2024 Feather River conservation successes

Conserve: Protecting priority lands and waters

From FRLT’s founding in 2000 to today, together with you and our conservation partners, we have helped protect over 100,000 acres of ecologically important lands to benefit water, wildlife, and people for generations to come. 

In 2024 we completed two significant years-long projects to protect important lands and waters in the North Fork Feather River region and in the Sierra Valley region.  

• 101 Ranch: Protected in partnership with Sierra Pacific Industries and Trust for Public Land, this working ranch makes up a significant portion of the second-largest montane meadow in the Sierra Nevada. This property, along with the adjacent Home Ranch (conserved in 2021), provides habitat for 39 threatened species and breathtaking open space along the Lassen Volcanic Scenic Byway near Westwood. Read more about this conservation success.
• Diamond G Ranch: A 944-acre Sierra Valley property adjacent to other conserved lands helps protect a vital wildlife connectivity corridor. The property features freshwater springs, aspen and black oak woodland habitats interspersed with large boulders, an active agricultural operation, and significant cultural resources.  

Your support allows us to continue to make progress on a number of important conservation projects behind the scenes, and we can’t wait to share with you once they are finalized.  

Care for: stewarding lands for water, wildlife, and community

Our Stewardship team were hard at work this year maintaining and restoring the places we love. In addition to biweekly monitoring of FRLT’s five preserves, they made progress on these special projects: 

• Public Access improvements at the Mountain Meadows Gateway preserve: new interpretive signage has been installed! 
• Fire recovery work at the Heart K Ranch alongside an Americorps Conservation Crew 
• Removing and monitoring invasive yellow starthistle at Heart K Ranch including help from neighbors 
• Monitoring conservation easements on 28 properties each year to ensure the conservation values of these lands are upheld
• Implementing year two of a seasonal Land Stewardship program, with our skilled local Resource Crew tackling land management projects across the watershed 

Connect: restoring relationship to land and place 

This was an exceptional year for connecting to nature and to others on the land.  

New Nature Center!

In December, along with our partners the Nature Conservancy and Northern Sierra Partnership, FRLT celebrated the grand opening of a new Nature Center at the Sierra Valley Preserve.  

The Nature Center has already begun to offer a place for connection in the vastness of Sierra Valley. Community events, including birding, nature walks, K-12 field trips, wellness activities, nature journaling, with more to come, are bringing together locals as well as visitors from the Truckee and Reno areas.  

Volunteer Program 

With the opening of the new Nature Center, Public Programs Manager Jenna Holland has created a volunteer docent program, recruiting and training locals in all things Sierra Valley Preserve. These volunteers will help keep the Nature Center staffed throughout the year, and this program offers another way for folks to get involved in the local community. 

Nature Journaling Club

Inspired by a workshop at Sierra Valley Preserve with John Muir Laws, a FRLT volunteer led the inaugural Nature Journaling Club, which will travel to each of FRLT’s five preserves over the course of a year. 

Kids in Nature

Kids of all ages got out on their local outdoor classrooms this year, and outdoor educators from land trusts around the country gathered for our fifth annual K-12 Leadership Summit. Learning Landscapes, FRLT’s outdoor education program, celebrated its 20–year anniversary in 2024, and Rob Wade worked with consultants the Catalyst Group to facilitate a community-informed program assessment at locations around the region to better understand the Learning Landscapes’ lasting impacts and vision for the future.

Looking ahead to 2025

We are excited to embark on another year of conserving, caring for, and connecting people to Feather River lands with you by our side. Some of things you can look forward to in the coming year: 

• Public Access Improvements at Olsen Barn Meadow in Chester 

• Conserving more important meadows, habitats, and waterways throughout the watershed, including a critical wildlife corridor and Sierra Nevada Journeys summer camp near Portola 

• Year-round events and volunteer opportunities at the Sierra Valley Preserve Nature Center 

Whatever your connection to the Feather River Watershed, we’re grateful to you, our community for your support this past year, and we look forward to all we can accomplish together in 2025.