UC Santa Barbara has received formal approval from the UC Regents to acquire Las Varas Ranch, an agricultural property totaling 1,800 acres six miles west of the campus. The ranch extends from the Pacific Ocean to Los Padres National Forest.
“This is a great visionary gift to our campus from philanthropist Charles T. Munger, who is interested in the long-term benefit it can provide to UC Santa Barbara,” said UC Santa Barbara Chancellor Henry T. Yang.
“We are immensely fortunate to have been entrusted with this ‘coastal jewel,’ which includes two miles of coastline,” he continued. “With more than 500 acres of pastureland, an 18-acre lake and fruit orchards, the land offers rich agricultural resources and exceptional educational opportunities.”
For the foreseeable future, UC Santa Barbara will maintain the property in its current state as a working ranch.
Previously, in 2014, Munger designed and funded the Charles T. Munger Physics Residence, a premier living and collaborative environment for the campus’s Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics.
“We are enormously grateful to Charlie Munger for blessing our campus with this fabulous gift that will benefit our university for generations to come,” said Yang. “This is much more than just a gift of land, but rather a living legacy, a vision for the long-range future of our campus.”
