How a landmark conservation project saved 82,000 acres of California coast from development
On Feb 18, 2005, five happy men posed for a photo, standing side-by-side outside the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
They were celebrating the close of escrow on a $95 million conservation easement that covered 82,000 acres of the Hearst Ranch in San Simeon.
Their champagne toasts 15 years ago commemorated more than the five-plus years of indefatigable work by them and dozens of other people to put the easement in place. They also were saluting a future in which the ranch would remain essentially undeveloped.
George Hearst, Cliff Garrison, Marty Cepkauskas, Steve Hearst and Roger Lyon were exhausted, euphoric and glad to have the deal completed,
At the time, George Hearst, a Paso Robles rancher and grandson of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, was chairman of board of the Hearst Corp. His son, corporation vice president Steve Hearst, was the point man for getting the conservation easement approved.
Garrison was ranch manager for the Hearst Ranch, Cepkauskas was director of Hearst Western real estate, and Lyon was a Cayucos attorney who was crucial to the conservation easement negotiations. (Lyon died in a plane crash in 2010; George Hearst died in 2012.)
Today, Steve Hearst said, the easement is working just as it was designed to do.
Little has changed on the ranch, he said in a phone interview, “And that’s the point.”
Hearst said that in the conservation deal, the corporation and family “sold the ranch’s development rights” in a concept he conceived, a deal that also honored the way the family had cared for the land for so many years.
“Sure, there are bad actors” who own ranchland and don’t treat it right, he said. But that’s not the Hearsts, he emphasized. “We have a great deal of respect and love for the property … We don’t do things that would harm it, so agreeing to the terms of the easement… it was pretty easy for us to merge into those lanes.”
What is the Hearst Ranch Preserve?
The Piedra Blanca Rancho has been in the Hearst family since Sen. George Hearst began assembling it in 1865. The ranch surrounds Hearst Castle, which became part of the state parks system in 1958.
Before the conservation deal was approved by a host of agencies, environmentalists and others battled Hearst Corp. for more than three decades over its plans to develop a small portion of the historic ranch on the North Coast. Those plans included a major resort, golf course and homes.
After Steve Hearst launched his conservation-easement concept and had initial negotiations with a couple of other land conservancy groups, then signed on with American Land Conservancy. With them on board, an agreement was reached in 2004, and escrow closed Feb. 18, 2005.
Battles over the deal were hard fought on both sides.
Environmentalists thought the deal was too expensive and should include more access to the rest of the ranch.
The Hearst team pointed to the many hazards of having people traipsing around on a working ranch and to appraisals of the development rights that far exceeded the $95 million mark. They also hired experts to document the many species of rare flora and fauna on the ranch and recounted the decades of family stewardship of the property.
In the finalized deal, paid for by various state funds and grants, Hearst Corp. deeded 15 of its 18 miles of coastal property — 949 acres in all — to the state. The corporation also agreed to the conservation easement restricting development on the remaining 82,000 acres, or, 128 square miles, of the ranch.
Hearst kept five miles worth of oceanfront land, including San Simeon Point, Ragged Point and Pico Cove.
With some acquisitions since, the ranch now includes 83,000 acres.
Drought, Chimney Fire bring changes to San Simeon property
Hearst Ranch has seen some changes over the past 15 years, all of which were allowed under the restrictive easement that limits development to a 100-room inn in Old San Simeon Village, 27 residential compounds on large parcels on the ranch and 15 homes for employees.
Construction on one of those employee homes was completed recently in the adobe area of the ranch, about a half mile in from Highway 1, Hearst said. It will be occupied by a ranch cowboy and his family.
“It will be nice to have him out there,” Hearst said. “He’ll have his horses there and he will know his little area very well.”
Improvements also were made to the elephant-seal viewing area near the Piedras Blancas Light Station, including a boardwalk, fencing and hiking trail.
Some changes were triggered by Mother Nature, such as a historic five-year drought and the 2017 Chimney Fire, which burned 17,700 acres on the eastern portion of the ranch.
As a result, culverts and more than 20 miles of fencing were replaced. Roads were regraded and firebreaks on slopes were reseeded, part of the erosion-control efforts necessitated by the massive blaze.
The fire destroyed some minor structures on the ranch, but the really historic buildings — and State Parks’ neighboring Hearst Castle — were safe, thanks to the dogged efforts of firefighters with help from ranch and castle staff.
The economic downturn of 2008 also hit ranch operations.
But otherwise, ranch operations remain much the same as decades ago — plus or minus technological advances such as pickup trucks, helicopters, cell phones and GPS.
Cowboys on horseback still patrol herds of cattle and move them around from range to range to prevent overgrazing any one area.
There are more cattle on the ranch now than there were in 2005 and during the drought, according to Ben Higgins, director of Hearst Ranch agricultural operations. The Hearst Beef side of the ranch is now “producing over 1,000 head of grass-fed and -finished beef for Whole Foods” markets, he said.
Hearst said there are more than 2,400 head of cattle on the ranch now.
What’s next for Hearst Ranch?
So, what’s next for Hearst Ranch?
“We’ll have budget meetings about the ranch later this week,” Hearst said via phone. “We’ll go over plans from before, what we’ve learned, what we can do better.”
Higgins said that ranch operators frequently discuss maintenance activities such as road maintenance, fire break construction and the repair and building of new fencing — “all to assure we are keeping in compliance with the letter of the easement, but also the spirit.”
“A conservation ethic is as important to us as it is to whatever text is in the easement deed,” Higgins said.
“Our ultimate goal is to make sure this ranch remains in better condition today than it was yesterday,” he said. “We strive in a very serious way to be leaders in grass-fed beef production, in low-stress livestock handling, in managing these open spaces not just for livestock, but for wildlife, water quality and betterment of the land. That’s what it’s all about.”
Ultimately, Higgins said, “we want to make Steve and his family proud in the process.”
Was conservation deal worth it?
Ask people involved with the Hearst Ranch conservation deal, and they’ll tell you how proud they are of what was accomplished.
Kara Blakeslee Woodruff, who was then working for the American Land Conservancy, was the linchpin and often the go-between in the complex negotiations.
“The Hearst Ranch deal was one of the largest conservation projects in California history, and it’s just awesome that our community came together 15 years ago to make it happen,” Woodruff said. “It’s not every day that 82,000 acres on the California coast can be protected from large-scale development, ensuring the conservation of over 1,000 plant and animal species and stunning scenic views.”
At the same time, she said, “the deal enabled the continued operation of a working ranch, plus permanent public access to the coast. Sometimes, really great things happen, and this was truly one of those times.”
Bruce Gibson, who worked on the Hearst Ranch deal before he became county supervisor, said it “showed many rural landowners that they could leave a legacy of conservation — to the benefit of their families and the wider community.”
Shirley Bianchi served as county supervisor during the Hearst Ranch negotiations and finalized agreement.
“To have conserved that large a piece of old California — pretty much as it was before development hit California — so people now and future generations can continue to enjoy the views … well, that was worth every insult” leveled at her and others by opponents of the deal, Bianchi said.
Now, she added, “Every time I come up Highway 1 and come over the hill by the future home of Daou Ocean, seeing Hearst Ranch gives me such a nice warm feeling.”
