Our family bought our Gillis Canyon Ranch in 1935, 50 years after arriving here from Scotland with dreams of building a life on this abundant land. Family members were ahead of their time in understanding the importance of protecting wild, open spaces, and they took steps to safeguard large swaths of land that provided habitat for animals like the endangered California condor. We’re so grateful for their foresight to preserve this priceless gift, and it’s now our job to do the same for our grandchildren by protecting public lands on the Central Coast.
We consider ourselves “keepers” of the land more than anything else, because we know the hard work we put in every day will provide a priceless gift for future generations. And while we’re the keepers now, our children, grandchildren and beyond will someday take on this responsibility. From our perspective, this responsibility applies not only to our ranch, but to the 245,000 acres of public lands that surround our special community.
That’s why we support legislation known as the Central Coast Heritage Protection Act. Our beloved Central Coast public lands belong to generations past, present and future, and we must embrace the historic opportunity to protect these precious places for years to come.
