The David and Lucille Packard Foundation could spend as much as $100 million during a five-year program designed to protect California's Central Valley and Sierra Nevada, Nando Media reports.

The farmland and open space preservation effort is being called one of the country's most comprehensive conservation movements. The project, drafted by Sacramento attorney Michael Mantell, has already preserved land along the Consumnes and San Joaquin rivers.

The Packard money has been matched with other donations, which have helped retain 120,000 acres of Central Valley wetlands. In addition, the money was used to map the conservation efforts in the region that should get priority, the article reports.

New grants will go toward the purchase of land in Sacramento County's Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, among other projects.

The foundation has also launched a five-year program called Conserving California Landscapes, in which it will spend $175 million by 2002 to protect the natural ecosystems and agricultural resources of the state. It plans to spend $400 million worldwide for conservation efforts.

This environmental grantmaking is a new funding area for the 35-year-old Packard Foundation. The foundation reports that environmental expenditures will reach $75 million in 1999, mainly to help other organizations save fragile ecosystems and boost science-based conservation programs.

The Los Altos-based Packard Foundation is the nation's second largest foundation, with assets of $12.3 billion and grants totaling $500 million, Nando reports.

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