New California wildlife preserve gives animals room to roam

TEHACHAPI, Calif. (AP) — Mountain lions, eagles, salamanders and other protected animals will have room to roam without threat of encroaching development thanks to a vast new nature preserve that creates a wildlife corridor connecting Northern and Southern California. The Randall Preserve covers more than 112 square miles, linking a patchwork of ranchland across the southern Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi Mountains. The preserve is the largest ever assembled in California by the environmental nonprofit the Nature Conservancy. Its topography stretches from desert to hilly grasslands to pine forest. The project cost $65 million, with all but $15 million donated by philanthropists Frank and Joan Randall.