Friends of Gualala River Protecting the Gualala River watershed and the species living within it
Western Rivers Conservancy and the California Rangeland Trust successfully protected a critical stretch of the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River and a series of cold-water salmon and steelhead streams in Sonoma County, at the heart of wine country. The partners accomplished this by placing a conservation easement over the 4,440-acre Silva Ranch, an extraordinary California Coast Range property that contains a rare swath of old-growth redwoods.
Photo credit: Jason Hartwick, Western Rivers Conservancy
In total, the easement conserves over six miles of stream frontage on small tributary creeks and the Wheatfield Fork Gualala, the largest of three major tributaries of the mainstem Gualala River. Together, these streams provide crucial habitat for winter steelhead and, historically, coho salmon, two species that have experienced rapid declines throughout the state.
The easement protects a broad swath of mixed conifer forest, 41 acres of old-growth redwoods, and more than 2,600 acres of oak woodland and grassland—habitat that potentially supports wildlife like northern spotted owl, bald eagle and red-legged frog. The Silva Ranch is especially important because it lies adjacent to 75,000 acres of already protected lands. Adding the ranch’s unbroken open space to this assemblage improves habitat connectivity for wildlife at a landscape scale.
Due to its prime location, the Silva Ranch had the potential for dozens of home sites and extensive grape production, both now severely limited or prevented by the conservation easement. The easement will allow only around three percent of the property to be used for vineyards or other intensive agriculture and add protections to streams throughout the ranch to conserve habitat and prevent water withdrawal.
