Yolo County, its cities and UC Davis are looking to form an alliance to purchase the sprawling 17,300-acre Conaway Ranch - a large swath of farmland and wetlands in the Yolo Bypass that has critical water rights.

On Thursday, officials announced their intention to form a joint powers authority to purchase the ranch, which is reputed to be Yolo County's largest undivided piece of property. The officials hope to buy the land before it is purchased by land speculators or developers.

"This is a bold step in our effort to preserve for the public benefit a major regional resource," Mike McGowan, chairman of the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, said at an afternoon press conference.

"We couldn't afford to do this alone," said Woodland Mayor Matt Rexroad. "And we cannot afford not to do this together."

The JPA would include Yolo County, Woodland, Davis, West Sacramento and UC Davis. The city of Winters also has been invited to participate, but leaders there have not determined whether they will join the alliance.

John Meyer, vice chancellor for development at UC Davis, said the university is interested in preserving the property because "a healthy Yolo County makes for a healthy and vibrant university."

The sprawling ranch extends between Interstate 5 and Interstate 80 along the Yolo Bypass. It is treasured by area environmentalists and state and county leaders for its wildlife areas and high-quality farmland. Egret, pheasant and geese are among the birds that frequent the area. Some of the land is used for hunting.

Owned by National Energy and Gas Transmission Properties, the land is expected on the real estate market soon.

"We are considering the sale of the property. We're in the process of designing how we will do that," said Sandra McDonough, vice president of NEGT Properties, formerly known as PG&E Properties. McDonough said the company has not identified a potential buyer.

Public officials talked about forming a partnership to purchase the parcel when the property came on the market in March 1996. PG&E Properties, a nonutility subsidiary of Pacific Gas and Electric Co., asked $68.5 million for the land at that time.

A deal never materialized and PG&E Properties later filed for bankruptcy.

PG&E Properties paid $35 million for the ranch in 1990, officials said at that time.

McGowan, the Yolo County supervisor, said the JPA may seek a short-term loan as well as state and federal grants to buy the property. Payments on the loan would be made through income from the property. Little - or no - local government general funds would be used, he said.

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, said she would work to obtain any state help the project may require.

"It truly would be a legacy for this region and the state," said Wolk.

The 17,300 acres of property includes 15,900 acres of farmland - rice, safflower, corn, alfalfa, wheat, oats, barley and sugar beets have been grown there over the years. The acreage also houses areas of wetlands, with 8,300 acres of the property lying inside the Yolo Bypass and Cache Creek Settling Basin.

The land also includes a producing natural gas field and 2,100 acres of developable land near Woodland.

The developable land is the acreage officials most fear would be bought by land speculators.

Additionally, the property holds a variety of water contracts, wells and riparian rights. The land holds claim to 50,000 acre-feet of water, enough to provide water to more than 200,000 families a year. In the drought year of 1991, when the ranch was fallow so its water could be sold to the state, the land grossed $4.6 million from water sales, Bee reports indicate.

Portions of the land also provide flood control for the region, officials said.

McGowan said officials intend to keep the "status quo" on the uses of the property if they buy the land. He said the county has hired appraisers to independently determine the property's value. After the appraisal is finished, officials will discuss how to move forward to form the JPA and to make an offer on the land.