Many of the properties across our region remain in a largely natural and wild state, holding significant ecological, cultural, educational, or recreational resources that are threatened by rapid growth and development pressures.  In order to conserve the wildlife and other wildland attributes across the regional landscape, the Northcoast Regional Land Trust has developed the Wildlands Conservation Program.  This program aims to work with all willing landowners that hold such properties, and developing a conservation plan that works for the landowner and future generations of land stewards while protecting these significant wildlands attributes.  Examples of attributues a landowner may wish to protect include old-growth forest stands, wetlands, anadromous fish habitat, meadows, oak woodlands, alluvial terraces, archaeological sites, river access routes, natural history education opportunities, and rare plant and wildlife species.

In 2002, NRLT completed its first project - the acquisition of 320 acres in the Mattole Watershed, which includes old-growth forests and salmon-spawning tributaries. With assistance from the Coastal Conservancy, and in partnership with Sanctuary Forest Inc., NRLT was able to purchase the land and has now donated it to the Bureau of Land Management for permanent protection for its natural values.  This property fills a gap between two parts of the Sinkyone Wilderness State Park on the border of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties, approximately four miles from the ocean.

The NRLT has also worked with many landowners throughout the region to draft conservation plans to permanently protect the natural beauty, cultural resources, and biodiversity of their properties. Property owners willing to donate a conservation easement to insure that their land will remain as wild and scenic as possible in perpetuity should contact us to explore their options.

The NRLT is currently investigating over a dozen Wildlands Program applications on the North Coast. In addition to pristine properties, the NRLT is looking at previously managed ranchlands and forestlands that have been taken out of production by their owners, and now have enormous potential for returning to wild conditions. Many of the projects are located in areas where several adjacent neighbors with similar conservation values are also interested in donating conservation easements. These projects therefore offer the opportunity to create large, intact natural corridors for wildlife and water quality.