Bruin Ranch
Working with the landowner and the Trust for Public Land, Placer Land Trust has a one-time opportunity to protect the 2,300-acre Bruin Ranch on the Bear River.
We need your help! 
We are under contract until the end of 2010 to raise the funds to purchase and protect Bruin Ranch. But after 2010, all bets are off. In order to protect this property from being developed (it’s zoned for up to 900 units) we have a year to raise several million dollars to acquire Bruin Ranch and protect it through perpetual stewardship and management.
Bruin Ranch is an incredible property, and with your help it can become a permanent resource for current and future generations. This is a working cattle ranch situated on 2,300 acres of oak woodlands and grasslands, with over three miles of Bear River frontage. The views from Bald Rock Mountain on the property are spectacular, and the diverse wildlife on the property is amazing.
Connection and Protection
What makes Bruin Ranch so unique – in addition to its size and resources – is its location. PLT recently created the Bear-Yuba Partnership with Nevada County land Trust and the Trust for Public Land. This partnership was created to strategically connect and protect the most important landscapes in the foothills of the Bear and Yuba rivers. Bruin Ranch is located right at the heart of existing and proposed conservation projects of the Bear-Yuba Partnership.
PLT has already permanently preserved 1,700 acres directly adjacent to Bruin Ranch: Garden Bar Preserve, and our Big Hill preserves (Liberty Ranch, Taylor Ranch, and Kotomyan Preserve). We’re working with several other area landowners to add another thousand acres to that total. Also, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management is interested in working with PLT to connect and protect several hundred acres of BLM land adjacent to Bruin Ranch and on both sides of the Bear River. Nevada County Land Trust has already preserved thousands of acres across the river, and is under contract to connect these lands to PLT’s preserved lands and Bruin Ranch with a pending acquisition.
Providing for the Future
From hiking to fishing to quiet solitude, the public recreation opportunities at Bruin Ranch are impressive … but we’re shooting for even more. We’re working with Placer County and others to create a one-of-a-kind public trail system in this area. Bruin Ranch will be the key acquisition to link the Bear River to the Hidden Falls Regional Park on Coon Creek through a 7-mile wilderness trail amid a protected landscape of ranch lands, open woodlands, forests, creek and ponds. Along the way, we’ll be protecting the cultural resources of prehistoric Native American peoples, the Maidu and Nisenan, as well as a Basque ranching heritage and Gold Rush history.
Help us make this vision a reality!
Please join the campaign to save Bruin Ranch today.
Donate now through our secure online server to help Placer Land Trust protect important landscapes like Bruin Ranch. By donating, you’ll know that you’re supporting a nationally accredited land trust with a local focus, a proven track record, and a commitment to the future.
You’ll also know that your donation will be multiplied many times over. Placer Land Trust leverages our individual community donations to secure large capital contributions from the business community, philanthropic foundations, grant makers, and public agencies. You don’t have to donate a million dollars to make this project happen … but your gift can be part of helping us secure that million dollars down the road, which will enable us to protect Bruin Ranch for current and future generations to enjoy.
Bruin Ranch In The News
Auburn Journal - Bruin Ranch preservation drive leaps forward
At the heart of the last contiguous swath of blue oak woodlands in the region, Bruin Ranch is teeming with flora, fauna and hope these days.
The 2,300-acre ranch is the object of a fund-raising effort by the Placer Land Trust to preserve a sprawling parcel with majestic views and the Bear River running through it. The ranchland not only provides sanctuary and a migration corridor for wildlife. It’s also grazing land that serves as a working cattle ranch.
Now in private hands, the ranch is being offered for sale to the land trust. The Auburn-based land-preservation non-profit is trying to raise $2 million from private sources by the end of the year to help pay for the purchase.
This past week, supporters of the trust gathered under the oaks at the historic Cooper Amphitheater at the Auburn School Park Preserve to kick off the organization’s Bear River Capital Campaign.
The campaign will fund a major new program to protect Bruin Ranch streams, agriculture and watershed habitat while creating new recreational opportunities in the Bear River and Coon Creek watersheds.
The land trust has joined with the Trust for Public Land and the Nevada County Land Trust in a partnership that is intent on funding the purchase of the Bruin Ranch in Placer County and the 652-acre Garden Bar Preserve in Nevada County. The two properties connect to existing preserved lands and could create 6,500 acres of contiguous open space.
Fred Yeager, Placer Land Trust board president, said his organization was excited when it found out the Harvego family of Sacramento – owners of the Bruin Ranch – were willing to work with them on a land sale. The family went so far as to make the formal announcement of the fund-raising drive at a reception in their restaurant Ten22.
“The board is also aware of what a large undertaking this is,” Yeager said. “There’s a need not just to have the funds to acquire the property but to take care of it afterward.”
Last Wednesday’s reception in Auburn provided a big boost to the trust’s fundraising goals. Two separate donors stepped forward to offer to match donations.
Auburn residents Bob Gilliom and Patty Schifferle, through their Emigrant Trails Greenway Trust, pledged to match donations up to $50,000 through May 15.
A second challenge grant for donations up to $50,000 was made by Rocklin’s Armrod Charitable Foundation.
If the full amounts are matched, the Bruin Ranch fund will receive $200,000 in donations to go with about $400,000 that has already been received.
“The Bear River and Coon Creek are incredibly beautiful and valuable natural resources right in our own backyard and we now have a chance to permanently protect some of their most critical stretches for our kids and grandchildren,” Gilliom said.
(Click Image to view entire article)
Bruin Ranch Acquisition Project 2010 - HD Video
NPR - Down Economy Benefits Land Conservancy Groups
Auburn Journal - Bruin Ranch: Awesome Recreation Potential
"So, do you think
you’d enjoy having 2,300 acres of oak woodland as
your playground for hunting, fishing, biking, hiking, birding and
riding… all just north of downtown Auburn?
Sounds like a pipe dream, right? Well, not so fast…
Preserving it for the public
Bruin Ranch, a privately held piece of land near Auburn Valley
Country Club, is coming up for sale and the landowner has given Placer
Land Trust (www.placerlandtrust.org) first shot at purchasing it. As
always, PLT’s goal is to preserve the land and make it public.
I was lucky enough to get a tour of the place a week back with Jeff
Darlington, the Executive Director of PLT, and it was one of the most
incredible pieces of property on which I’ve ever set foot."
(Click Image to view entire article)
Bruin Ranch In Pictures - HD Slideshow
Bruin Ranch Aerial Map