The Wilderness Land Trust continues to work
actively in California, with a large portion of the organization’s
efforts to preserve our nation’s wilderness taking place
in the state. Our ongoing projects are located in more than
10 established Wilderness Areas and 11 proposed areas, in
landscapes ranging from alpine meadows to desert canyons to
coastal lowlands. These projects represent a continued increase
in volume of work over the prior year.
Recent Activities The Trust’s California initiative continues
to evolve and expand. We are particularly proud to announce
the hiring of a new Vice President, Nicole
Nedeff, to lead our efforts in the state. Nicole
is an ecological consultant in Carmel Valley, who has previously
served as Conservation Director for the nearby Big Sur Land
Trust and is a former member of the Board of Directors of
the Ventana Wilderness Alliance.
Tunnison WSA in California
Over the past year we have received two major
grants from the Resources Legacy Fund Foundation Preserving
Wild California Program. One grant for $2.37 million is to
continue our work to purchase inholdings in proposed areas,
primarily in the California Wild Heritage Act, as well as
to purchase inholdings in already established Forest Service
Wilderness Areas. The second grant for $2.46 million, awarded
during summer 2005, is focused on managing the acquisition
of approximately 250 inholdings in desert Wilderness Areas
in southern California where there is a complicated patchwork
of private land.
Our most recent acquisition is three parcels
totaling 170 acres in the Tunnison Wilderness Study Area.
These parcels are currently owned by The Wilderness Land Trust
and are awaiting donation to the Bureau of Land Management.
The Tunnison WSA includes Horse Lake Mountain, Tunnison Mountain
and Willow Creek Canyon, which features petroglyphs and trout
fishing. The area affords numerous opportunities for solitude,
exploration and hiking.
Currently the Trust has more than 5,000
acres of active projects in the state. Highlights include
our work to preserve lands in the hills of the Bodie Mountain
proposed Wilderness, and the Golden Trout and Ventana Wilderness
Areas. We are also working on more than 14 separate projects
totaling more than 330 acres in such desert Wilderness Areas
as the Old Woman Mountains, Palen/McCoy, Rice Valley and Sheephole
Valley.
A Success Story
The Trust’s work in California has made a visible difference
and has helped to simplify land ownership patterns that both
complicate land management issues and create obstacles for
Wilderness designation. For example, in the Elkhorn Ridge
proposed Wilderness we have acquired and donated to public
ownership 1,564 acres in 14 parcels. As you can see in this
map our work has served to consolidate public
land to enhance the wilderness characteristics of this area.
Among other wilderness attributes, the Elkhorn Ridge area
is a critical watershed for the South Fork of the Eel River,
which is a Wild and Scenic River and provides spawning habitat
for steelhead and coho salmon.
Our Record
Between January 2004 and December 2005, the Trust has acquired
3,489 acres in 24 parcels in proposed Wilderness Areas in
the state. A total of 1,764 of these acres have already been
donated to the Bureau of Land Management and are available
for inclusion in future Wilderness Areas. The Trust has also
completed inventories of inholdings in proposed Wilderness
Areas and designated Forest Service areas. Clearly our work
is much needed in the state as currently proposed areas have
more than 26,000 acres of high priority inholdings. Designated
Forest Service Wilderness Areas have 8,677 acres of high priority
inholdings (total inholdings are 22,881 acres).
