In July, WRC and the Esselen Trip of Monterey County permanently conserved a 1,199-acre property along the Little Sur River, one of the most vital steelhead streams remaining on the South Central Coast. The historic project returns land back to the Esselen people for the first time since they were displaced by the Spanish four centuries ago, and creates a sanctuary for fish and imperiled wildlife, including the endangered California condor and the threatened California red-legged frog.
Photography |Doug Steakley
In Colorado, WRC protected another critical mile of the lower Gunnison River in September. We conveyed the 150-acre Hallock Homestead to the Bureau of Land Management’s Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area, bringing our total up to eight miles of the lower Gunnison that WRC and its supporters have protected forever.
Photography |Russ Schnitzer
In September, on the South Fork Salmon in Idaho, WRC preserved one of the last unprotected stretches of this wild river and secured a remote access point into the Frank Church-River of No Return Wilderness. We did it by transferring a 134-acre parcel on the east bank of the river to the Payette National Forest, which can now manage the land for conservation and public access into the largest wilderness area in the Lower 48.
Photography |Pete Wallstrom, Momentum River Expeditions
In July, WRC permanently protected an outstanding stretch of Washington’s Nisqually River, one of the most important salmon streams flowing into the South Puget Sound. Together with our partner, the Nisqually Land Trust, we conserved over a mile of the lower river, a property with one of the most extensive intact stretches of river bank left on the lower Nisqually. Our efforts preserved key side channels where salmon rear and a healthy riverside forest.
Photography |Tom and Pat Leeson
In August, downstream of Hells Canyon on the Idaho side of the Snake River, WRC permanently conserved Ten Mile Creek Ranch, one of the Pacific Northwest’s top nursery grounds for bighorn sheep. The 2,920-acre property encompasses four miles of the Snake and 3.75 miles of cold tributary streams. Chinook salmon spawning redds are found just off the banks of the property and this stretch of the river is important migration habitat for sockeye salmon, spring and fall Chinook and summer steelhead. WRC, the National Forest and a private conservation buyer successfully protected the ranch with a conservation easement.
Photography |Kirk Anderson
Expanding our impact in the Klamath River basin, WRC protected the 1,596-acre Bouvier Ranch in December, increasing stream-flows in the South Fork Scott by up to 20 percent, while conserving 2.5 miles of designated Critical Habitat for coho salmon. The mainstem Scott is California’s top producer of wild coho, and the South Fork is its largest tributary, making this project a potential game-changer for this important run of California coho.
Photography |Nate Wilson
In July, on the lower John Day River, WRC purchased the 4,100-acre McDonald’s Ferry Ranch in an effort to conserve thousands of acres of native grasslands and sagebrush-steppe, protect three miles of the John Day, improve recreational access and set the stage for rejuvenating a tributary stream that once teemed with spawning steelhead. The ranch sits on the site of the old McDonald’s Ferry crossing of the historic Oregon Trail.
Photography |Sage Brown
In an effort to preserve a critical mountainside above Washington’s Lake Wenatchee and Nason Creek, WRC continued its work in partnership with the Chelan-Douglas Land Trust to protect a 3,714-acre property that is cherished far and wide for its hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing and the scenic forested backdrop it creates for the lake. Nason Creek is a critical stream for salmon, steelhead and bull trout and a key tributary to the Wenatchee River, which flows out of the lake in the foreground, above.
Photography |John Marshall
In the far reaches of southeastern Oregon and northern Nevada, WRC is working to conserve some of the Great Basin’s best habitat for endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout by protecting 11 miles of McDermitt Creek. To accomplish this, WRC purchased the 3,345-acre Disaster Peak Ranch in September. It’s a lynchpin property for the survival of Lahontan cutthroat. Our efforts will also benefit greater sage-grouse, Columbia spotted frog, pygmy rabbit, mule deer, California bighorn sheep, sandhill crane and many other species.
Photography |Sage Brown
In southern Oregon, WRC successfully conserved three miles of the Williamson River and expanded the globally important Klamath Marsh National Wildlife Refuge in April. We conveyed the 2,200-acre Timmerman Ranch along the upper Williamson to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which ensures the ranch’s water will be used for the benefit of fish, wildlife and the entire Klamath river system.
Photography |Tom and Pat Leeson
