LOS ANGELES (KNX) — Animals from the Sequoia National Forest to the conserved lands of Tejon Ranch in Lebec, Calif., will be guaranteed safe passage between Northern and Southern California, with the creation of California's largest-ever preserve.
The Frank and Joan Randall Preserve, announced last week by The Nature Conservancy (TNC), is a 72,000-acre wildlife corridor made possible by a $50 million philanthropic gift from the Randalls. It's an area five times the size of Manhattan that's home to species like the California mountain lion, according to TNC.
"As accelerating climate change continues to increase habitat loss and fragmentation [the reserve] ensures a critical linkage between Northern and Southern California that will allow rare, threatened, and endangered species to move and adapt to a changing environment," TNC said in a statement.
The conservancy added that the addition of the large reserve helps complete the existing network of open space lands from Canada to Mexico and that the preserve consists of "four diverse ecoregions" the Sierra Nevada, Mojave Desert, Central Valley and South Coast.
"It goes from these very high elevations where you can see snow, all the way down to the Mojave Desert and the Central Valley and everything in between," said Mike Sweeney, executive director of The Nature Conservancy in California.
"This preserve will also ensure a much needed corridor for wildlife, like endangered mountain lions to the south, so they can mix and move, migrate and adapt."
TNC said the protection of the 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.
In addition to the $50 million donation from the Randalls, the creation of the preserve was also made possible by donors like the Wildlife Conservation Board, the Department of The Navy, CalTrans, Resources Legacy Fund, Sierra Nevada Conservancy and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, as well as other donors, TNC said.
To learn more about the future of the preserve, click here.