Near Telluride, WRC is working to conserve a high-altitude wet-meadow complex in the headwaters of the Dolores River. The 157-acre property is crucial to imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout and the area’s wildlife, and it provides recreational access to a stunning part of the Rockies.
Photography |Mindy Lundy Kramer
On the southern Washington coast, WRC launched an effort conserve the 2,394-acre Willapa Coastal Forest by adding the property to the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge. Our efforts will conserve three miles of the Bear River, a small but critically important river that feeds Willapa Bay, and a vital coastal forest.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
WRC is working to conserve the 3,345-acre Disaster Peak Ranch to preserve 15 miles of McDermitt Creek and key tributary streams. Protecting this ranch will allow our partners to restore and reconnect 55 miles of stream habitat on and around the property. If there’s hope for the Great Basin’s endangered Lahontan cutthroat, it hinges on protecting the basin’s top cold-water streams like McDermitt Creek.
Photography |Sage Brown
In 2022, WRC created Washington’s newest community forest at Nason Ridge. The property, now called the Nason Ridge Community Forest, is cherished across the Pacific Northwest for its network of hiking, biking and cross-country ski trails and for its spectacular setting on Lake Wenatchee. The project protected over two miles of Nason Creek, a critical salmon spawning stream and a key source of cold water for the Wenatchee River.
Photography |John Marshall
In Colorado, WRC is working to guarantee a conservation future for the vast La Jara property that spans 45,650 acres of the San Luis Valley. The La Jara contains 30 miles of cold-water streams that feed the Conejos and Rio Grande, and it is home to diverse birdlife, Rio Grande cutthroat trout and invaluable cultural sites.
Photography |Christi Bode
Hikers explore eastern Oregon’s Elk Creek, where WRC successfully conserved a 453-acre property to protect stretches of both Elk and Crow creeks. These streams provide Critical Habitat for threatened Snake River steelhead and are crucial headwater streams of two of Oregon’s wild and scenic rivers: Joseph Creek and the Grande Ronde.
Photography |Ellen Bishop
An angler explores Clemow Cow Camp, a 317-acre expanse of wetlands graced by two high-mountain tributaries to the Big Hole River. WRC purchased the property to conserve its outstanding habitat and to utilize the ranch’s water rights to regenerate meadows, wetlands and tributary streams that are vital to the Lower 48’s last river system with fluvial Arctic grayling.
Photography |Jordan Siemens
Hikers traverse the upper Yakima River Canyon, where WRC is working to conserve the 812-acre Yakima Canyon Ranch. Located at the Big Horn boat launch, the ranch includes nearly four miles of the Yakima River and important habitat for Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and California bighorn sheep. Our efforts will deliver permanent fishing, hiking and boating access to this popular stretch of the Yakima.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
In Idaho, WRC is playing a key role in the recovery of Panther Creek, a once-great salmon stream that is coming back to life thanks to local, state and federal restoration efforts. WRC conserved one property and purchased another in an effort to protect over a mile and a half of river frontage, including some of the stream’s best potential spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and steelhead.
Photography |K. Schade
At the foot of the southern Sierra Nevada, WRC is working to conserve an important 2,274-acre property on tributaries to the Kern River with the goal of permanently protecting a portion of Fay Creek as well as freshwater springs, prime wildlife habitat and public hiking access to the Kern Plateau. After we acquire the ranch, we plan to convey it to both the Kern Valley Heritage Foundation and the Tübatulabal Tribe, who have inhabited the lower Sierra Nevada area since time immemorial.
Photography |Kodiak Greenwood
A rafter floats the Selway, one of the West’s most intact wild rivers. In 2022, WRC purchased the 152-acre Selway River Ranch, a rare private inholding along a lower reach of the river. Our efforts will conserve habitat for salmon and other wildlife while keeping the property pristine and undeveloped.
Photography |Ellen Bernstein
In north-central Washington, WRC is on the cusp of conserving the 727-acre McLoughlin Falls Ranch, which spans over two miles of the Okanogan River. By conveying the ranch to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, we will protect crucial fish and wildlife habitat, return ancestral lands to the Colville Tribes and deliver new recreational access.
Photography |Justin Haug
WRC is working in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation to conserve the 2,524-acre Antione Valley Ranch. Our goal is to resurrect Antoine Creek, a top-priority steelhead stream that flows into Washington’s Okanogan River, by returning four square miles of ancestral lands to the Colville Tribes.
Photography |Ellen Bishop
In the upper Big Hole Valley, WRC is working to return critically needed water to the Wise River and surrounding wetlands by conserving the 200-acre Eagle Rock Ranch. Our aim is to use the property’s water rights to regenerate meadows and the Wise River itself, which is a major tributary to the Big Hole River, the Lower 48’s last river system with fluvial Arctic grayling.
Photography |John Lambing
In Northern California’s wine country, WRC just completed an effort to conserve critical salmon and steelhead habitat along the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River by placing a conservation easement over the 4,440-acre Silva Ranch. Our efforts protected over 40 acres of old-growth redwoods and 2,600 acres of hardwood forest and oak woodland along and around this exceptional, free-flowing river.
Photography |Jason Hartwick
A family explores the lower John Day, where WRC is working to conserve the 4,097-acre McDonald’s Ferry Ranch. Our efforts will protect three miles of river frontage, conserve thousands of acres of native grasslands and sagebrush-steppe, improve recreational access and breathe new life into a critical steelhead tributary.
Photography |Sage Brown
