Apple co-founder selling 14,100-acre property to The Wildlands Conservancy

Rana Creek Ranch. image credit: The Wildlands Conservancy

Rana Creek Ranch is a 14,100-acre property in Monterey County, California. Apple co-founder Mike Markkula purchased the land with part of his Apple fortune but has been trying to sell it since at least 2013.

According to The Mercury News, Markkula has finally closed a deal to sell it to The Wildlands Conservancy for $35 million with escrow closing July 30. The conservancy is expected to open the property to the public for hiking, mountain biking, and horseback riding for free, according to Frazier Haney, executive director of the Wildlands Conservancy.

"The property is the size of — and has the grandeur of — many of California's state parks," Haney said. "It's a wonderland of oak-filled valleys and magnificent flower-studded ridgelines."

The property is home to a lot of wildlife, like black bears and mountain lions, but it also hosts a few buildings and other amenities like a half-mile landing strip and cattle ranch. The Wildlife Conservancy plans to use the facilities as a regional conference center and education center for children.

Markkula purchased 9,000 acres of land in 1992 for about $8 million and added to it over time. Before that purchase, it operated as a cattle ranch for roughly 200 years, which is still active, and before that, it was the site of an Esselen tribal village.

The Wildlife Conservancy is selling about 1,800 acres to the Esselen Tribe. Tribal members will work to help maintain the landscape, and there is a plan to recreate the original village of Cappany.

"We were taken from these lands, taken to the mission, and now we are able to go back," said Tom Little Bear Nason, chairman of the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. "Many members of our tribe are direct descendants of this land."

The Wildlands Conservancy has acquired 200,000 acres for public preserves since 1995. It operates 22 other preserves in California and one in Oregon.

Markkula is no stranger to helping fund conservation groups and other non-profit businesses. He's donated to the Nature Conservancy, the Alaska Raptor Center, the Heritage Foundation, the Computer History Museum, and many more.