Protecting Land on the West's Outstanding Rivers

With backing from GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is permanently protecting land along outstanding rivers across the western United States. Your gift supports the core costs of purchasing and conserving land for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people. Your contribution is dedicated to such efforts as preserving salmon and wildlife habitat, and creating new hiking trails, boating access and recreational opportunities.

Thanks to your support, Western Rivers Conservancy is:

• Conserving a lifeline for California salmon and steelhead on the Gualala River

• Protecting a Cold-Water Savings Vault for Colorado’s Dolores River

California’s Gualala River:

Flowing from the rugged slopes of northern California’s Coast Range, the Gualala River is an exceptional free-flowing river with three main forks: the South Fork, the North Fork and, the largest of the three, the Wheatfield Fork. The Gualala supports an abundance of wildlife at the edge of a region that has experienced significant development during the last 50 years. On its 40-mile journey to the Pacific, the Gualala courses through a mosaic of redwood forest, mixed conifer forests and oak woodlands that provide important habitat for numerous threatened, endangered and sensitive species. These remaining expanses of California forest and woodlands are crucial to fish and wildlife and provide critical watershed functions for rivers like the Gualala. They are also important as open space for towns throughout the region, while the area’s working forests and ranches provide income for families and revenue for local economies.

The Gualala River is home to threatened Northern California Coast winter steelhead and endangered Central California Coast coho salmon, two crucial populations of imperiled anadromous fish whose future hinges on the health of rivers like the Gualala. The river is also home to the Gualala roach, a distinct species of minnow that is endemic to the river and has been isolated to the watershed for thousands of years.

In 2015, Western Rivers Conservancy embarked on an effort to conserve the 4,440-acre Silva Ranch, located on the Wheatfield Fork in the headwaters of the Gualala River. We successfully conserved the ranch in December 2022 by partnering with California Rangeland Trust to place a conservation easement over the property. The easement protects an important reach of the Wheatfield Fork, as well as a series of headwater tributaries that provide invaluable clean, cold water to the Gualala River and crucial spawning and rearing habitat for imperiled anadromous fish. Our efforts preserve over 40 acres of old-growth redwood forest and more than 2,600 acres of hardwood forest and oak woodland. Conservation of the property, which lies adjacent to more than 75,000 acres of protected land, also improves habitat connectivity on a scale far beyond the Silva property itself.

The ranch had the potential for dozens of home sites and extensive grape production, which the easement prevents or severely limits. It instead allows only around three percent of the property to be used for vineyards or other intensive agriculture and adds protections to streams throughout the ranch to conserve habitat and prevent water withdrawal.

With the conservation easement held in perpetuity by Rangeland Trust, the Silva family will continue to sustainably manage the ranch’s lands for timber and livestock production, while the property’s critically important river habitat, redwoods, woodlands and rangelands will remain intact for fish and wildlife.

Colorado’s Dolores River:

The Dolores River is one of southwest Colorado’s great scenic and recreational treasures. From its headwaters at nearly 12,000 feet in the San Miguel Mountains, to its confluence with the Colorado River near Moab, Utah, the Dolores charts a 240-mile course through some of the most stunning landscapes in the West.

On its descent to the mighty Colorado, the Dolores winds through pristine alpine meadows, majestic ponderosa pine forests, hidden archaeological sites and dramatic, sheer-walled sandstone canyons. Despite being impounded at McPhee Reservoir, several stretches of the lower river are eligible for wild and scenic designation. In fact, below the reservoir, the Dolores
offers one of the country’s longest wilderness floats.

At the river’s headwaters, between the East and West forks of the Dolores, lies a prized 157-acre property called Dunton Meadows, which WRC has committed to purchase. Dunton Meadows is dominated by a broad wetland meadow beneath the snowcapped summit of Mount Wilson. This subalpine meadow provides excellent habitat for birds and wildlife and captures snowmelt and rain that drain to a nearby stream called Coal Creek. The creek is a critical headwater tributary of the Dolores and offers some of the richest habitat in the entire upper river for imperiled Colorado River cutthroat trout.

Surrounded by national forest and wilderness, Dunton Meadows also provides access to a stunning part of the Rockies with diverse recreation opportunities. The Groundhog Stock Driveway Trail, a popular hiking and biking trail that runs between Dunton Meadows and Lizard Head Pass, crosses the property. Meadow Creek, an excellent trout fishing stream, bisects the southern edge of the parcel.

After acquiring Dunton Meadows, we plan to hold the property until we can secure funding through the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey it to the San Juan National Forest for permanent protection. Given the importance of this property, WRC’s efforts have been met with broad local support. Conserving it will be a tremendous benefit to the Dolores River system, its wildlife and all who enjoy this special place.

Conclusion

The Gualala and Dolores River projects are just some of our recent projects. WRC currently has over two dozen active projects in seven states. With the support of GlobalGiving donors, Western Rivers Conservancy is expanding our efforts to protect riverlands for fish, wildlife and people.

We love to hear from our supporters. Please contact Anne Tattam at 503-241-0151, ext. 219 (or atattam@westernrivers.org) for further information. Thank you.

• Western Rivers Conservancy: Project Photos (PDF)