Trust president Audrey Rust says the agreement allows ranch owner Rudy Driscoll Jr. to retain a lifetime right for cattle grazing, pedestrian and equestrian activities, as well as 300 acres for an apple orchard, residence, ranch office and equestrian event center.
"Despite its obvious development potential, the property has been beautifully cared for and left undeveloped due to the family's commitment to being good stewards of the land,'' Rust says of the Driscolls. "Their interest in maintaining the natural character of the land has made it possible for us to protect something very precious for future generations."
Rudy Driscoll Sr. bought 1,638 acres of the ranch in 1968, and the family added the adjacent Wool and Folger ranches to the property in the mid-1990s. The original ranch was used for logging until the early 1900s, and then for wheat farming and grazing. Although some oil drilling and exploration took place in the 1950s and 1960s, the ranch has been used mainly for cattle grazing since the 1980s.
"In preserving this property, POST will maintain the historic uses of the land and protect vital natural resources, including abundant wildlife habitat, diverse vegetation and valuable watershed,'' Rust said.
The purchase of the Driscoll Ranch is the most recent in the trust's $200 million, three-year "Saving the Endangered Coast'' campaign, which was launched in April last year with $50 million grants from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The campaign, which also financed the $3.95 million purchase of the 267-acre San Gregorio Farms in June, aims to preserve around 20,000 acres of coastal land from Pacifica to Pescadero.
Rust says the trust hopes to eventually transfer control of the Driscoll Ranch to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space Trust or some other public agency, and is working to obtain some state funding to assist in the ranch's purchase.
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