The land runs alongside the Santa Clara River, near the Ventura Freeway Bridge that connects Ventura to Oxnard. The bridge is about 25 miles north of the LA County line.

The nonprofit Nature Conservancy purchased the property. The group received $4.7 million from the California Coastal Conservancy to finance the deal. Private attorney Alan Camp was the seller. No brokers were involved in the transaction.

The acquisition is the first step in the Coastal Conservancy's plan to buy and restore a 15-mile stretch of riverbank property in the area. Peter Brand, the group's project director, says his group is also in the final stages of negotiations to buy 375 acres in nearby Santa Paula.

The Coastal Conservancy recently announced plans to link with other nonprofit groups to make such acquisitions, in part to better coordinate preservation and restoration programs.