OPEN SPACE PLANNED FOR TEJON RANCH 270,000 ACRES TO BE GIFT.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

FORT TEJON - The company planning 23,000 homes on Los Angeles County's northwestern edge has proposed turning over more than one-third of its surrounding holdings to the Trust for Public Land for preservation.

The 270,000 acres at the center of Tejon Ranch's deal is on the Kern County side of the property and lies in the wilderness along California's dramatic Grapevine.

Environmentalists applauded the move, since they consider Tejon's land a critical habitat corridor between the Sierra Nevada and the mountains along the coast. About 40 percent of Tejon's land is too mountainous for development.

But Monica Bond, a biologist with the Center for Biological Diversity, said the entire ranch contains irreplaceable habitat and deserves protection, not just those areas that Tejon Ranch can't develop.

``That's just not good enough,'' Bond said. ``The whole thing is an ecologically critical area. We really want to see the entire ranch in preservation. That's our goal and we're going to fight for that.''

The Trust for Public Land is a national environmental group that tries to preserve open space. The group said it has protected 1.4 million acres in 45 states since it was founded in 1972.

Tejon Ranch, California's largest single land holding, once was home to a large cattle operation, but the company has sold off its livestock in recent years in preparation for development. Company officials submitted plans for the proposed town of Centennial to Los Angeles County planners and anticipate a two- to three-year review process.

Tejon Ranch Co., Pardee Homes, Lewis Investment Co. and Standard Pacific Homes are involved in a joint-venture partnership called Centennial Founders. The community is planned near the junction of the Golden State Freeway and state Highway 138, which links Interstate 5 to the Antelope Valley.