteed under the agreement,
is “to preserve, enhance and restore the native biodiversity
and ecosystem values of Tejon Ranch and the Tehachapi Range for
the benefit of California’s future generations.”
“The agreement announced today permanently protects a
unique California landscape and the viability of its natural
resources,” said Walt Reid, director of conservation and
science for the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. “The
Packard Foundation, through its partnership with the Resources
Legacy Fund, is pleased to support the public agencies and
parties in fulfilling this significant agreement by
working to ensure that the Conservancy has the financial capacity
for the start-up tools it needs to steward and protect this natural
treasure."
Public access to the conserved lands is also a key component
of the agreement. The agreement provides an easement of up to
10,000 acres for the realignment of 37 miles of the Pacific Crest
Trail through Tejon Ranch, and the environmental organizations
and Tejon Ranch Co. have agreed to work with the new conservancy
and California State Parks Department toward creation of a State
Park within the conserved lands. In addition, the conservancy
will develop programs for docent-led tours and other managed
public access to conserved lands.
The Tejon Ranch Company was joined in the negotiations by its
partner DMB Associates, Inc. of Scottsdale, Arizona. Also participating
in the final agreement was Centennial Founders LLC, comprised
of Lewis Investment Company, Standard Pacific Corporation and
Pardee Homes.
Others directly participating in the negotiating process over
the past two years include Sierra Club’s Jim Dodson, Planning
and Conservation League’s Terry Watt, DMB Associates’ Eneas
Kane, Resource Opportunity Group’s David Myerson, South
Coast Wildlands’ Kristeen Penrod, Conservation Biology
Institute’s Michael White, Tejon ranch Company’s
Kathy Perkinson and Andrew Daymude and Gary Hunt of California
Strategies who acted as senior advisor to Tejon Ranch Company,
DMB Associates, Inc. and Centennial.
The following attorneys represented the key parties in the negotiations:
Richard Taylor, Bill White and Amy Bricker from Shute, Mihaley & Weinberger
LLP represented the environmental organizations and Tejon Ranch
Conservancy. Harry O'Brien and Matt Bove from Coblentz, Patch,
Duffy & Bass LLP and Jennifer Hernandez from the San Francisco
office of Holland+Knight represented the Tejon Ranch Company.
High resolution photos, maps and video B-roll are available
for viewing and downloading at: http://www.tejonpreserve.com/
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The Planning and Conservation League is a nonpartisan, nonprofit alliance of individuals and conservation organizations working at the state, local, and national levels to protect and restore California's natural environment. |
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