Washington state had hoped to buy a historic Benton County ranch on Rattlesnake Mountain, but the land is going to a private buyer instead.

The Tri-City Herald reports ( http://is.gd/iPiU3n) that a partnership called Gamble Land and Timber has purchased the 21-square-mile McWhorter Ranch for $7.6 million. That was far above the $1.8 million the Legislature authorized.

The Fish and Wildlife Department hoped to preserve the swath of arid lands shrub steppe, an ecosystem that's been disappearing beneath development in Eastern Washington. It's a possible nesting habitat for endangered ferruginous hawks. Fewer than 40 breeding pairs remain, and wind turbines, houses and vineyards are going up on the ridges that the hawks need for nesting and foraging.

The registered agent for Gamble Land and Timber is John William Cass Gebbers of Brewster. Gebbers Farms is a family operation with 5,000 acres of orchard. It has been growing apples and sweet cherries at the base of Washington's Cascade Range for more than a century.

A spokeswoman for Gebbers Farms declined to immediately discuss plans for the ranch.

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Information from: Tri-City Herald, http://www.tri-cityherald.com