SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California conservation groups took advantage of depressed property values during the nation’s recession to snap up vast swaths of land for public use in the Sierra Nevada region.

The Sacramento Bee reported Sunday (http://tinyurl.com/q8r836s ) that conservation groups purchased thousands of acres of land, much of it originally planned for housing developments. Prompted by plummeting real estate values, five nonprofit preservation groups formed a partnership called the Truckee Donner Land Trust in 2007. The partnership has purchased 40,000 acres — roughly the size of the city of Stockton.