Esri's Jack and Laura Dangermond Make Massive Land Conservation Gift

The Nature Conservancy's largest ever gift will preserve 24,000 acres of highly prized land in California. Jack and Laura Dangermond (cofounders of Esri) made the donation.

1 minute read

December 30, 2017, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve

The Point Conception Lighthouse is a prominent figure in the new Jack and Laura Dangermond preserve. | NOAA Nature Library / Flickr

James Fallows reports: "A renowned tract of undeveloped California coastal land totaling more than 24,000 acres, or about 38 square miles, has been purchased by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) for permanent preservation, thanks to a $165 million donation by a wealthy tech-industry couple."

The tract of land (now called the Jack and Laura Dangermond Preserve, but previously called the Bixby Ranch) "includes hills and canyons, grasslands and brush, 2,000 acres of coastal live-oak stands containing perhaps 1 million trees, a creek, parts of the Santa Ynez mountain range—and a full eight miles of the bluffs and beaches that make up the coastline around Point Conception, west of Santa Barbara." 

The tract is rare for its size and its mostly natural state. The land has never been subdivided, and now it never will. 

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