Jury Rewards Rancher
In Fed Land Seizure

LOS ANGELES — In what property rights advocates hail as a major victory, a jury has ruled that the federal government must pay a family $12.7 million for seizing ranch property to create Channel Islands National Park.

The jury made the award to the Gherini family last Friday after a three-week-long trial before U.S. District Judge Richard A. Paez.

The decision followed nearly two decades of unsuccessful negotiations.

Francis Gherini, the family's patriarch, said he was pleased.

``All I ever wanted was the fair market value for my share of the largest island off the California coast,'' Gherini said in a statement released by his lawyer, Roger M. Sullivan. ``It never should have come this far. I'm a reasonable man.''

Gherini and his family owned 6300 acres of land on Santa Cruz Island, 20 miles off the Ventura County coast. His family first bought land there in 1880 and ran, at various times, a sheep and cattle ranch, vineyard and hunting operation.

In 1980, the island was designated to become part of a five-island national park chain. The government offered $4 million for Gherini's land but he refused, contending it was worth $14 million.

In the early 1990s, the government bought out Gherini's three siblings for about $4 million each, gaining a 75 percent interest in the land.

Gherini sued after the government finally took the land in November 1996.