Tejon Ranch Co. (NYSE: TRC) announced today that the United States Fish
and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has released for public review and comment
its Environmental Impact State evaluating the Ranch’s Tehachapi Uplands
Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan. The public comment period will
last for 90 days.
Habitat Conservation Plans are part of the Endangered Species Act and
were created by Congress in 1982. They are designed to protect
federally-listed, and plant and animal species of concern, while also
allowing otherwise lawful development to proceed. Congress envisioned
these plans as integrating development and land-use activities with
conservation in a climate of cooperation.
“The Tehachapi Uplands Multi-Species Habitat Conservation Plan is
another hallmark in Tejon Ranch’s 150-year legacy of conservation and
good stewardship,” said Robert A. Stine, President and CEO of Tejon
Ranch Co. “Building on last year’s Land Use and Conservation Agreement,
this Plan will provide greater certainty to our efforts to protect and
advance the recovery of 27 different plant and animal species, including
the California condor. It will also provide more certainty to our plans
for the environmentally sensitive development of a small portion of the
Ranch.”
Complementing the Tejon Ranch Conservation and Land Use Agreement
announced in May 2008, the Tehachapi Uplands Multi-Species Habitat
Conservation Plan protects an area of habitat five times the size of the
city of San Francisco. It is the culmination of nearly a decade of
scientific study and collaboration with the federal government and
independent scientists to develop a strategy that protects natural
habitats and preserves species while minimizing and mitigating any
potential impacts from the Ranch’s ongoing business activities.
Central to the Plan are a number of measures designed to ensure the
California condor’s ongoing recovery, a goal the Ranch has worked
towards for more than three decades. The measures were developed in
consultation with USFWS biologists and some of the most respected condor
experts in the nation.
