Palo Corona Ranch
Palo Corona Ranch looking west from Palo Corona Regional Park in 2022
Map showing the location of Palo Corona Ranch
Map showing the location of Palo Corona Ranch
Palo Corona Ranch
Location in Monterey County
LocationMonterey County, US
Nearest cityCarmel, California
Coordinates36°31′58″N 121°54′26″W / 36.53278°N 121.90722°W / 36.53278; -121.90722
Area4,500 acres (18 km2)
Established1927, May, 2002
Governing bodyMonterey Peninsula Regional Park District

The 4,500 acres (1,800 ha) Palo Corona Ranch, also known as Fish Ranch, was once a private ranch located on the northern end of Big Sur, California, between Garrapata State Park to the west, Carmel Valley on the north, and Santa Lucia Preserve to the east. The ranch is now owned by Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District (MPRPD)[1][2] In 2002, the Big Sur Land Trust and The Nature Conservancy acquired the land and transferred ownership to MPRPD in 2004, which created the Palo Corona Regional Park. Key habitat and resources include coastal grasslands and woodland, ponds, and perennial creeks.[3]

History

Map of Monterey County, showing Rancho Potrero de San Carlos and San José y Sur Chiquito areas

In April 1927, Sidney Webster Fish, son of Stuyvesant Fish and Marion Graves Anthon Fish, and his wife Olga Martha Wiborg (1890–1937),[4] daughter of Frank Bestow Wiborg, purchased over 1,000 acres (400 ha), which they named the Palo Corona Ranch (Fish Ranch). The ranch was part of the Rancho San José y Sur Chiquito Mexican land grant to the west, with some inland areas within the Rancho Potrero de San Carlos land grant. Fish built a home and ranch on the property and ran a heard of Hereford cattle. In 1929, the ranch barn was designed and built by M. J. Murphy.

In 1930, Charles Lindbergh and his wife Anne Morrow Lindbergh stayed at the ranch as guests while on an extended honeymoon, and Lindbergh flew a glider from a ridge at the ranch.[5][6][7] Eight men towed the glider to the ridge where he soared over the countryside for 10 minutes and brought the plane down 3 miles below the Highlands Inn.[8][9]

In September 1996, telecommunications millionaire Craig McCaw bought the Palo Corona Ranch, which had grown to 4,500 acres (1,800 ha), from the Fish Ranch Trust. McCaw outbid the Big Sur Land Trust and the Save the Redwoods League in buying the property. The asking price was $7.5 million but sold for about $10 million.[10] At that time, Fish Ranch stretched southeast about 11 miles (18 km) along the Carmel River south to the Los Padres National Forest.[5]

Palo Corona Regional Park looking east

Environmentalists were concerned that the Palo Corona Ranch would be converted to an estate-type development like Rancho San Carlos, now Santa Lucia Preserve.[11] In May 2002, The Nature Conservancy and the Big Sur Land Trust, joined together, and bought the Palo Corona Ranch from McCaw for $37 million. Their plan was to sell it to the state of California and to a regional park district.[3][12]: 325 

In 2004, the Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District (MPRPD) purchased the remaining 2,088 acres (845 ha) middle portion of the Palo Corona Ranch from The Nature Conservancy and the Big Sur Land Trust for the appraised value of $10.2 million.[13] Once finalized in 2004, Palo Corona Ranch became the largest land conservation in Monterey County and one of the most significant due to its size and habitat. The acreage was then divided between the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and MPRPD for protection. The Palo Corona Regional Park was created from the northern 4,350 acres (1,760 ha). In 2016, MPRPD acquired 140 acres (57 ha) of the Rancho Caňada Country Club and golf course in Carmel Valley, which provides public access to the Palo Corona Regional Park.[14][15]

References

  1. ↑ "Where We Work | Big Sur Land Trust". Big Sur Land Trust. Retrieved February 18, 2022.
  2. ↑ "BIOS Viewer by CDFW". apps.wildlife.ca.gov. California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Retrieved February 14, 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Conservationists buy part of Big Sur". The Fresno Bee. Fresno, California. May 10, 2002. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  4. ↑ "Ms. Wiborg a Bride". The Washington Post. September 19, 1915. Retrieved December 8, 2008.
  5. 1 2 Jeff Ohlson. "A History of Ranching in Carmel Valley". Carmel Valley Historical Socieety. Carmel Valley, California. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Mr., Mrs. Sidney Fish Buy Ranch in Carmel Valley". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. April 9, 1927. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  7. ↑ "Giant California ranch for sale - with caveat". Arizona Daily Sta. Tucson, Arizona. December 3, 1995. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
  8. ↑ Richard Flower (2014). "Charles Lindbergh: Piloting a Flider in the Carmel Highlands". Stories of Old Carmel: A Centennial Tribute From The Carmel Residents Association. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 149. OCLC 940565140. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  9. ↑ "Lindbergh Continues Glider Flight Here". Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. March 14, 1930. p. 16. Retrieved February 15, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Billionaire buys Carmel's 'holy' Fish Ranch". The Press Democrat. Santa Rosa, California. September 22, 1996. Retrieved February 12, 2023.
  11. ↑ State Water Resources Control Board Meeting Session--Division Of Financial Assistance, October 15, 2003
  12. ↑ Brewer, Richard (2004). Conservancy: the Land Trust Movement in America (paperback ed.). Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press. ISBN 978-1584654483. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  13. ↑ State Water Resources Control Board Meeting Session--Division Of Financial Assistance, October 15, 2003
  14. ↑ "140 Acres Of Rancho Caňada Golf Course To become Parkland". Monterey Peninsula Regional Park District. Carmel Valley, California. April 16, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  15. ↑ Therese Iknoian (September 29, 2018). "The best hike in Carmel: Palo Corona Regional Park trails and views". High Travel Tales. Retrieved February 13, 2023.
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