The Land Trust of Napa County is pleased to announce the permanent protection of 280 acres adjacent to the 6,400-acre Cedar Roughs Wilderness Area, just south of Pope Creek near Lake Berryessa. This newly protected land safeguards a stretch of Trout Creek, a tributary of Pope Creek, and connects 240 acres of existing Bureau of Land Management land to the Wilderness Area, part of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument.
“This property is a remarkable addition to our growing network of protected land,” said Doug Parker, CEO of the Land Trust. “It connects together existing protected lands, supports wildlife corridors and also protects streams and a number of rare plant species.”
The project is also part of a larger-scale strategy to connect together and consolidate a contiguous 25,000-acre block of protected land west of Lake Berryessa. The property borders federally protected lands on two sides.
A botanical survey of the property identified 11 distinct vegetation types, including Blue Oak Woodland, Sargent Cypress Forest, White Alder-Willow Riparian Forest, Serpentine Chaparral, and Serpentine Freshwater Marsh. The survey also confirmed the presence of 10 special status plant species, including wildflowers that exist only in a handful of counties nearby and nowhere else in the world.
“The presence of ten special status species on a property of this size is exceptional,” said botanist Jake Ruygt. “The diversity of plant communities—including rare serpentine habitats—makes this an incredibly valuable conservation acquisition.”
The property is designated as a “High Priority” for protection in the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Blue Ridge Berryessa Conceptual Area Protection Plan and is entirely within an area identified as “Essential to Conservation Goals” by the Bay Area Conservation Lands Network.
Bill Harrison, one of the owners of the land, said, “Our families have enjoyed this property for the last 75 years. It is special that the property will be preserved by the Land Trust of Napa County.”
“This acquisition represents an important step in our ongoing strategy to connect protected lands throughout Napa County,” Parker added. “By protecting this property, we are building on past conservation work in order to safeguard these irreplaceable landscapes into the future.”
Read the Napa Register story here.
Yellow Hyacinth (Triteleia lugens)
Green Coyote Mint (Monardella viridis)
Two-carpellate Western Flax (Hesperolinon bicarpellatum)
Broad-lobed Leptosiphon (Leptosiphon latisectus)
