Tuesday August 13, 2024
SF Gate —
A San Francisco nonprofit has purchased 11,000 acres of land at the headwaters of the Trinity River from a timber company, aimed at protecting the source of the massive Trinity Reservoir.
The Pacific Forest Trust spent $15.5 million on the checkerboard of properties before transferring their ownership to a local nonprofit, the Watershed Research and Training Center, per an Aug. 5 press release. That group will be tasked with keeping the watershed safe, natural and productive. California’s Wildlife Conservation Board funded most of the land acquisition.
“It has a wonderful mosaic of springs, and then streams and riparian areas,” Pacific Forest Trust president Laurie Wayburn told SFGATE. “It is highly productive for water.” The Watershed Center will own and operate the land under the terms of a “conservation easement” with the Pacific Forest Trust.
The Trinity River and Reservoir, California’s third largest, help form the backbone of the state’s water supply. The system they feed — the Central Valley Project — irrigates huge swaths of farmland and delivers drinking water to parts of the Bay Area. The headwaters purchase is in a remote area, encompassing pine, fir and cedar forests, alpine lakes, a trace of the Pacific Crest Trail and dozens of species of wildlife, including salmon and steelhead.