News, Coveted oceanfront land in Ventura County will become a nature preserve : detailed suggestions and opinions about Coveted oceanfront land in Ventura County will become a nature preserve .
The scene from the privately owned ridgelines just northwest of Malibu is of untrammeled coastline where natural forces continue to unfold: Fog lifts off steep slopes scented with coastal sage that haven’t changed since Chumash Indians roamed them centuries ago.
The only sounds are of surf crashing against the base of fortress-like mountains with panoramic views of dolphins, sea lions and gray whales swimming free about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles.
Legal disputes for decades put a cloud over the future of the 1,250 acres of land just northwest of the Ventura County line that biologists coveted as environmentally valuable, and developers saw as prime real estate in an area where the median price of a home is about $5 million.
The combatants included would-be developer Harry Mansdorf, now deceased, whose family had purchased the property over four decades ago with proceeds from their aircraft business. Their most famous plane was the Pregnant Guppy, a bulbous cargo carrier that ferried moon rocket parts from the West Coast for NASA in the 1960s.
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