Feather River Land Trust reports that its stewardship team works hard year-round to care for protected lands in the Feather River watershed, monitoring, managing, restoring and enhancing their natural and cultural resources. This year was no exception, and the nonprofit looks back on some recent accomplishments.
New interpretive signage
The FRLT communications team worked with designers at Wildways Interpretive to create a colorful new interpretive sign, now installed thanks to partner Sierra Pacific Industries. Located at the chimney pullout along Highway 36 between SPI’s Home and 101 ranches — both protected with conservation easements — the sign illustrates and educates visitors about the collaborative conservation of the property and the importance of protecting meadow habitats. In addition to the new educational sign, SPI regraded the turnout and gave it a fresh layer of gravel.
Maintaining learning landscapes and nature preserves
Keeping FRLT’s five nature preserves visitor-ready and outdoor classrooms ready for students requires stewardship throughout the seasons, say organizers — trails must be maintained, grass must be mowed and benches and other infrastructure must be maintained. Beyond the trails and facilities on FRLT-owned preserves, the land trust partners with the landowner at the Loyalton Learning Landscape to get the space prepared for each school year.
Improved irrigation at the Heart K Ranch
Many lands FRLT has protected across the watershed include working agricultural lands, and the group’s ongoing stewardship philosophy, where beneficial for the land, involves maintaining these properties as working ranches to blend agriculture and grazing with ecological health, said FRLT.
As part of a ranch improvement project at the Heart K Ranch funded by the Department of Conservation’s California Farmland Conservation and Protection program, the team installed a cumulative 8,000-plus feet of pipe for both irrigation and livestock water. Modernizing the irrigation system will make it more water-efficient and less harmful to fish.
The improvement will also make the existing agricultural operations more compatible with sensitive natural areas by better managing the riparian habitats along Indian Creek, while still utilizing livestock to manage nonnative invasive plants in fields adjacent to the creek.
Irrigating areas that are currently dry land will lead to increased growth of forage for livestock, as well as improved forage for the deer, birds and other species that exist on the ranch, said FRLT.
Monitoring conserved lands
In addition to caring for its public nature preserves, as a land trust FRLT is responsible for annual monitoring of 30 properties protected with conservation easements.
Once a conservation easement has been established, the organization holding the easement is responsible for monitoring the property. FRLT monitors its conservation easements on an annual basis, documenting any changes to the property over time. FRLT’s conservation easement program manager, Roslyn Peters, visits each property, taking photos and rotating which photo points are visited each year to get a holistic view of the property’s condition over time.
Gifts doubled through Dec. 31
FRLT reports that a generous team of donors has put forth a matching challenge: anyone making a donation by Dec. 31 will have the gift matched dollar for dollar.
“When you contribute to FRLT, you are part of our community that supports land management innovation, collaboration and hands-on hard work,” said FRLT. “Together, we have protected over 100,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada’s largest watershed so far — because of your support and generosity.”
