Along the northern California coast, WRC is working in partnership with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to permanently protect Dillon Beach Ranch, which spans 1.5 miles of the Estero de San Antonio (pictured) and another mile and a half of Pacific coastline. The estuary contains Critical Habitat for the endangered northern tidewater goby, and conservation of the ranch will permanently protect habitat for threatened California red-legged frog and several rare butterfly species. This stretch of coast is also designated Critical Habitat for endangered black abalone.
Photography |David Dines
Located at the convergence of three distinct mountain ranges—the Klamath, Cascade and Siskiyou—Southern Oregon’s Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument is an ecological wonderland and the country’s only national monument set aside specifically for its biodiversity. Within the monument, WRC has launched an effort to conserve the 1,425-acre Emigrant Creek Ranch, which includes expansive oak woodlands and three miles of perennial streams that feed the Rogue River.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
A hiker looks for birds on the Bear River, which flows into Willapa Bay. WRC is working to conserve a 2,366-acre property this important salmon-bearing stream that flows through a verdant coastal forest into Willapa Bay. Our efforts will expand the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge and protect habitat for chum, coho, winter steelhead, fall Chinook, coastal cutthroat trout and Pacific lamprey.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
In partnership with the Colville Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, WRC conserved the 727-acre McLoughlin Falls Ranch, which spans over two miles of the Okanogan River. The centerpiece of the property is McLoughlin Falls, a well-known rapid that lies directly off the property’s banks. Our efforts protected salmon and steelhead habitat, forever conserved fragile riparian forests and shrub-steppe habitat and returned ancestral homelands to the Colville Tribes.
Photography |Ellen Bishop
As one of the few designated salmon strongholds in Oregon, the North Umpqua is incredibly important for its clean, cold water and runs of spring Chinook, coho salmon and summer steelhead. This past summer, WRC bought and conveyed 220 acres along the North Umpqua Wild and Scenic River to the BLM, ensuring this stretch of river remains protected and open to the public forever.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
A lucky rafter floats through remote Idaho wilderness on a trip down the pristine Wild and Scenic Selway River, a backcountry river trip of a lifetime. WRC has purchased and is working to permanently conserve one of the last unprotected stretches of one of the country’s ultimate wild rivers, preventing subdivision and conserving habitat for steelhead, Chinook and other fish and wildlife.
Photography |Ellen Bernstein
At the foot of the southern Sierra Nevada, WRC conserved an important 2,285-acre property on a tributary to the South Fork Kern River, permanently protecting a series of freshwater springs, prime wildlife habitat and public hiking access up to the Kern Plateau and into Sequoia National Forest. We conserved a portion of Fay Creek, which supports a population of threatened California golden trout, and returned ancestral homelands to the Tübatulabal Tribe.
Photography |Kodiak Greenwood
Anglers enjoy a tranquil float down the Yakima River, near Four Seasons Ranch. WRC permanently protected the ranch, which was the last remaining private inholding within the Ringer Restoration Reach, a large-scale restoration site encompassing 650 acres of floodplain and nearly four miles of the Yakima River. Now that we conveyed the property to Kittitas County, floodplain restoration can continue in earnest, which will increase spawning and rearing habitat for salmon and return this stretch of the Yakima to a more natural state.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
Tarryall Creek, a principal tributary to the South Platte River, flows through the 1,860-acre Collard Ranch in South Park, Colorado. WRC purchased the ranch in early December and is on the cusp of permanently protecting it, including the outstanding five-mile stretch of Tarryall Creek that flows through the property and the ranch’s critically important wildlife habitat.
Photography |Christi Bode
An angler finds a fish on the 45,650-acre La Jara Basin property, one of Colorado’s great natural, recreational and cultural treasures. WRC is working in partnership with the Colorado State Land Board to ensure the property remains permanently protected and open to the public. The La Jara Basin has over 30 miles of high-elevation streams, including Torsido and Jim creeks, which both harbor Rio Grande cutthroat trout and provide cold, clean water for the Conejos River and the Rio Grande.
Photography |Christi Bode
WRC has committed to purchase Badger Creek Canyon Ranch, a 613-acre property along 2.5 miles of Badger Creek, a major tributary to the Teton River. WRC’s efforts will protect crucial transitional and early winter habitat for moose, Rocky Mountain elk and mule deer that move through Badger Creek Canyon on their seasonal journeys between the Teton River Canyon and both Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks.
WRC purchased and permanently protected the 317-acre Clemow Cow Camp, a beautiful expanse of wetland meadows graced by two cold, high-mountain streams, Cox and Old Tim creeks, in the Big Hole Valley of southwest Montana. Just off the property, these streams flow into Warm Springs Creek, a tributary to the Big Hole River. This is one of two projects WRC recently completed in the Big Hole Valley (the other is on the Wise), that together are returning 13 CFS of water to the Big Hole system.
Photography |Jordan Siemens
Situated on the banks of the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, the 2,135-acre Big Bend Ranch lies 14 miles northwest of Grand Coulee Dam on the south shore of the Columbia and across the river from the Colville Reservation. WRC is working to conserve the ranch by conveying it to the Big Bend Wildlife Area, which will expand protection of vital fish and wildlife habitat—including for four grouse species—by preventing development on this highly scenic stretch of the Columbia River.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
On Oregon’s lower John Day River, WRC permanently conserved the 4,054-acre McDonald’s Ferry Ranch, protecting 3.2 miles of the Wild and Scenic John Day River and placing the lowest boating takeout on the river into public hands forever. Together, we conserved thousands of acres of native grasslands and sagebrush-steppe and delivered new access for anglers, hunters, hikers and others. The ranch sits on the site of the old McDonald’s Ferry crossing of the historic Oregon Trail.
Photography |Sage Brown
A popular river for fly-fishing and whitewater boating, the Hood River flows from the glaciers of Mount Hood into the Columbia River. WRC is working to place a conservation easement on the nearly 20,000-acre Mid-Columbia Tree Farm, which includes nine miles of the West Fork Hood, two miles of the Middle Fork Hood and 90 miles of tributary streams. The easement will protect one hundred miles of stream habitat, prevent home-site development in an area that is growing rapidly, conserve 25% of the basin’s remaining big game winter range, improve recreational access to these remarkable rivers and safeguard an important domestic water supply for over 8,000 people.
Photography |Tyler Roemer
Near Telluride, WRC has purchased a high-elevation wet-meadow complex in the headwaters of the Dolores River. The 160-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 |Christi Bode
And from the banks of Old Tim Creek, in Montana’s glorious Big Hole Valley, it’s goodbye 2023!
Photography |Jordan Siemens
