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Photo by: Erik Vink

Cook Ranch

San Joaquin County

Preserving Agricultural Productivity

On February 20, 2008, Bill and Lynn Cook entered into a conservation easement agreement with the California Rangeland Trust that ensures the 2,235-acre W.F. Cook Cattle Company Ranch will forever remain the same. The Ranch is located in a scenic, open rangeland area of gentle, sloping terrain with several broad knolls and valleys that support grazing operations.  Historically used for cattle, the Ranch was under threat from ranchette development as the population of San Joaquin County expands eastward to the Sierra foothills. The Ranch will now be a major open space buffer while conserving the agricultural use, soils, character, value and utility of the land. The conservation easement allows the ongoing agricultural productivity of the property while limiting nonagricultural use.  The California Rangeland Trust worked with the Trust for Public Land in assembling grant funds from the State of California Department of Conservation’s California Farmland Conservancy Program, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture through the Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program. Placing an easement on the land demonstrates the owner’s commitment to conservation and is a tremendous way to continue the historic legacy of good land stewardship.