Introducing Eel River Canyon Preserve
Frazier Haney
Executive Director
The Wildlands Conservancy
After a two-and-a-half-year effort, with support from private donors, volunteers, state agencies, partner organizations, and elected leaders The Wildlands Conservancy is proud to announce it has secured the 26,600-acre Lone Pine Ranch along 18 miles of the National Wild and Scenic Eel River.
Given its location where the River carves its way through a deep and wild gorge, the property will be known as the Eel River Canyon Preserve, providing a strategic access point to the envisioned 320-mile Great Redwood Trail along the former line of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad and the River itself. The Preserve is now part of The Wildlands Conservancy’s California preserve system—the largest nonprofit preserve system in the state, spanning 23 preserves and 190,000 acres. Eel River Canyon Preserve is also part of The Wildlands Conservancy's Eel River Emerald Necklace Conservation Project, which now includes five preserves accessible from the River spanning 108 river miles from Spyrock Reserve to the south to the Eel River Estuary Preserve in the north where the River meets the Pacific Ocean.
The Eel River Canyon Preserve protects over 18 miles of river frontage, including 3 miles along the North Fork of the Eel River and its confluence with the main stem. Purchased during World War II by Dean Witter, the Witter family has diligently cared for the land since, leaving a legacy of protection, which will continue under Wildlands’ stewardship.
The diverse forests on the property include buckeye, big leaf maple, ponderosa pine, Pacific yew, Oregon white oak, Douglas fir, and madrone, which sequester tens of thousands of metric tonnes of carbon dioxide and are habitat for wildlife like the Pacific Fisher and ringtail cat. Freshwater creeks provide habitat for steelhead trout and salmon, while the perennial wetlands and vernal pools that dot the property, provide habitat for foothill yellow-legged frogs and Pacific pond turtles. The rolling ridgelines produce spectacular wildflower displays and are excellent foraging areas for a variety of raptors including Northern Goshawk. Two herds of Roosevelt elk roam the property, the most southwesterly extent of their range.
Over the next year, The Wildlands Conservancy will plan a ranger station, a group campground, and updates to the Witter Lodge to safely host free public access, while completing planning for ecological restoration projects to better protect wetlands and heal logged forests. Partnerships for outdoor education, conservation projects, and cultural resource management are being formed to foster access to the Preserve from diverse communities.
The Wildlands Consevancy was $7 million short of the purchase price when the option expired in October. Since this was such a crucial acquisition, Wildlands guaranteed a bridge loan to secure the property, which means additional funding will be needed in the coming year to complete a final phase of the effort.
Join us in celebrating the protection of this exquisitely beautiful place!