On May 8, 2008, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Tejon Ranch Company and five major environmental organisations to announce a landmark conservation and land-use agreement covering the 270,000-acre Tejon Ranch. The agreement was designed to permanently protect up to 240,000 acres, roughly 90% of the ranch, while allowing limited development and continued ranching and other historical activities on the remaining land. The deal followed about two years of negotiations between Tejon Ranch Company and Audubon California, the Endangered Habitats League, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Planning and Conservation League and the Sierra Club. Schwarzenegger supported and publicly announced the agreement, but the negotiations themselves were conducted between the company and the environmental organisations. The agreement created the independent Tejon Ranch Conservancy and established a framework for conservation, management and public access across the enormous property. Tejon Ranch Company has described the pact as the largest private conservation agreement in California history.
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