By spending $76.6 million and preserving 271,800 acres of open space in California, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation accomplished in two years what it intended to do in five, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Not content to stop there, foundation leaders will spend another $100 million for conservation efforts in 2000.

Two years ago, the foundation shocked the environmental world when it announced plans to donate $175 million during five years to save California open space, wildlife areas and farmland from development, the newspaper reports.

The foundation's goal was to preserve 250,000 acres by 2003. Through its Conserving California Landscapes initiative, it spent $76.6 million in 1998 and 1999 to purchase land and development rights throughout California. These quick moves allowed the foundation to surpass its initial 250,000 acre goal by 21,800 acres.

This year, the foundation plans to spend $100 million on conservation efforts and another $400 million on science, arts, population and other programs, the newspaper reports.

Of the $100 million, $35 million to $40 million will go to land purchases, and another $30 million will pay for loans to preserve open space. That kind of spending will make the Packard Foundation the largest foundation contributor to environmental causes in the nation, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

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