CARRIZO PLAIN, Calif. — \o7 Once they bought out a New York real estate company. Once they pretended to be developers in Virginia. As the folks at the Nature Conservancy have shown time and again, there's more than one way to preserve wild lands.

\f7 While environmental groups have been fighting government and development interests during the 25 years of the Wilderness Act, a little-known private group has quietly put aside nearly 4 million acres of ecologically important lands.

In its 38 years, the Nature Conservancy has saved threatened lands ranging from 343 square miles of rare New Mexican desert grassland to a heron feeding ground on nine-tenths of an acre of Connecticut marsh.

And, with a well-endowed war chest and a proven track record, the nonprofit Arlington, Va.-based group now saves land at an average of 1,000 acres a day.

Doesn't Get Into Fights

The Conservancy's success is due in part to an organizational credo. It will not fight developers in court or seek a public forum to save private land. It remains neutral in skirmishes involving government, environmentalists and business interests, using a checkbook and persuasion rather than lawyers and protests.

"We used to describe ourselves as the real estate arm of the conservation movement," Bill Weeks, the Conservancy's chief operating officer, said. "That role has been changing, but we still will look to market-based solutions rather than regulatory solutions."

The Conservancy's proven techniques and changing role are evident here in the Carrizo Plain, 180,000 acres of beautifully empty grasslands 150 miles north of Los Angeles.

The Carrizo, home to such endangered species as the kit fox and blunt-nosed lizard, was purchased after the Conservancy put together such unlikely partners as state and federal agencies, the oil industry, ranching interests and conservation groups.

The Conservancy is involved in an ambitious new project to reintroduce native grasses, elk and antelope, pushed out in the past by farming and cattle grazing.

Native Grass Sprouting

"Grazing ended this April, and the native grass is already coming up," preserve manager Chuck Warner said, standing in an emerald green island of native rye grass surrounded by the dusty brown, lunar landscape.

The Nature Conservancy has acquired nearly half of its land through standard real estate deals. Although much, including the Carrizo, is turned over to state or federal stewardship, the Conservancy owns and manages the world's largest private nature preserve system, with nearly 1,000 preserves.