The California Condor


 
TEJON RANCH
Multiplying
Shareholder Value

Destroying
California’s
Legacy

We’re at a Crossroads. The Choice is Between:

Protecting California’s Heritage

Tehachapi Park would be a spectacular national or state park one-third the size of Yosemite just an hour from Los Angeles.
The park would protect California’s natural heritage: huge forests of native oak, cedar and pine, rare native grasslands, and hillsides that burst into gorgeous wildflower displays in the spring; bear and elk, rare pronghorn antelope, and a myriad of imperiled native species; streams and lakes as well as the Tehachapi mountains – the Pacific Crest Trail would follow the mountains’ backbone. It must be preserved as a legacy for our children.

Corporate Greed

Tejon Mountain Village would be an environmental atrocity, spreading 3,450 luxury vacation homes for the ultra-wealthy and extensive resort facilities over 28,253 acres of prime California condor habitat. Most of the property would be a gated community with no public access.
Centennial, a new city in northern Los Angeles County with 23,000 homes and extensive office, industrial and retail space would explode the traffic on the congested I-5 freeway. It would degrade the air quality in the Antelope Valley and consume scarce water and energy resources. It would destroy thousands of acres of rare native grasslands.


The California Condor...

is a magnificent icon of the state, the largest North American bird, whose wingspan can be over 9 feet. Dating back to ancient times, it’s been on earth many times longer than homo sapiens.
The condor is a type of vulture. Seen up close, with its bald head and vulture beak, it can seem ugly. But, when spotted soaring miles-high over the mountains, it’s majestic.
It’s monogamous, mates for life, and breeds slowly (one chick per breeding pair every two years). It’s a carrion-eater that feeds on dead deer, cattle, antelope or smaller animals. Early ranchers thought it killed livestock for food, but it isn’t capable of this.
The California condor is listed as an endangered species by both the State of California and the federal government. Before the inception of the Condor Recovery Program, in the late 1970s, the condor population had declined to about 25. The program has so far cost over $40 million, and has been successful in building the condor population back up to over 270 birds.
The land that Tejon Ranch Co. plans to develop as Tejon Mountain Village is one of the most important foraging areas for the condor. It must be kept undeveloped, for the sake of the California condor.

Tejon v. Condor

Up through the 1980s Tejon Ranch Co. supported the condor recovery program by allowing the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) and Audubon Society biologists on the property.
But they’ve become hostile to the condor. Starting in 1994 they’ve denied regular ranch access to FWS and Audubon. In 1997 they sued FWS to prevent the release of condors at Wind Wolves Preserve, and to force the agency to designate re-introduced condors
as an experimental population, so that they wouldn’t have the full protection of the Endangered Species Act. In 1999 they entered into a Memorandum of Agreement with FWS to jointly develop, in secret, a Habitat Conservation Plan and Incidental Take Permit for the California condor. Even if a federal permit to kill condors in the course of constructing and operating Tejon Mountain Village is issued, the take is illegal under California state law.
Scientists agree that the construction of Tejon Mountain Village, most of which is located within designated critical habitat of the California condor (see map below), would be greatly deterimental to the recovery of the species.

Map of Tejon Ranch

Tejon Ranch Company...

started out in 1843 as four separate Mexican land grants. They were consolidated into a single 480,000-acre ranch by General Edward Beale between 1855 and 1866. In 1912, a group of local businessmen led by Harry Chandler, the publisher of the L.A. Times and leading Los Angeles businessman, bought the ranch. They concentrated on ranching and farming. Shares in the company started trading on the stock exchange in 1973.
A major change occured in 1997, when the Times-Mirror company sold its large block of Tejon Ranch stock to Wall Street investors. At this point the company’s purpose became the exploitation of the ranch to bring the maximum financial return, from real-estate development.
Tejon Ranch Co. (TRC) says that it has plans to develop only 5% of its property, but it hasn’t entered into any binding agreement that would preclude future development of any part of Tejon Ranch.
TRC is very secretive. They closely control access to the ranch, and require scientists whom they allow on their property to sign non-disclosure agreements, to prevent them from revealing what they find. What are they trying to hide? The presence of other endangered species on ranch property?

What You Can Do


● Visit http://lists.SierraClub.org and sign up for the ANGELES-TEJON-TEHACHAPI-FORUM list to receive email alerts of Tejon events and issues.
● Pass out copies of this flyer at community events. You can obtain copies from Jennifer Robinson at (213) 387-4287 X204.
● Contact your local County Supervisor, State Assemblymember or Senator, Congressman, or the Governor to express your desire for preservation of this land.
● Fill out and mail the letter below. Please include contact information.



Michael D. Antonovich, Los Angeles County Supervisor
c/o Sierra Club Angeles Chapter
3435 Wilshire Blvd., #320
Los Angeles, CA 90010-1904

Dear Supervisor Antonovich:
I feel strongly that at least 245,000 acres of the Tejon Ranch property should become a national or state park. Please help protect California’s natural heritage, which is our children’s inheritance!
The Tejon Ranch Company’s massive Centennial development should not be built as currently proposed. Many miles from any similar development, Centennial would be the worst type of urban sprawl, destroying rare natural resources and creating more traffic. If more housing is required in the Antelope Valley, it should be constructed within and adjacent to existing urban areas. Please make sure that the Los Angeles County Planning staff protects our communities by rigorously enforcing county policies and regulations that are meant to prevent dumb growth like Centennial.
Sincerely,

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