Spring 2022 Riverlands Newsletter - Issue 50

Yakima River

www.westernrivers.org

Concern (ACEC) and is home to the popular Big Horn boating access site.

It’s an important property from a fish and wildlife perspective and possesses outstanding river access, excellent camping and breathtaking desert vistas in every direction.

Given its importance, Yakima Canyon Ranch has long been a

SPRING 2022

NEWS FROM WESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY

Conserving a Premier Stretch of a Famed Trout Stream

This Issue: Yakima, WA

A new project on this iconic Washington trout stream will conserve habitat and guarantee public access.

McLoughlin Falls, WA

In north-central Washington, WRC sets out to conserve a crucial stretch of the Okanogan River.

Selway, ID

WRC launches a project on a rare unprotected stretch of one the West’s ultimate wild rivers.

Nason, WA

At Nason Ridge, WRC creates a new community forest for the state of Washington and protects two miles of Nason Creek.

Hikers explore the Yakima River Canyon, where WRC is working to conserve four miles of the Yakima River. Our efforts will protect outstanding fish and wildlife habitat and deliver river access for hikers, anglers and others.

Rush Creek, CA

WRC embarks on effort to conserve an oasis for fish and wildlife at the edge of the Great Basin.

Yakima River Washington

T The stretch of the Yakima River Canyon that WRC has acquired contains important habitat for bighorn sheep (pictured), Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and other wildlife.

PORTLAND

(503) 241-0151

INTERIOR WEST (303) 645-4953

CALIFORNIA (415) 767-2001

WASHINGTON (360) 528-2012

he Yakima River is one of the West’s premier desert trout streams. It flows 214 miles from Keechelus Lake in the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River, with a glorious 27-mile stretch through the Yakima River Canyon. Here, in a great sea of sagebrush, the river sweeps around giant horseshoe bends, past high basalt cliffs and rolling desert hills. Year-round, trout anglers take to the Yakima in drift boats and rafts, and in summer people head to the river for day floats in inner tubes. Bighorn sheep, elk and mule deer can be spotted along the river’s

banks, and the canyon’s crevices and cliffs are home to the state’s densest concentration of nesting hawks, eagles and falcons.

Named after the indigenous Yakama people, the Yakima is Washington’s longest river that flows entirely within the state. Historically, the river was one of the Columbia Basin’s major producers of salmon and steelhead, but dams and a century of water withdrawals on the Yakima have degraded fish runs.

In the upper reaches of the Yakima River Canyon lies the 812-acre Yakima Canyon Ranch, spanning two sides of the river at CONTINUED ON BACK

RICHARD WRIGHT

Rolling quietly through the sagebrush in northeastern California, a stream called Rush Creek flows off Rush Creek Mountain and runs east into Nevada, where it meets Smoke Creek, which continues for a few more miles before evaporating into a pancake-flat alkali lakebed in the Smoke Creek Desert. On its 12-mile course through this harsh western edge of the Great Basin, Rush Creek and its riparian surroundings offer water, wetlands, vegetation and nourishment to fish and wildlife.

Tens of thousands of acres of public BLM lands surround Rush Creek, including multiple wilderness study areas and designated areas of critical environmental concern. Half of Rush Creek is protected within the BLM’s Five Springs Wilderness Study Area, but the lower half flows through Rush Creek Ranch, a 750-acre cattle ranch that was recently put up for sale.

The ranch controls a critical water right on Rush Creek and is home to riparian and upland habitats that are utilized by a wide variety of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds and wildlife such as pronghorn and mule deer. Most notably, the entire ranch is priority habitat for greater sage-grouse, one of the Great Basin’s most emblematic creatures.

Greater sage grouse nest and rear on the ranch and use its sage-covered rocky uplands throughout the winter.

Last month, Western Rivers Conservancy signed an agreement to purchase Rush Creek Ranch with the goal of conveying it to the BLM, preventing development and keeping the property’s outstanding habitat permanently intact for fish, wildlife and people. The Nobles Emigrant segment of the 5,000-mile California National Historic Trail skirts the southern edge of the ranch, and the property provides excellent opportunities for recreation in an area that offers solitude, silence and starry skies that are hard to forget. g

In the upper reaches of the Yakima River Canyon lies the 812-acre Yakima Canyon Ranch, spanning two sides of the river at the heart of some of the best fly fishing water in Washington.

target for conservation. Western Rivers Conservancy first attempted to purchase the property in 2015, but it took until 2021 to get a deal in place. We acquired interim funding to purchase the ranch and are now working to secure an appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the property to the BLM. When funding is in place, we will transfer Yakima Canyon Ranch to the BLM for inclusion within the ACEC, guaranteeing permanent public access and ensuring greater management continuity along the river. Conservation of the ranch will also protect migratory habitat for salmon and steelhead and robust habitat for California bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and a myriad of small mammals and birds.

Once Yakima Canyon Ranch is in BLM hands, this premier stretch of the Yakima will be permanently protected for the sake of fish and wildlife, and public access to this very special stretch of the Yakima River Canyon will be guaranteed forever. g

TYLER ROEMER

Protecting a Lifeline in the Sagebrush

the heart of some of the best fly fishing water in Washington. It is one of just a handful of the canyon’s river reaches that aren’t protected within the Bureau of Land Management’s surrounding Yakima Canyon Area of Critical Environmental

TOM AND PAT LEESON

BRIAN SMALL

CONTINUED FROM COVER

Washington

Expanding Protection of the Wild Selway River ELLEN BERNSTEIN

Selway River Idaho

P JUSTIN HAUG

After four years of hard work, Western Rivers Conservancy, Chelan County and ChelanDouglas Land Trust (CDLT) successfully created Nason Ridge Community Forest!

Washington’s newest community forest now spans 3,714 acres above Lake Wenatchee and permanently protects two miles of Nason Creek and all of Kahler Creek, two outstanding salmon-bearing streams and critical sources of cold water for the Wenatchee River.

This landmark project has its roots in— and owes its success to—the people of Lake Wenatchee, who have tried to protect Nason Ridge for over two decades. The property is highly visible from around the lake and is home to a network of trails that connect to the neighboring Lake Wenatchee State Park.

With some 60,000 people visiting Nason Ridge every year to hike, mountain bike and cross country ski, the property has long been part of the fabric of the community.

But Nason Ridge was owned by the Seattlebased timber company Weyerhaeuser, and its future was uncertain for years.

In 2018, WRC negotiated a deal to purchase Nason Ridge from Weyerhaeuser.

We then held the property and joined forces with CDLT, Chelan County and the local community to raise funds to convey it to a steward that could keep the property intact and in public hands forever. That steward turned out to be Chelan County.

Following WRC’s purchase of Nason Ridge, the partners raised over $6 million in public and private funding to convey the property to Chelan County, and to underwrite its stewardship as a community forest and public recreation area, all while helping to protect and restore habitat. In April, WRC conveyed the property to the county, beginning an exciting new chapter for Nason Ridge. g

In eastern Washington’s scenic McLoughlin Canyon, WRC is working to conserve McLoughlin Falls Ranch, an exquisite property of tremendous natural, cultural and historic importance.

A Conservation Gem on the Okanogan River McLoughlin Falls Washington

CHRISTI BODE ELLEN BISHOP

O

n Washington’s Okanogan River, Western Rivers Conservancy is on the cusp of buying and conserving the 727-acre McLoughlin Falls Ranch in order to protect two miles of the Okanogan and a key piece of one of the state’s most important wildlife corridors.

The Okanogan River originates in Canada’s Okanagan Lake and flows 115 miles through oblong lakes, low rolling hills, expanses of sagebrush and stands of Ponderosa pines, eventually emptying into the Columbia River in north-central Washington. Along its banks, fertile agricultural lands fan out for miles and miles, giving rise to productive farms, orchards and vineyards.

Roughly 30 miles south of the Canada-US border, the Okanogan dips into the glacier-carved McLoughlin Canyon, one of the most scenic and historic reaches of the river—and the location of McLoughlin Falls Ranch.

Named after a hearty Class II rapid called McLoughlin Falls, the ranch makes up a critical part of a larger wildlife movement corridor that spans from the Cascade Mountains in the west to the Kettle River Range in the east. Mule deer migrate between the valley and higher elevations, and the area is home to cougar, elk, bighorn sheep, sharp-tailed grouse

and the country’s healthiest population of Canada lynx.

McLoughlin Falls Ranch possesses key stands of riparian forests that shade the river and help keep the Okanogan’s temperatures low. Despite intense pressure, the river supports one of only two remaining self-sustaining runs of sockeye salmon in the entire Columbia Basin, as well as Chinook and steelhead populations that are still hanging on.

From a historical perspective, McLoughlin Falls Ranch is also important.

The property and surrounding region have long been used by people as a trading, hunting and fishing route. The ranch is an ancestral fishing site for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and artifacts on the property point to its history as a stagecoach stop for miners and settlers.

In October 2021, we signed an agreement to purchase the property, and we will buy and hold it until we can permanently conserve the ranch in partnership with the Colville Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Once we transfer the property to its new stewards, the ranch will remain undeveloped for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people, including those who’ve had ties to this land for centuries. g

icture the ultimate wild river: roaring whitewater, horizons notched by snow-capped peaks, corridors of evergreen forests, bear and elk sporadically roaming the riverbank, trout surfacing on the water, and not another human in sight. This is Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River.

The 98-mile long Selway is widely known as one of America’s most spectacular, and most thoroughly protected, free-flowing rivers. From its source in the Bitterroot Mountains, the Selway flows west to the Lochsa River to form the Middle Fork Clearwater. It is one of eight rivers designated in the original Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, and much of the river lies within the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness, one of the initial wilderness areas that was protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act. Thanks to this long history of protection and the river’s remarkably untouched quality (only one raft trip is permitted per day), the Selway is one of few rivers that provides vast, unbroken habitat for fish and wildlife, including westslope cutthroat trout, steelhead, Chinook salmon, Canada lynx, Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

WRC recently acquired a rare private inholding along the Selway River, one of the country’s most spectacular wild rivers. Conserving this stretch will fill a gap in protection along a key reach of the lower river.

The Selway is also revered by veteran river-runners, as it guarantees boaters a truly pristine wilderness experience.

Before the Selway’s confluence with the Lochsa, it leaves the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness and continues through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Along this stretch, a few private inholdings along the otherwise wilderness-blanketed river remain unprotected.

Last year, WRC negotiated a deal to purchase one of the most important of these inholdings, the 152-acre Selway River Ranch. The ranch is the finest example of a flat, pristine meadow on

The Selway is one of few rivers that provides vast, untouched habitat for fish and wildlife. WRC’s conservation of Selway River Ranch will further expand habitat protection for wild steelhead (pictured), cutthroat trout and Chinook salmon.

the lower Selway. It spans nearly a mile of the western bank of the river and includes half a mile of Elk City Creek, a minor Selway tributary.

This April, we purchased the ranch, locking in our commitment to this special property. We will now hold it while we pursue funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the ranch to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. Our aim is to keep the property intact and undeveloped, to protect its fish and wildlife habitat, and to help maintain the exquisite, untamed character of Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River forever. g

MARY EDWARDS

Nason Ridge Protected at Last!

Washington

Expanding Protection of the Wild Selway River ELLEN BERNSTEIN

Selway River Idaho

P JUSTIN HAUG

After four years of hard work, Western Rivers Conservancy, Chelan County and ChelanDouglas Land Trust (CDLT) successfully created Nason Ridge Community Forest!

Washington’s newest community forest now spans 3,714 acres above Lake Wenatchee and permanently protects two miles of Nason Creek and all of Kahler Creek, two outstanding salmon-bearing streams and critical sources of cold water for the Wenatchee River.

This landmark project has its roots in— and owes its success to—the people of Lake Wenatchee, who have tried to protect Nason Ridge for over two decades. The property is highly visible from around the lake and is home to a network of trails that connect to the neighboring Lake Wenatchee State Park.

With some 60,000 people visiting Nason Ridge every year to hike, mountain bike and cross country ski, the property has long been part of the fabric of the community.

But Nason Ridge was owned by the Seattlebased timber company Weyerhaeuser, and its future was uncertain for years.

In 2018, WRC negotiated a deal to purchase Nason Ridge from Weyerhaeuser.

We then held the property and joined forces with CDLT, Chelan County and the local community to raise funds to convey it to a steward that could keep the property intact and in public hands forever. That steward turned out to be Chelan County.

Following WRC’s purchase of Nason Ridge, the partners raised over $6 million in public and private funding to convey the property to Chelan County, and to underwrite its stewardship as a community forest and public recreation area, all while helping to protect and restore habitat. In April, WRC conveyed the property to the county, beginning an exciting new chapter for Nason Ridge. g

In eastern Washington’s scenic McLoughlin Canyon, WRC is working to conserve McLoughlin Falls Ranch, an exquisite property of tremendous natural, cultural and historic importance.

A Conservation Gem on the Okanogan River McLoughlin Falls Washington

CHRISTI BODE ELLEN BISHOP

O

n Washington’s Okanogan River, Western Rivers Conservancy is on the cusp of buying and conserving the 727-acre McLoughlin Falls Ranch in order to protect two miles of the Okanogan and a key piece of one of the state’s most important wildlife corridors.

The Okanogan River originates in Canada’s Okanagan Lake and flows 115 miles through oblong lakes, low rolling hills, expanses of sagebrush and stands of Ponderosa pines, eventually emptying into the Columbia River in north-central Washington. Along its banks, fertile agricultural lands fan out for miles and miles, giving rise to productive farms, orchards and vineyards.

Roughly 30 miles south of the Canada-US border, the Okanogan dips into the glacier-carved McLoughlin Canyon, one of the most scenic and historic reaches of the river—and the location of McLoughlin Falls Ranch.

Named after a hearty Class II rapid called McLoughlin Falls, the ranch makes up a critical part of a larger wildlife movement corridor that spans from the Cascade Mountains in the west to the Kettle River Range in the east. Mule deer migrate between the valley and higher elevations, and the area is home to cougar, elk, bighorn sheep, sharp-tailed grouse

and the country’s healthiest population of Canada lynx.

McLoughlin Falls Ranch possesses key stands of riparian forests that shade the river and help keep the Okanogan’s temperatures low. Despite intense pressure, the river supports one of only two remaining self-sustaining runs of sockeye salmon in the entire Columbia Basin, as well as Chinook and steelhead populations that are still hanging on.

From a historical perspective, McLoughlin Falls Ranch is also important.

The property and surrounding region have long been used by people as a trading, hunting and fishing route. The ranch is an ancestral fishing site for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, and artifacts on the property point to its history as a stagecoach stop for miners and settlers.

In October 2021, we signed an agreement to purchase the property, and we will buy and hold it until we can permanently conserve the ranch in partnership with the Colville Tribes and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Once we transfer the property to its new stewards, the ranch will remain undeveloped for the benefit of fish, wildlife and people, including those who’ve had ties to this land for centuries. g

icture the ultimate wild river: roaring whitewater, horizons notched by snow-capped peaks, corridors of evergreen forests, bear and elk sporadically roaming the riverbank, trout surfacing on the water, and not another human in sight. This is Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River.

The 98-mile long Selway is widely known as one of America’s most spectacular, and most thoroughly protected, free-flowing rivers. From its source in the Bitterroot Mountains, the Selway flows west to the Lochsa River to form the Middle Fork Clearwater. It is one of eight rivers designated in the original Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968, and much of the river lies within the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness, one of the initial wilderness areas that was protected under the 1964 Wilderness Act. Thanks to this long history of protection and the river’s remarkably untouched quality (only one raft trip is permitted per day), the Selway is one of few rivers that provides vast, unbroken habitat for fish and wildlife, including westslope cutthroat trout, steelhead, Chinook salmon, Canada lynx, Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep.

WRC recently acquired a rare private inholding along the Selway River, one of the country’s most spectacular wild rivers. Conserving this stretch will fill a gap in protection along a key reach of the lower river.

The Selway is also revered by veteran river-runners, as it guarantees boaters a truly pristine wilderness experience.

Before the Selway’s confluence with the Lochsa, it leaves the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness and continues through the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forests. Along this stretch, a few private inholdings along the otherwise wilderness-blanketed river remain unprotected.

Last year, WRC negotiated a deal to purchase one of the most important of these inholdings, the 152-acre Selway River Ranch. The ranch is the finest example of a flat, pristine meadow on

The Selway is one of few rivers that provides vast, untouched habitat for fish and wildlife. WRC’s conservation of Selway River Ranch will further expand habitat protection for wild steelhead (pictured), cutthroat trout and Chinook salmon.

the lower Selway. It spans nearly a mile of the western bank of the river and includes half a mile of Elk City Creek, a minor Selway tributary.

This April, we purchased the ranch, locking in our commitment to this special property. We will now hold it while we pursue funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the ranch to the Nez Perce-Clearwater National Forest. Our aim is to keep the property intact and undeveloped, to protect its fish and wildlife habitat, and to help maintain the exquisite, untamed character of Idaho’s Wild and Scenic Selway River forever. g

MARY EDWARDS

Nason Ridge Protected at Last!

Yakima River

www.westernrivers.org

Concern (ACEC) and is home to the popular Big Horn boating access site.

It’s an important property from a fish and wildlife perspective and possesses outstanding river access, excellent camping and breathtaking desert vistas in every direction.

Given its importance, Yakima Canyon Ranch has long been a

SPRING 2022

NEWS FROM WESTERN RIVERS CONSERVANCY

Conserving a Premier Stretch of a Famed Trout Stream

This Issue: Yakima, WA

A new project on this iconic Washington trout stream will conserve habitat and guarantee public access.

McLoughlin Falls, WA

In north-central Washington, WRC sets out to conserve a crucial stretch of the Okanogan River.

Selway, ID

WRC launches a project on a rare unprotected stretch of one the West’s ultimate wild rivers.

Nason, WA

At Nason Ridge, WRC creates a new community forest for the state of Washington and protects two miles of Nason Creek.

Hikers explore the Yakima River Canyon, where WRC is working to conserve four miles of the Yakima River. Our efforts will protect outstanding fish and wildlife habitat and deliver river access for hikers, anglers and others.

Rush Creek, CA

WRC embarks on effort to conserve an oasis for fish and wildlife at the edge of the Great Basin.

Yakima River Washington

T The stretch of the Yakima River Canyon that WRC has acquired contains important habitat for bighorn sheep (pictured), Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and other wildlife.

PORTLAND

(503) 241-0151

INTERIOR WEST (303) 645-4953

CALIFORNIA (415) 767-2001

WASHINGTON (360) 528-2012

he Yakima River is one of the West’s premier desert trout streams. It flows 214 miles from Keechelus Lake in the Cascade Mountains to the Columbia River, with a glorious 27-mile stretch through the Yakima River Canyon. Here, in a great sea of sagebrush, the river sweeps around giant horseshoe bends, past high basalt cliffs and rolling desert hills. Year-round, trout anglers take to the Yakima in drift boats and rafts, and in summer people head to the river for day floats in inner tubes. Bighorn sheep, elk and mule deer can be spotted along the river’s

banks, and the canyon’s crevices and cliffs are home to the state’s densest concentration of nesting hawks, eagles and falcons.

Named after the indigenous Yakama people, the Yakima is Washington’s longest river that flows entirely within the state. Historically, the river was one of the Columbia Basin’s major producers of salmon and steelhead, but dams and a century of water withdrawals on the Yakima have degraded fish runs.

In the upper reaches of the Yakima River Canyon lies the 812-acre Yakima Canyon Ranch, spanning two sides of the river at CONTINUED ON BACK

RICHARD WRIGHT

Rolling quietly through the sagebrush in northeastern California, a stream called Rush Creek flows off Rush Creek Mountain and runs east into Nevada, where it meets Smoke Creek, which continues for a few more miles before evaporating into a pancake-flat alkali lakebed in the Smoke Creek Desert. On its 12-mile course through this harsh western edge of the Great Basin, Rush Creek and its riparian surroundings offer water, wetlands, vegetation and nourishment to fish and wildlife.

Tens of thousands of acres of public BLM lands surround Rush Creek, including multiple wilderness study areas and designated areas of critical environmental concern. Half of Rush Creek is protected within the BLM’s Five Springs Wilderness Study Area, but the lower half flows through Rush Creek Ranch, a 750-acre cattle ranch that was recently put up for sale.

The ranch controls a critical water right on Rush Creek and is home to riparian and upland habitats that are utilized by a wide variety of migratory waterfowl, shorebirds and wildlife such as pronghorn and mule deer. Most notably, the entire ranch is priority habitat for greater sage-grouse, one of the Great Basin’s most emblematic creatures.

Greater sage grouse nest and rear on the ranch and use its sage-covered rocky uplands throughout the winter.

Last month, Western Rivers Conservancy signed an agreement to purchase Rush Creek Ranch with the goal of conveying it to the BLM, preventing development and keeping the property’s outstanding habitat permanently intact for fish, wildlife and people. The Nobles Emigrant segment of the 5,000-mile California National Historic Trail skirts the southern edge of the ranch, and the property provides excellent opportunities for recreation in an area that offers solitude, silence and starry skies that are hard to forget. g

In the upper reaches of the Yakima River Canyon lies the 812-acre Yakima Canyon Ranch, spanning two sides of the river at the heart of some of the best fly fishing water in Washington.

target for conservation. Western Rivers Conservancy first attempted to purchase the property in 2015, but it took until 2021 to get a deal in place. We acquired interim funding to purchase the ranch and are now working to secure an appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund to convey the property to the BLM. When funding is in place, we will transfer Yakima Canyon Ranch to the BLM for inclusion within the ACEC, guaranteeing permanent public access and ensuring greater management continuity along the river. Conservation of the ranch will also protect migratory habitat for salmon and steelhead and robust habitat for California bighorn sheep, Rocky Mountain elk, mule deer and a myriad of small mammals and birds.

Once Yakima Canyon Ranch is in BLM hands, this premier stretch of the Yakima will be permanently protected for the sake of fish and wildlife, and public access to this very special stretch of the Yakima River Canyon will be guaranteed forever. g

TYLER ROEMER

Protecting a Lifeline in the Sagebrush

the heart of some of the best fly fishing water in Washington. It is one of just a handful of the canyon’s river reaches that aren’t protected within the Bureau of Land Management’s surrounding Yakima Canyon Area of Critical Environmental

TOM AND PAT LEESON

BRIAN SMALL

CONTINUED FROM COVER