Pacific Forest Trust Purchases Ranch in Hopes of Restoration

The Pacific Forest Trust has purchased a ranch formerly belonging to the Ransome family that lies adjacent to Yosemite National Park in California. John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, had proposed including the area when Yosemite was just being drawn up as a national park in the 1880s. However, since the 730 acre ranch was owned by a timber company at the time, Congress decided to exclude the area. It was purchased in 1925 by the grandfather of Jim and Bob Ransom, from whom the Pacific Forest Trust acquired the land. The property, which links the Sierra National Forest to Yosemite, is considered important in taking the pressure of urban development off of the area's wildlife.