Project Description
Please note: Sceirine Point Ranch is private property.
Sceirine Point Ranch is a breathtakingly beautiful working ranch in Bridgeport Valley. At 2,375 acres, this historic ranch benefits our Eastern Sierra economy and provides an important home for wildlife like mule deer and sage-grouse.
This conservation easement is a big win for local conservation. Thanks to ranchers Joe and David Sceirine, our funding partners, and supporters like you, these irrigated meadows will remain open and productive for the future.
“We wanted to maintain our identity and preserve our lifestyle as cowboys and ranchers. It is my dream that three generations from now, Sceirine descendants not even born yet will be able to own and work this land to continue our family legacy.”
– David Sceirine, landowner of Sceirine Point Ranch
The Path to Perpetuity
When Joe and David Sceirineís grandparents began their ranching business in Bridgeport Valley over a century ago, they probably never imagined that those remote mountain meadows would ever be threatened by development.
Yet a few years ago, Joe and David started noticing that subdivision in Bridgeport Valley was on the rise. They saw the writing on the wall, and knew they needed to take action to protect their ranch for the future. The Sceirine brothers approached Eastern Sierra Land Trust to learn how they could keep their land wide-open and productive for generations to come.
We partnered with the Sceirine family to establish a conservation easement on their land. This teamwork demonstrated how conservation and sustainable agriculture can work hand-in-hand. And the result is a big win for our entire Eastern Sierra region.
By restricting certain future uses and limiting subdivision, this conservation easement permanently protects important habitat for wildlife, while allowing the land to continue to be used for livestock grazing. Plus, because the ranch remains privately-owned, it will continue to provide economic benefits for our region.
A Home for Rare Wildlife on Sceirine Point Ranch
Laced with creeks and wetlands, Sceirine Point Ranch offers a haven for mule deer, waterfowl, and many other wildlife species. It also provides some of the best habitat in our region for the rare Bi-state greater sage-grouse.
Sage-grouse numbers are in decline, so protecting places where this unusual bird can safely raise its chicks is a top conservation priority across the West. By safeguarding these irrigated meadows, you help keep local sage-grouse populations healthy while preventing land use restrictions that an endangered species listing would impose.
Fighting Climate Change by Saving Land
Our agricultural conservation easement at Sceirine Point Ranch protects wildlife habitat and our agricultural heritage by preventing future development. And studies show that this has an added benefit: it can also help prevent increases in greenhouse gas emissions.
Using California Climate Investments assets, the state’s Sustainable Agricultural Land Conservation (SALC) Program helped fund the purchase of this easement to prevent emissions increases that result from developing farmland. Preventing drastic changes and maintaining the native grassland will avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 45,637 metric tons of carbon, according to an analysis by the SALC Program.
Learn more about conservation in Bridgeport Valley