FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/20/24

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Bayside, CA – The Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT) is excited to announce the completion of a conservation easement on the Butte Creek Ranch, a beautiful 3,079-acre working ranch owned by the Cottrell/Moore family in southeastern Humboldt County. This important achievement was recorded on June 26, 2024 and ensures that the land’s natural and agricultural values are protected forever, while still allowing for its use and enjoyment by current and future owners.

After generations of stewarding lands in the Larabee Valley, Gloria Cottrell and her daughter Leslie Moore have worked hard to put the family ranch back together. They purchased the Butte Creek Ranch back from other family members in 2021, and shortly after began work on a conservation easement with NRLT. Leslie and her husband, Wes, are taking a long-range approach to land management, and the completion of this conservation easement sets in stone their commitment to protecting this ranch for generations to come.

Butte Creek Ranch is home to nearly 10 miles of streams, 2,000 acres of commercial timber forests, diverse wildlife and, for six months of the year, up to 225 cow-calf pairs the family raises for beef production. Over the long-term, the landowners intend to utilize prescribed burning across the rangeland to maintain quality forage, stave off conifer encroachment, and improve fire resiliency in the region. With the conservation easement now in place, NRLT will conduct annual monitoring visits to maintain a constructive relationship with the landowners and to ensure that the land’s forest, agricultural, and wildlife values are protected forever.

The location of Butte Creek Ranch makes its long-term protection even more impactful. By linking to the existing Charles Mountain Conservation Easement and bordering Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land, Butte Creek Ranch creates a continuous corridor of protected land that further connects to the Diamond D Ranch and Chalk Mountain Ranch Conservation Easements, all held by NRLT. This connectivity is crucial for the health and resilience of our local ecosystems, and especially for water quality in the lower Eel River Basin. Additionally, protecting the Little Van Duzen River and its tributaries on the property conserves vital habitat for endangered and threatened salmon and steelhead populations.

Funds for Butte Creek Ranch were made available through the California Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC) Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) in collaboration with the Department of Conservation. SALC is part of  California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities.

NRLT is very thankful to the Cottrell/Moore family, the SGC, California Climate Investments, the California Department of Conservation, and to our dedicated supporters in northwestern California and beyond for making this conservation easement a reality. Together, we are preserving our natural heritage, protecting irreplaceable waterways, and creating a sustainable future for our community and the environment.

As we bid farewell to 2023, let’s look back on the highlights and achievements that have marked this year for the Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT). In 2023, we made significant progress in our mission to conserve, protect, and promote wild and working lands, thanks to the dedicated efforts of our volunteers, landowners, board members, staff, and partners. We couldn’t have done it without you!

Conservation Efforts

In addition to eight conservation easement projects already in progress at the start of the year, we began work on three new projects in 2023—  two of which we just learned will receive full funding thanks to the Department of Conservation’s SALC program! Altogether, we are working towards the protection of over 56,000 acres of productive forestland, expansive rangelands, critical salmon streams, vital habitats, and open spaces that make our region so unique.

And that is in addition to the 60,000 acres of already protected land.

Community Engagement

In our efforts to foster a strong community for conservation, we partnered with numerous individuals and organizations to host 16 stewardship workdays and interpretive events in 2023. Big thanks to our partners (including Humboldt Trails Council, Friends of the Dunes, Echales ganas!, CCC Watershed Stewards Program, Cal Poly YES, Umoja Center for Pan African Student Excellence, SJEIC, Office of Student Life, Center for Community Based Learning, Environmental Science and Management Dept., and Wildlife Dept., Point Blue Conservation Science, Salmonid Restoration Federation, and Planwest Partners, Inc.), and our stellar volunteers for supporting coastal farmland stewardship and engagement for all.

Additionally, over 450 people graced our biggest Summer Celebration yet at Freshwater Farms Reserve in August!

Educational Initiatives

We believe in the power of education to ensure the legacy of land stewardship in our region. To this end, we led 19 Cows & Cattails field trips, educating over 750 elementary students about the compatibility of wildlife habitat and agriculture. We also reignited our High School Biological Monitoring Program in the spring, thanks to botany help from Tony LaBanca and collaboration with the Botany and Environmental Science teachers at Alder Grove Charter School.

Fundraising Success

We are incredibly grateful for the generous support we received from our community this year. Every dollar makes a difference to protect wild and working lands in our region. During our Annual Celebration, Boots & Birkenstocks in October, we raised over $60,000 for wild and working land conservation. These funds will play a significant role in our conservation efforts in 2024.

Strategic Planning

Our Board and Staff took a deep dive into our strategic plan during a retreat in Southern Humboldt in June. This retreat enabled us to reassess our goals and strategies, setting us on a clear path toward achieving our mission. It also served as an opportunity for Board and Staff to get out on the lands that sustain us with a tour of a prospective easement property!

Appreciation

Northcoast Regional Land Trust would not be what it is today without you — our dedicated volunteers, landowners, board members, staff, and partners. Your commitment and contributions have been instrumental in our accomplishments this year.

We extend additional thanks to our 2023 Annual Sponsors for their unwavering support: Wildberries Marketplace, Humboldt and Mendocino Redwood Companies, and North Fork Lumber. Look for our full list of donors in the next newsletter, coming spring 2024.

Looking Ahead

As we step into 2024, we are excited and optimistic about what lies ahead. This is an exciting time to be part of NRLT—with more active projects than ever before, and a strong and supportive community that continues to grow. Thank you for being part of a special group of people dedicated to protecting our shared values in northwestern California—a love of the land, the community, and our way of life. Here’s to another year of conserving the lands we love! Happy New Year!

December 21, 2023  |  Bayside, CA

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The Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT) is thrilled to announce the forthcoming installation of additional benches along the Freshwater Nature Trail at our publicly accessible ambassador property, Freshwater Farms Reserve. This is thanks to a generous grant from the Eureka Rotary Club, presented to NRLT on December 4, 2023.

NRLT is grateful for the Eureka Rotary Club’s partnership and their dedication to community well-being, environmental stewardship, and local collaboration. The benches will be built by local craftsperson, Jona Kavanaugh, of Monument Settings and will serve as a place for visitors to rest, reflect, and appreciate the abundance of life in this wild and working landscape.

NRLT extends its heartfelt appreciation to the Eureka Rotary Club for their visionary support, to Monument Settings for their collaboration and craftsmanship, and to the community for collectively stewarding and valuing this and other projects at Freshwater Farms Reserve.

Freshwater Farms Reserve is a unique coastal property owned and managed by NRLT as a demonstration of compatible land use for people, agriculture, and wildlife. Used by people of all ages, Freshwater Farms Reserve is a community resource with trail access, educational programs and events, a native plant nursery, livestock pastures, row crop areas, greenhouses, and more. Visitors are encouraged to explore the 0.75-mile Freshwater Nature Trail, open every day from 9 AM to dusk at 5851 Myrtle Ave., Eureka.

Details regarding the installation of these benches will be announced in the coming year. For more information about NRLT and the upcoming bench installation, please visit www.NCRLT.org or contact info@ncrlt.org.

This was my first time helping with the newsletter from start to finish, and I feel honored to be part of it. Our newsletters are largely thanks to Leslie Scopes Anderson, who has been NRLT’s stellar newsletter volunteer for 15 years and counting. Leslie puts her graphic design skills to work as she arranges and rearranges the content of our biannual newsletters, no matter how many edits we send her! Meeting with her to celebrate the final draft of this issue, I learned that Leslie has supported NRLT through three Executive Directors and complete personnel changes several times over. It’s quite clear the enduring impact of this organization comes from the people like Leslie, who commit to our mission to conserve, protect, and restore wild and working lands and see it through. Thank you, Leslie!

Whatever your relationship to NRLT, it becomes just that, a relationship. It ebbs and flows, but is founded on shared values of long-term relationships to the land, healthy local food, sustainable natural resource production, our region’s rich biodiversity and connected habitats and a desire to conserve and protect the lands that support us. We are grateful to the many people who have grown that relationship through our 22 years conserving lands in Northwestern California. I hope you enjoy reading about our most recent work together in this latest issue!

We are always open to feedback about our newsletter– email myself, Nadia, at n.vanlynn@ncrlt.org with suggestions or submissions. If you are not already on our mailing list but would like to be for future issues, please email your contact information to info@ncrlt.org.

Our conservation and outreach work is supported by:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 3/6/23

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Bayside, CA – The Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT) is pleased to announce the completion of the Wagner Forest Conservation Easement in Southern Humboldt County. This conservation easement permanently conserves over 3,300 acres of working forestland in the South Fork Eel River watershed.The easement solidifies the legacy of the Wagner family after more than a century of stewardship on the property. Elizabeth Wagner Penn, a member of the Wagner family, shared her enthusiasm for the project, “As one of the stewards of the property I am pleased to know the legacy of our family ranch will remain together forever and help the environment, forest and wildlife thrive and grow.”

With the forest now being managed by the sixth generation, the family is committed to continuing their legacy of responsible forest management, habitat restoration, and family tradition. The conservation easement held by the Northcoast Regional Land Trust helps make these goals possible by keeping this tract of forestland whole, restricting development, and designating nearly 600 acres (approximately 17% of the property) as a forest reserve that will increase protections within critical riparian areas and promote mature forest habitat.

From a landscape connectivity standpoint, completion of the Wagner Forest easement creates a contiguous block of privately conserved forestland of over 15,000 acres which includes the adjacent Marshall Ranch Conservation Easement, held by the California Rangeland Trust, and the Sproul Creek Conservation Easement, held by NRLT. These privately conserved holdings add to over 120,000 acres of protected public lands stretching inland from the Pacific Ocean in southern Humboldt and northern Mendocino Counties. The easement will also support continued partnership with agencies and organizations to move forward projects that protect and enhance streamflow in creeks, as well as reestablish native conifers and safeguard old growth redwood trees on the property.

This project is made possible thanks to the Wagner family, CAL FIRE’s Forest Legacy Program and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Proposition 1 Watershed Restoration Grant Program. The Wagner Forest Conservation Easement is also part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of cap-and-trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment—particularly in disadvantaged communities. The cap-and-trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution. California Climate Investment projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling and much more. At least 35 percent of these investments are located within and benefiting residents of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households across California. For more information, visit the California Climate Investments website at: www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov.