Cowboy Conservationists Circle Wagons Against Sprawl

"Unlike the Nature Conservancy and other open space organizations, the rangeland trust, based in Sacramento, is run entirely by ranchers. Buying development rights, the organization has permanently preserved more than 70,000 acres in the past five years, from the Sierra to the central coast...Where environmental organizations see preserving big western cattle ranches as vital for wildlife, watersheds and scenic views, the rangeland trust agrees. But the group also places the preservation of ranching as a viable business atop its list of priorities."