NOVEMBER 6, 2006 Environmental coalition digs in at Tejon When the owner rebuffed a proposal to scale back the Centennial housing project, Sierra Club and others vowed to fight. by Gary Polakovic es, resorts, industrial parks and golf the bargaining table, a coalition of Times Staff Writer courses on 5% of the property and set a dozen environmental groups has aside 100,000 acres of backcountry united in opposition to the developer. Developers of the largest chunk of as a natural preserve, creating the They vow to take their fight to court privately owned wild lands remain- biggest conservation area carved under the federal Endangered Spe- ing in Southern California and rep- from private land in California. cies Act. resentatives from the nation’s most There are no specific plans for the powerful environmental groups gath- rest of the ranch land. It is a bludgeon environmentalists ered at a special summit last spring have wielded with success since the to consider a deal. The ranch’s activities are very bal- snail darter was used to block for anced,” said Tejon Ranch spokesman years the Tellico Dam in Tennessee Under it, environmentalists would Barry Zoeller. “We’re not developing a generation ago. forgo legal challenges if the proposed the entire ranch.” 23,000-home Centennial develop- “A lot of people have walked away ment on Tejon Ranch were reconfig- The company’s rebuff incensed en- from the table,” said Carl Pope, ex- ured to more than double the amount vironmental leaders for the Sierra ecutive director of the Sierra Club. of land set aside for a preserve. The Club, the Natural Resources Defense “We’ve decided it’s time to play May 19 meeting was supposed to Council, the Center for Biological hardball. Sometimes you have to have produced agreement on a tangle Diversity and others. They want a hit a mule upside the head with a 2 of thorny issues at the center of the vast natural preserve — as big as by 4.” negotiations. 245,000 acres. Zion National Park, by comparison, is about 147,000 The Center for Biological Diversity, It failed. acres. based in Tucson, has sued Tejon Ranch Co. over the air quality effects Tejon Ranch Co. rejected the pro- They also want fewer houses on less of the warehouse and industrial su- posal, opting to continue working land. There is concern that the Tejon per-center it is building at the bottom with officials in Los Angeles and Ranch projects would trigger new of the Grapevine on the flatlands of Kern counties on plans for Centen- sprawl across a swath of Southern Kern County. The group has used nial and two other developments on California that so far has been virtu- aggressive litigation to thwart timber, the 270,000-acre ranch. ally untouched by development. ranching and development across the Southwest. The company wants to develop hous- Failing to obtain concessions at “We will fight this, one project at woodlands, valley grasslands and “The last one decided where Orange a time, for as long as we have to, conifer forest. County would grow. This is the next if that’s what it takes,” said Peter one.” Galvin, the group’s conservation Animals move from the Sierra to the director. “We can and will defeat the Tehachapis to the desert to the moun- The Tejon Ranch Co. is pursuing [Tejon Ranch] projects in court, no tain ranges in Los Angeles, Ventura three main projects in three loca- matter how long it takes.” and Santa Barbara counties. Critters tions over the next 25 years. The abound, including wild turkeys, elk, Tejon Industrial Complex is already This is not how Tejon Ranch officials deer, bears, bobcats, coyotes and home to Ikea’s 2-million-square-foot wanted things to go. The company eagles. main distribution warehouse, among rarely misses an opportunity to tout others. its environmental credentials. It has Condors fly there, riding warm air collaborated with environmentalists currents from coastal mountains to On the summit near Castac Lake in for six years and worked with the the Sierra. Tejon Ranch, which in- Kern County, the company proposes Trust for Public Land to help identify cludes critical habitat for the gigantic Tejon Mountain Village featuring acreage suitable for the 100,000-acre prehistoric bird, is part of the United 3,450 estate homes along ridgelines preserve. States’ most ambitious endangered up Bear Trap Canyon, as well as golf species recovery program; officials courses, resort hotels and lakeside “As landowner, we have a commit- have spent 16 years and $40 million cabins. An environmental impact ment to stewardship, and we’ve been to increase condor numbers from 22 report is due in late 2007. doing that for 160 years,” Zoeller to about 300 in the West. Other en- said. “The ranch is in the condition dangered species in the area include Centennial is a planned community it is today because of that commit- the San Joaquin kit fox and the blunt- of 23,000 dwelling units over 6,000 ment.” nose leopard lizard. acres east of Quail Lake in northern Los Angeles County. The clash is more than just another “Tejon Ranch is the spinal cord of the development dispute. Pope and other state, a bridge to the Sierra and the Each of the developments includes environmental leaders say they have Coast Range and the Tehachapis,” its own set-asides for wildlife habitat made Tejon Ranch their top priority said Joel Reynolds, senior attorney and open space. The project’s envi- in California, with the fight shaping for the Natural Resources Defense ronmental review is expected to be up as the biggest land-use clash since Council. “It is very high on our pri- completed by summer and forwarded the Desert Protection Act settled the ority list.” to the regional planning commission, fate of the Mojave 12 years ago. then to the Board of Supervisors. The ranch is also the linchpin for Tejon Ranch sits atop the Tehachapi development in Southern California. Reed Holderman, executive director Mountains, the demarcation between The vast open expanse of mountains of the Trust for Public Land in Cali- Central and Southern California, 30 and desert between the Santa Clarita fornia, said those projects are more miles south of Bakersfield and 60 and San Joaquin valleys marks the palatable because Tejon Ranch has miles north of Los Angeles. This historical boundary between the agreed to create the 100,000-acre is where ecology and progress col- Los Angeles region and the rest of preserve. He said he has participated lide. California. If development takes in discussions with Gov. Arnold root there, environmentalists warn, it Schwarzenegger’s administration, The mountain land with pine-cov- could eventually lead to a continuous the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service ered peaks soars into the clouds. The expanse of subdivisions from Camp and the state Department of Fish Mojave plateau unfurls to the east Pendleton to Bakersfield. and Game about ways to preserve and the San Joaquin Valley lies to that land. the north, with the San Andreas fault “There are moments when decisions slicing through it. There are distinct are made that shape a metropolitan “A 100,000-acre preserve is a signifi- bio-regions, including desert, oak area and its wild matrix,” Pope said. cant acquisition by any measure in the United States,” Holderman said. lands remain connected and provide Environmentalists praised that move, “Tejon Ranch could build the whole “wildlife corridors.” citing DMB-led compromises that property and carve that property up benefited developers and conserva- like Swiss cheese if they want. But Although Tejon Ranch officials say tionists at the Rancho Mission Viejo Tejon Ranch is just building those their project is environmentally project in Orange County and the three projects and trying to save sound, Zoeller said that, after months 25,000-acre Martis Valley develop- the rest.” of difficult negotiations, the two ment near Lake Tahoe. sides remain “far apart.” But environmental leaders say “We will continue to talk and meet studies done by the Conservation But Zoeller also sounded an opti- with environmental and conservation Biology Institute of Corvallis, Ore., mistic chord. groups,” Zoeller said. “Sometimes show that some of the most valuable we reach out to them, sometimes they habitat for condors and other wild- Recently, the company partnered reach out to us, sometimes we reach life occurs where Tejon Mountain with DMB Associates, a real estate out together.” Village would be built. Further, and investment company based in they contend that the preserve is Scottsdale, Ariz., to help develop the not configured to ensure that wild Tejon Mountain Village project. .