Steve Sinton was the Rangeland Trust's founding chairman. A graduate of Stanford University and the University of Colorado Law School, Stinton practiced water and environmental law in Sacramento, California and San Luis Obispo County for fifteen years before retiring to operate two family cattle ranches with his father and manage several commercial buildings in the City of San Luis Obispo. The Sinton family also operates a 120-acre vineyard. Steve is a member of the California Cattlemen's Association, the San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen's Association and the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, the San Luis Obispo County Water Resources Advisory Committee, and the San Luis Obispo County Native Tree Committee. Stinton was awarded the National American Farmland Trust Steward of the year in 2005.

In California, there are over 22 million acres of privately owned rangeland. The California Rangeland Trust would be able to conserve nearly 500,000 acres of rangeland if funding was available. The Rangeland Trust uses conservation easements as the tool to conserve rangeland properties.

An additional ranch recently preserved is Ecker Ranch, a 1,080 acre ranch now protected by an agricultural easement.

Other notable ranches in the Trust's portfolio include:

In 2000, California Rangeland Trust accepted the donation of a 1,122-acre easement as mitigation for a commercial development located in the northwest corner of Tejon Ranch. As a condition of approval for the development, Tejon Ranch Company donated an easement on nearby grazing land in order to protect habitat for the San Joaquin kit fox and blunt-nosed leopard lizard.

In 2005, the Hearst Corporation, American Land Conservancy, California Rangeland Trust, and the State of California completed a comprehensive conservation project that permanently protects the 128 square mile Hearst Ranch. A major component of the project is the conservation easement restricting future development on 80,000 acres. The Hearst ranch is the largest privately-owned working cattle ranch remaining on the California Coast. The conservation easement ensures that the scenic, open space, agricultural and natural resource values of the ranch are preserved. California Rangeland Trust holds, monitors and enforces the conservation easement.

A conservation easement agreement was placed on December 27, 2007. Originally part of the historic Spanish land grant, Rancho Cañada de los Pinos, the owners purchased San Lucas Ranch in 1924. This donated easement on 1,534 acres of the working ranch preserves a piece of California’s western heritage and habitat resources. It is part of a much larger unified ecological landscape which includes scenic mountain and riparian views of the Santa Ynez Valley and the surrounding mountain ranges. A primary value of this property is the Valley Oak savannah and grasslands that once covered most of the valley.

Rangeland Trust