SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - A vast ranch outside San Jose owned by the Hewlett and Packard families has been permanently protected from development in a deal with a conservation group.
In a statement released Sunday by the Nature Conservancy, the two families said they had donated the development rights to the property known as San Felipe Ranch to the Virginia-based organization.
Hewlett-Packard Co. founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard bought the ranch as a hunting retreat in the 1950s as the region that became known as Silicon Valley was just emerging as a high-tech hub.
The 44-square-mile parcel of rolling hills and oak woodlands is about the size of the city of San Francisco.
Conservationists have long coveted the ranch as a crucial piece of a planned corridor connecting several wilderness areas in the hills east of San Jose.
The Nature Conservancy is a conservation organization headquartered in Arlington, Va., that works to protect plants and animals by protecting their habitat.
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.