Press Release: Completed Conservation Easement on the Butte Creek Ranch

Preserving Our Natural Heritage: NRLT Completes Conservation Easement on the Butte Creek Ranch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 11/20/24

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.

A peaceful pond on the Butte Creek Ranch property.

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.

: Horseback rider enjoying the picturesque scenery of the Butte Creek Ranch.

: One of the many inhabitants of the Butte Creek Ranch property.

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.

A misty Butte Creek morning on the Little Van Duzen.

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.

Year in Review: 2023

December 28, 2023

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!

Season’s Seating: Thanks to Eureka Rotary Club, New Benches Coming in the New Year!

New Benches to be Installed at Freshwater Farms Reserve

December 21, 2023 | Bayside, CA

Download the Press Release Here

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.

Hot off the press: Spring 2023 Newsletter is out now!

It’s been many weeks in the making, and NRLT’s Spring 2023 Newsletter is finally here— and coming soon to a mailbox near you! In this issue you’ll learn about how we partnered with landowners and public agencies to restore oak woodlands within our region, new opportunities to conserve agricultural land, our rock star volunteers, changes at Freshwater Farms Reserve, upcoming events, our annual report (can you find your name?), and more!

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:

Newsletters

Business Partner Program

Donate

Ambassador Volunteers Deepen Connection to Land

Early this Spring, NRLT hosted a Virtual Volunteer Interest Meeting to teach the public about available volunteer opportunities. A recording of the presentation is available here.

Volunteers remove invasive blackberry from NRLT’s Martin Slough property to honor Cesar Chavez Day.

Thanks to a grant from the Strong Foundation for Environmental Values, we trained several volunteers for the new Ambassador program who specialize in Environmental Education or Land Stewardship at Freshwater Farms Reserve. Volunteering can provide a deeper level of engagement with the land and the people who use it.

We are grateful for the work our volunteers are doing leading field trips, pulling invasives, and assisting with events. “It’s a great community—the people, the kids, the scientists, and the nature. It’s the best way to spend time,” said Patricia Tillotson, who volunteers as both a field trip guide and stewardship ambassador.

If you are interested in becoming an NRLT Ambassador please contact Community Engagement Manager, Matthew Morassutti, m.morassutti@ncrlt.org. You can find other volunteer events and information on our website at: ncrlt.org/volunteer-with-us.

Other Ways to Get Involved:

Join the Volunteer Trail Stewards at Freshwater Farms Reserve on the third Sunday of every month
Email n.vanlynn@ncrlt.org to sign up to donate a sweet treat for the cake walk or to volunteer at our Summer Celebration on August 5th
Join our Volunteer Email List by emailing info@ncrlt.org; we will keep you abreast of pressing needs such as stuffing envelopes for our seasonal mailings or assisting with special events!
Donate much needed funds to sustain our conservation and outreach programs

DONATE

EVENTS

Volunteer with us!

Volunteer opportunities abound here at the Northcoast Regional Land Trust! Whether you’d like to help lead field trips with elementary schoolers, walk the trail at Freshwater Reserve and keep up the fight against encroaching invasive plants, or help with mailing fundraising letters in the office, we’ve got you covered.

Please take a moment to watch the Virtual Volunteer Interest Meeting above to acquaint yourself with the volunteer opportunities available at the Northcoast Regional Land Trust. Once you get an idea of what’s available, send us a message via email!

Enjoy spending time at Freshwater Farms Reserve? Show off your expertise by leading an interpretive tour, give back to a place you care about, or help educate the next generation of environmental stewards. Maintaining this publicly-accessible working farm and nature reserve relies on generous donations and hard work from people like you! Independent and primarily self-directed volunteer opportunities and training may be explored by emailing Matthew at m.morassutti@ncrlt.org

Want to help lead environmental education field trips for elementary schoolers? NRLT hosts free educational field trips for our local elementary schools where students are introduced to the scientific method and answer the question, “can farms be part of a healthy environment?” Send an email to Nadia with your interest and availability for a 2.5 hour training at n.vanlynn@ncrlt.org

If you’re looking to volunteer alongside fellow community members, check out the graphic below, then give our events page a look! Over ten volunteer events are planned for 2023, so there are plenty of chances to come together with folks who share your interests.