“This addition makes the preserve over 1,150 acres”, said Doug Parker, CEO of the Land Trust. “The property has significant habitats, priority species, abuts over 8,000 acres of protected land and is in a critical location for extending protected wildlife corridors across the region.”
The Chiles Valley Preserve is next to the 6,400-acre Cedar Roughs Wilderness Area, one of only two federal wilderness areas in the Bay Area, and part of the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument. “The area’s importance for conservation has been thoroughly assessed and documented twice in recent years,” said Parker. “14 years ago, when the Cedar Roughs Wilderness Area was first created and again 5 years ago, when the Wilderness Area was designated part of the new National Monument.”
The property includes serpentine woodlands and chaparral as well as oak woodlands and grasslands. The property also has extensive serpentine soils, the most significant soil type for rare species statewide.
“I want to thank the landowner, who we have worked with before,” said Parker. “This new acquisition extends the preserve toward another 850-acre property managed by BLM, securing the potential for unimpeded wildlife movement across this area into the future. It’s a key step in developing an envisioned corridor that will connect protected land around Lake Hennessey all the way across the county to Lake Berryessa.”
Land Trust of Napa County’s latest 120-acre addition helps protect a wildlife corridor along the ridge from the 850 acres around Sugarloaf Peak, on the right, to the beginning of the 6,400-acre Cedar Roughs Wilderness Area on the left.