The move ‘secures one of the largest remaining undeveloped areas in the region’

By Lee Juillerat for Ashland.news

The Bear Gulch Preserve, an ecologically significant 142-acre complex of forests, grasslands, canyons and creeks near the Oregon-California border, has been purchased by the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy (SOLC).

The preserve is in the Colestin Valley, about a mile from the California border.

“This acquisition marks SOLC’s first fee-owned preserve in the Klamath River basin,” Steve Wise, SOLC’s executive director, said in a news release.

He added the action “secures one of the largest remaining undeveloped areas in the region for its migratory wildlife, rare plants, and year-round streams that extend a critical regional corridor. The preserve is strategically positioned adjacent to public lands and the planned Mariposa Wildlife Crossing over Interstate-5, expanding the mosaic of SOLC conserved lands that support regional conservation efforts.”

Located in the Colestein Valley about a mile from the California border, the Bear Gulch Preserve is located within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument, an area nationally recognized for its rich ecological diversity. The preserve joins more than 2,200 acres of conservation easement lands already protected by SOLC within the Colestin Valley

According to Wise, the acquisition is a key in “forming a vital migratory ‘on-ramp’ for wildlife to and from the proposed Mariposa-Siskiyou Wildlife Crossing.”

He said wildlife photo monitoring has confirmed that Bear Gulch serves “as a key corridor for species movement, with its headwaters originating in one SOLC conservation easement and its lower reach now permanently protected on this new preserve.”

The Preserve is located adjacent to the Bureau of Land Management’s Mariposa Lily Botanical Area and SOLC’s conservation easements along Cottonwood Creek, a steelhead-bearing tributary of the lower Klamath. Because of its location, Wise said Bear Gulch offers critical habitat for diverse flora and fauna and also includes pine-oak woodlands, native grasslands, chaparral, conifer forests, and open meadows, supporting anadromous wild fish (steelhead), raptors, and other native species. In addition it is also home to special status plant species, including Ashland thistle and Greene’s mariposa lily, as well as rare lichens “indicating the undisturbed quality of the area.”

Designated as a Priority Wildlife Connectivity Area by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW), the Colestin Valley serves as a critical ecological migration corridor linking Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands to the east with U.S. Forest Service lands to the west.

While the federally funded Mariposa-Siskiyou Wildlife Crossing will create a crucial land bridge over I-5, a continuous corridor of protected lands nearby remains essential for the safety and success of migrating wildlife.

“The Bear Gulch Preserve fills a significant gap in the region’s conservation landscape,” Wise emphasized. “It reinforces our community’s commitment to stewarding Southern Oregon’s irreplaceable wildlands and biodiversity. Permanently protecting these forests, canyons and creeks and their many wild inhabitants is a landmark step to ensure the long-term success of the future wildlife crossing and the integrity of migration pathways in the Klamath Siskiyou region.”

Funding for the permanent protection of Bear Gulch Preserve came from the Earth and Spirit Foundation, Mark Greenfield, Watershed Row, Cathy Shaw and a dedicated group of generous local community members.

About the Southern Oregon Land Conservancy

The Southern Oregon Land Conservancy works to conserve and enhance land in Southern Oregon to forever sustain human and natural communities, according to a statement from SOLC. It also says the organization “fulfills its mission by connecting people, nature, and communities.”

The nationally accredited organization serves as a leader among regional land trusts through its approach to community involvement and successful conservation track record. SOLC envisions a vital network of conserved lands which deepens the connections between healthy ecosystems and successive generations.

“As Oregon’s first regional, nonprofit land trust, SOLC has been working collaboratively since 1978 with local private and municipal land managers to permanently protect vital lands that are the heart of our region’s landscape and culture,” the SOLC website says. “What began small has grown into more than 13,000 acres of permanently protected lands across the Rogue River region, currently composed of 9 preserves held and stewarded by SOLC and 74 areas protected by voluntary conservation easements.”

Email freelance writer Lee Juillerat at [email protected].