The Frank and Joan Randall Preserve in California’s Tehachapi Mountains
The Nature Conservancy’s work with private landowners, California state officials, and philanthropists that led to the creation of this critically important corridor for biodiversity.
Communities across the country are working hard to protect their natural and cultural heritage, coming together with the Biden administration to support the bold goal of protecting 30% of America’s land and waters by 2030. Scientists have warned that a rapid loss of natural space is resulting in a mass extinction, exacerbated by climate change. Support for the people and communities who are working tirelessly to protect places that matter is necessary for reaching the 30x30 goal, and for protecting the biodiversity that supports all life on the planet. While human activity has led to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitat, there are also promising examples of local communities, private landowners, and other stakeholders who are coming together to identify and protect the routes that animals use to move across a landscape.
Take the newly established Frank and Joan Randall Preserve as an example. It’s a new protected wildlife corridor connecting northern and southern California. The preserve will cover 112 square miles, linking together a patchwork of protected and unprotected lands across the southern Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi Mountains. The area within the preserve is considered some of the most significant in North America because it will help complete a network of connected lands between Canada and Mexico, facilitating the movement and survival of several wildlife species.
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) announced the 72,000-acre preserve in December 2021, the largest ever assembled by the organization in California. Approximately 100 miles north of downtown Los Angeles and five times the size of Manhattan, the preserve will protect a biodiversity “hotspot” at the convergence of four diverse ecoregions: the Sierra Nevada, the Mojave Desert, the Central Valley, and the South Coast of California.
TNC said in a statement, “The protection of this immense area ensures that 28 sensitive species across California, including slender salamanders, condors, legless lizards, golden eagles, primrose sphinx moths, mountain lions, badgers, and several endangered plants and blue oak trees, have the best chance of survival.” The preserve footprint also contains the Tehachapi Loop, a historic loop of railroad that allows trains to climb the Tehachapi Pass by easing the steep grade of the terrain across a loop and through a tunnel.
Many animals cannot survive without the ability to move from one place to another to complete their basic needs, and their movements can be impeded by habitat loss or fragmentation, extreme climate events, and other obstacles. As part of the creation of the preserve, The Nature Conservancy committed to working with California state transportation officials to develop a system of wildlife crossings over and under roads to further facilitate the movement of wildlife throughout the region.
The Center for Western Priorities spoke with Cara Lacey, the Director of Wildlife Corridors & Crossings for TNC California about the preserve, which she described as “an amazing pastoral landscape” where one can “see all the diversity of plants and animals you want to protect.” Lacey emphasized the importance of protecting large landscapes to enable wildlife movement, like the mountain lion. One of the key steps that guides her work is to first look at barriers to wildlife’s movement: “If we’re trying to save a population of a species, or allow movement, it’s really important to know where they’re crossing, if they’re getting hit, if we can make crossings better, if we need more, if we need to upgrade culverts, or make larger undercrossings or bridges.”
The convergence of four distinct eco-regions provides an opportunity to see lots of species and their climate adaptation strategies. As Lacey pointed out, this includes plants, too — there is evidence that the Blue oak tree is starting to root in higher elevations, and as they move north the species that rely on them will adjust their range, too. As the climate warms, the trees are starting to slowly shift their range. The elevation gradient within the geography of the preserve is particularly important for species’ climate resilience. The savanna and forest ecosystems in the area range in elevation from 800 to nearly 8,000 feet. This wide range in elevation can lead to pockets of cooler habitats known as “sky islands” that are necessary for species that need cool weather, like the Jeffrey pine and white fir.
The creation of the preserve was made possible by a transformative $50 million philanthropic gift by Frank and Joan Randall, covering all but $15 million of the total cost for the project. The remaining funds were provided by public and private donors, including the Wildlife Conservation Board, the Department of the Navy, CalTrans, Resources Legacy Fund, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
“Preserving open space has long been a passion of ours. Once it’s gone, it’s gone. This area was under threat but, together with The Nature Conservancy, we’re doing everything we can to make sure this beautiful and ecologically diverse part of our state can stand the test of time for generations to come.” —Frank Randall
Zach Principe, a Stewardship Project Manager with TNC-California has worked on this project since 2006. He shared some of the history of how the preserve came together with the Center for Western Priorities: “At first, the effort focused on talking to the Parkers, a local ranching family who wanted to place a conservation easement on their property — that was completed in 2008. Then the Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement protected adjacent areas important to complete the Tehachapi Wildlife Corridor. After that, it became TNC’s goal to fill in the gap between the two properties to complete it.”
Principe and others started calling landowners, watching real estate listings, etc. They worked out deals in 2009 to buy property for sale during the Great Recession, and protected the Toll House Ranch a few years later. According to Principe, “There’s an intergenerational land transfer going on in this geography, and that’s why ranch properties are being listed — younger generations are not as interested in ranching.” For one thing, climate change is making ranching harder. “People are praying for rain. It hasn’t rained in 35 days and we’re in our rainy season,” said Principe.
By 2015, the area between the two properties was almost connected, but there was still a gap of about 900 feet, which doesn’t sound like much, but can make all the difference for species that need a specific type of habitat to complete their movement, like a contiguous belt of grasslands. It was around this time that the Randalls approached The Nature Conservancy with a desire to do something special for conservation in southern California.
“The Randalls’ gift was what catalyzed moving all of this to the next level. Instead of having a narrow corridor that might have been functional, we’re hopeful this corridor is going to be robust and functional into the future. We actually made something that’s going to be able to function for a large number of species, from generalists to specialists.” —Zach Principe, The Nature Conservancy
One of the visionary elements of the preserve is to create a living laboratory where scientific organizations and researchers can pursue on-the-ground work to improve habitat and species connectivity. In the coming months, TNC, in coordination with partners, stakeholders, and other agencies, will initiate an assessment of the land within the preserve to determine the steps that will need to be taken to address the impacts of climate change on the landscape. According to Lacey with TNC, this effort will “assess what is here now, what used to be here, what did it look like before, are there species we need to try to bring back to “rewild,” and what will that look like.” This multi-year collaborative planning process will ensure the preserve’s conservation goals are consistent with California’s 30x30 plan. While the planning process is underway, the nine separate cattle ranches contained within the preserve’s boundaries will continue normal operations until their long-term use and management is determined.
The establishment of the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve is an example of one of the many ways to reach the Biden administration’s 30x30 goal. The preserve exemplifies effective conservation through many of the principles outlined in the administration’s America the Beautiful report, including honoring private property rights and supporting the voluntary stewardship efforts of private landowners, supporting locally-led and locally designed conservation efforts, and pursuing a collaborative and inclusive approach to conservation and restoration that creates jobs and supports healthy communities. While there is still a way to go, the strong leadership and grassroots momentum that led to the creation of the Frank and Joan Randall Preserve are bringing us closer to reaching the 30x30 goal.
For more information, visit westernpriorities.org. Sign up for Look West to get daily public lands and energy news sent to your inbox, or subscribe to our podcast, The Landscape.
