© Tejon Ranch Conservancy 2018

The Conservancy was created as an independent non-profit organization by the Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement, signed on June 17, 2008 by Tejon Ranch Company, Audubon California, Endangered Habitats League, Natural Resources Defense Council, Planning and Conservation League, and Sierra Club. It is overseen by an independent Board of Directors that includes leaders from the environmental community, Tejon Ranch Company, academia and business. Our immediate goals include: • Systematically exploring Tejon Ranch to document and better understand its extraordinary natural resources. • Using this knowledge and scientific principles to develop sound stewardship practices that maintain, enhance and restore the Ranch’s ecosystems. • Pursue partnerships that advance the Conservancy’s mission and conservation goals for Tejon Ranch and Tehachapi Range. • Provide public opportunities to learn about, explore and experience first-hand both the beauty and diversity of the Ranch along with conservation in action through volunteer service. The Significance of the Tejon Ranch Conservancy: • At 270,000 acres, Tejon Ranch is the largest contiguous private property in California. Straddling the Tehachapi Mountains, it lies at the convergence of four of California’s ten major ecological regions: Great Central Valley, Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, and Southwestern California. Tejon Ranch provides the only corridor for wildlife movements between vast tracts of protected lands.  • The diversity of plants and animals found on Tejon Ranch reflects its position as a  “biogeographic crossroads,” where species unique to each of these regions can be found together. More than 200 species of birds have been spotted, a third of the state’s native oaks are represented, and more than 60 at-risk plant and animal species are protected here. • As California becomes increasingly crowded, protecting our diverse wildlife while producing the resources we need to live is critically important. With the Conservancy, the Ranch is now a valuable living laboratory for scholars and scientists.  We partner with leading universities to engage in research to inform our management decisions.  We are optimistic that these studies will be relevant throughout the Southwest as we learn how best to balance the activities of a working ranch while preserving and enhancing its biodiversity.  • Tejon Ranch represents an extremely critical piece of a larger, continent-wide conservation effort to create important and unobstructed routes or “corridors” for wildlife.  Significant public and private conservation investments have been made to create this vital corridor for wildlife as needed habitat is increasingly threatened by land use and climate change.