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This past winter, the Conservancy purchased the 1,967-acre ranch with the goal of transferring it to the National Park Service for incorporation into the 24,000-acre monument within three years. A campground located on the ranch—the only campground that serves Pinnacles National Monument—will continue operating.
Together, the ranch and the monument support a wide variety of wildlife, including golden eagles, peregrine falcons, deer, bobcats, badgers, foxes, neo-tropical birds and most notably, newly released California condors.
The National Park Service and the Ventana Wilderness Society have released 12 young condors from the monument since December 2003. The release facility is located directly adjacent to Pinnacles Ranch. Condors can be seen wheeling high above the ranch on the thermal updrafts that rise from the open grasslands.
“The condor is a keystone species,” says Robin Cox, a senior Conservancy ecologist. “The presence of condors is a good indication of the quality of the habitat found there. An area that can support condors is very likely to have everything we look for in a healthy ecosystem.”
“The condor is the star of the story, but this acquisition will benefit many species,” said Peggy McNutt, director of the Conservancy’s Central Coast ecoregion. “Pinnacles Ranch is part of a crucial wildlife corridor in the Gabilan Range, an ecologically intact linkage among the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Santa Lucia Mountains and the Diablo Range.”
But for the seven young condors scheduled for release from Pinnacles National Monument this year, the mountains are a far-off challenge. Their first encounter with the wild world beyond their flight pen will be the sheltered fields and woodlands of Pinnacles Ranch.
Read the press release.
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