Nearly 1,000 acres of rolling grassland, oak woodland, coastal scrub, forest and stream will be conserved in the Gabilan Mountain foothills with a $1 million conservation easement, Big Sur Land Trust announced today.
In a press release, Joanna Devers, conservation projects manager at Big Sur Land Trust, describes the Gabilan Range as an "essential stepping stone for wildlife movement between the Santa Cruz and Hamilton mountain ranges to the north, and the Sierra Madre, Santa Lucia and Southern Diablo ranges to the south."
Tule elk, mountain lions and badgers are among the animals that use the corridor.
The trust purchased the easement on the 965-acre Vierra Ranch, six miles north of Salinas, with help from a $650,000 Wildlife Conservation Board grant and a $200,000 discount from fair-market value by property owners Linda and Ron Stoney. Five years ago, the Stoneys donated another conservation easement on the 1,110-acre Rancho Colinas less than a mile away. Both ensure what the trust describes as "responsible cattle grazing."
Also nearby: the 11,000-acre Gabilan Ranch, protected by an easement held by The Nature Conservancy.
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