Ventura Land Trust has been awarded $7.2 million from the State of California to complete the acquisition and permanent conservation of the 1,645-acre Ventura hillsides property now known as Mariano Rancho Preserve.
Mariano Rancho Preserve provides a dramatic backdrop to historic downtown and midtown Ventura with the most high-profile hills in the region. The eastern edge of Mariano Rancho Preserve contains one of the famous “Two Trees.” The western corner of the property is adjacent to Ventura’s Grant Park, home to the Ventura Botanical Gardens.
With the acquisition of Mariano Rancho Preserve, Ventura Land Trust comes full circle to the reason the organization, originally Ventura Hillsides Conservancy, was established in 2003: to preserve and protect the hills that define Ventura’s landscape.