Land conservation is one of the C Lazy U Ranch’s guiding principles. Beginning in 2006, C Lazy U Preserves partnered with The Nature Conservancy to help further its conservation goals. Since that time, the Ranch has placed approximately 1,958 acres under conservation. The areas subject to conservation easements were strategically chosen to enhance viewsheds, protect surrounding lands from development, preserve the unique ranching heritage of the C Lazy U Ranch, and protect important wildlife habitat and migration corridors. In particular, the lands protected by conservation easements include critical winter range for deer and elk, as well as important bear and moose habitat.
Once lands are placed under conservation easement, the lands are protected in perpetuity, with The Nature Conservancy serving as the qualified conservation easement holder responsible for ensuring compliance with the conservation restrictions. The Nature Conservancy is one of the preeminent conservation organizations in the United States, and they are very selective with respect to the lands that they will place under conservation easement. The fact that The Nature Conservancy has agreed to partner with C Lazy U Preserves evidences the biological richness and other important attributes the lands adjacent to the Ranch possess that make them worth conserving.
C Lazy U Preserves recently began the process to also place nearly 540 additional acres under conservation easement in order to protect an important elk migration corridor and sage grouse habitat. As the State of Colorado continues enacting legislation placing a greater and greater emphasis on preserving private lands through conservation easements, the Ranch is proud of the role it has played in protecting Colorado’s open lands for generations to come.
In the 1950’s, the Ranch’s cattlemen strategically created ponds that captured the rain runoff from the hilly terrain so their cattle could obtain water in the summer. The California Tiger Salamander began to breed in these ponds and then used the Ranch’s surrounding property as upland habitat.
A Conservation Easement and Endowment was established to perpetually manage the La Purisima Conservation Bank. The Land Trust of Santa Barbara County is the Conservation Easement and Endowment Holder.
Besides the never-ending spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean, Bixby Ocean Ranch hosts several endangered animal species in its rare grasslands. Acres of pristine redwood forests have never heard the sound of a chainsaw in this magical place that some consider a piece of Eden.
The Ranch can trace its ownership all the way back to the Bixbys that settled in Massachusetts upon arrival on the Mayflower, but in January of 2000 it landed in the hands of Triton Investment Company and two other partners, slated for development. That is, until the new owners realized what a gem they held title to.
Joining the environmental groups aghast at the thought of developing the Bixby Ranch land, Triton and its Partners agreed to sell the 1,226-acre property to the Trust for Public Land. In 2002 the TPL turned it over to the U.S. Forest Service where it became part of the Los Padres National Forest. This created an 11-mile stretch of permanently protected coastline, that begins at the Bixby Bridge and goes all the way through Andrew Molera State Park.
