San Andreas Linkage

Las Piletas Ranch

Purchased by TNC in 2022, Las Piletas Ranch boasts 13,500 acres of rolling foothills, grasslands and oak woodlands along with 24 miles of springs and seasonal creeks. The land is located in California’s Inner Coast Range, and protecting it has implications far beyond the boundaries of the property. Las Piletas Ranch represents a critical piece in a network of habitat that we are working to connect across the entire region.

By protecting Las Piletas Ranch, we are creating a climate-resilient wildlife linkage and creating a stronghold for sensitive species, including the California condor, pronghorn antelope and San Joaquin kit fox. This acquisition builds on more than 30 years of TNC’s work in the region.

Now, to achieve our vision for the San Andreas Linkage, we’re focused on securing locations that expand on existing protected areas and connect them to other adjacent conserved lands, ultimately targeting hundreds of thousands of acres of protection across 31 properties.

Carrizo Plain National Monument

The Carrizo Plain stretches for 250,000 acres along the base of the Temblor Mountains, 60 miles east of San Luis Obispo. Its vast grasslands, as well as woodland habitats and vernal pools, sustain 15 threatened and endangered plants and animals.

Here may rest the future of such species as the California jewelflower, San Joaquin kit fox, mountain plover, blunt-nosed leopard lizard, pronghorn antelope and giant kangaroo rat.

The Carrizo Plain is also the largest protected habitat along the Pacific Flyway, making it a birder’s paradise in winter. In spring, Carrizo’s rolling grasslands thrill wildflower enthusiasts with a breathtaking assortment of blooms.

THINKING BIG

In 1988, The Nature Conservancy partnered with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to undertake an ambitious project of acquiring and managing this great expanse of land.

Through cooperative effort, the initial 82,000-acre parcel not only grew to its current quarter-million acreage, it garnered federal support, becoming a national monument in 2001.

LANDMARK RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PLAN AND CONSERVATION STRATEGIES

The partners worked tirelessly to develop a stewardship plan for this vast area. The resulting resource management strategy uses an innovative set of protocols to maintain and increase the populations of threatened and endangered species.

The Carrizo Plain project also represents a prime platform for scientific research. Together with our partners we have implemented cutting-edge conservation approaches, such as the use of satellite technology to track the vitally important giant kangaroo rat, a keystone species without which the ecosystem would collapse.