Palo Corona Ranch
The Palo Corona Ranch on the northern end of Big Sur, California is owned by to the Big Sur Land Trust. It is located between Garrapata State Park to the west, Carmel Valley on the north, and Santa Lucia Preserve to the east. The park is about one-third the size of San Francisco. It extends about south from Carmel to the Los Padres National Forest and ranges from near sea level to over in elevation. The park links 13 other ecologically important properties, including Point Lobos State Reserve, Carmel River State Beach, Garrapata State Park, Hatton  Canyon, Joshua Creek Canyon Ecological Reserve, and several additional properties that were protected by the Big Sur Land Trust. The land was purchased for $37 million in 2002 by the Nature Conservancy and the Big Sur Land Trust from cellular telephone pioneer Craig McCaw. He had assembled the land from multiple sources. He first purchased the Fish Ranch from the heirs of Stuyvesant Fish in 1996. It was the location for the movie adaptation of John Steinbeck’s "Flight" a story about a fugitive in Big Sur. McCaw promised to protect old-growth redwoods. The Nature Conservancy hoped with  the purchase to "create a 70-mile-long wildlife corridor from the Carmel River in the north to San Luis Obispo County in the south." California pledged $32 million from Proposition 40 funds to help fund the cost.