State Buys El Capitan Ranch for Park
El Capitan Ranch, one of the largest properties on the Gaviota coast, is now a state park, according to the Trust for Public Lands.
The 2,500-acre property, which rises from El Capitan State Beach through oak woodlands and chaparral to the ridgelines of the Santa Ynez Mountains, cost $9.5 million.
The state already owned about 3,000 acres at Gaviota State Park and El Capitan and Refugio state beaches. The ranch is valued at $12.5 million, but its former owners, Chuck Blitz of Santa Barbara and Roger Himovitz of Montecito, agreed to make a contribution of $2.5 million in land value. They will keep 650 acres.
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