On   a   spectacularly   unseasonable   April   day,   red-tailed hawks and harriers wheel over the green pastureland of the  Dressler  Ranch  against  towering,  alabaster  cumulus clouds  that  drop  sheets  of  coarse-grained  snow  onto  a backdrop of the sagebrush- and juniper-studded eastern Sierra. A frigid, 50 km/h north wind sends white-capped ripples across the surface of Bridgeport Lake. This is raw country. Looking   down   onto   barbed-wire   fences,   gray-green meadows still trying to awaken from winter and craggy, snow-capped mountains, it is possible to imagine the day when  ruddy-faced  men  rode,  hunched  in  their  macki- naws,  astride  pinto  ponies  to  push  white-faced  dogies into fattening pens. Once, such a scene defi ned most of the high meadows of the eastern Sierra, particularly the Bridgeport Valley, a broad, 1000 km² plain at 1500 m altitude. Sitting directly astride this valley lies the 2500 ha Dressler Ranch, a spread where,  annually,  hundreds  of  head  of  beef  are  fattened for market. Lands like these, once central to a thriving regional cattle operation, have yielded over the last few years to intense development pressure for recreational home sites. Favor- able  zoning,  unparalleled  views  and  close  proximity  to recreational havens have created heavy demand and pre- mium prices for vacation home and ranchette lots. Today, especially  in  the  Carson  Valley  to  the  north,  sprawling ranches like the Dressler Ranch are falling to the insatiable appetite for 5 ha parcels to furnish home sites for Califor- nians eager to run from the Golden State’s spiraling real estate prices. But now, thanks to a $1 million Transportation Enhance- ment Activities grant recently approved by the California Transportation Commission, the Dressler Ranch is perma- nently safe from being cut up in this fashion. The funding, which augmented a $3.2 million grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board, was used to purchase a scenic ease- ment on the sprawling property, which is bisected by US 395 in Mono County. The  easement,  which  resulted  from  an  application  by the  California  Department  of  Fish  and  Game  and  the American Land Conservancy, will be administered by the California Rangeland Trust. The Dressler Ranch, now known as the Centennial Ranch, was   founded   shortly   after   the   Bridgeport   Valley   was settled  in  the  1860s.  Settled  by  the  Dressler  family  just after the turn of the century and purchased recently by the Centennial Livestock Partners, it rests at the heart of this spectacular eastern Sierra valley. As a scenic corridor, few cattle ranches in California could match the Dressler-Centennial. US 395, designated a Cali- fornia Scenic Highway, runs through it. The picturesque county  seat  of  Mono  County—Bridgeport—lies  just  at its  eastern  boundary  along  the  meandering  East  Walker River.  To  the  west  lie  the  rugged,  snow-capped  peaks Lands like these, once central to a thriving regional cattle operation, have yielded over the last few years to intense develop- ment pressure for recreational home sites. continued 34 California Transportation Journal July–September 2003