of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  including  the  Sawtooth  Range, Mt.  Dunderberg,  the  Hoover  Wilderness  Area  and  the northern boundary of Yosemite National Park. To the east are  the  Bodie  Hills—arid,  sagebrush-covered  hills  where mining towns and camps came and went during the mid- 19th century. The ranch treats highway travelers to views of lush mead- ows  that  support  cattle  herds  and  ranching  much  the same as they did to the stagecoach passengers journeying along the eastern Sierra 150 years ago. The ranch’s rich and diverse habitat includes natural and man-made wetlands, irrigated meadows and sagebrush, along  with  multiple  riparian  corridors  and  pine  forests. Wildlife  abounds,  with  eagles  and  other  raptors  soaring overhead while cattle graze in the pastures below. Mule deer are common, along with sage grouse and a variety of waterfowl. Purchase of the easement resulted from a massive team- work effort. “If you wanted to take a picture of everyone involved  in  this  project,”  says  Terry  Abbott,  Local  Assis- tance Chief, whose unit spearheaded the state’s effort on the grant, “you’d have to use a wide angle lens to include everyone—more  than  38  people  from  10  agencies,  de- partments,  nonprofi t  organizations  and  private  corpora- tions, including fi ve attorneys. “The Dressler Ranch scenic easement acquisition started off  like  many  TEA  projects,  with  high  expectations  but with  more  complexities  than  the  applicants  were  really aware of,” Abbott says. “It turned into a potential script for a Mission Impossible sequel.” The  project,  chosen  by  a  committee  of  Caltrans,  Re- sources   Agency   and   Federal   Highway   Administration representatives for the Statewide Transportation Enhance- ments share of the TEA Program, at fi rst looked like a slam dunk (acquisitions don’t, after all, involve either a design or  a  construction  phase).  Ann  Malcolm,  Department  of Fish and Game legal counsel who reviewed the three-way agreement  between  her  department,  Caltrans  and  the American  Land  Conservancy,  even  exclaimed,  “what  a spectacular spot!” The California Transportation Commission voted to allocate funds for the easement on November 7, 2002. 36 California Transportation Journal July–September 2003