The city of San Luis Obispo completed the $1.1 million acquisition of the 154-acre Waddell Ranch to be conserved in perpetuity.

The ranch contains the headwaters of Froom Creek and adjoins the city’s Irish Hills Natural Reserve. The deal, executed by the city of SLO, the Trust for Public Land and property owner Duane Waddell of Cayucos, will allow the completion of a loop trail through the reserve along the top of Mine Hill.

Measure G funding as well as a pair of grants from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and the California Natural Resources Agency helped facilitate the transaction.

“The city is extremely proud to be able to complete this long-standing conservation priority in furtherance of our local land conservation legacy,” Natural Resources Manager Bob Hill said in a news release. “The property is a small piece of old California, and we are grateful to Mr. Waddell for his past stewardship and commitment to ensuring that this special land will remain open and wild forever.”

The city expects to open the land to the public in the spring of 2017 and will add the property into the Irish Hills Natural Reserve following a conservation planning process with the community and city council.

• Contact Alex Kacik at akacik@pacbiztimes.com.