California’s 400-mile long Central Valley is flanked by the Sierra Nevada to the east and the coastal ranges to the west. Historically, the many waterways of the Central Valley and the Sierra Foothills included extensive salmon fisheries, but the alteration of California’s rivers over the past century for flood control, diversion for agricultural and domestic use, and mining have caused dramatic declines of salmon stocks.

American Land Conservancy is helping to restore these fisheries by protecting riparian habitat in two focus areas: the Sacramento River Bend and the Lower Klamath River watersheds.

The Sacramento River Bend region is a rich ecological, cultural, and recreational resource that contains some of California’s last intact riparian habitat. Located
120 miles north of Sacramento, the Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural Area provides habitat for endangered Chinook salmon and steelhead, which spawn upstream. Historically over a million salmon a year spawned in the waters of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, but water diversion and upstream dams have significantly reduced annual runs.

Conserving and restoring habitat along these rivers and their tributaries are critical steps in stabilizing, and ultimately recovering, anadromous fish populations in California. The Sacramento River Bend has been designated an Area of Critical Environmental Concern by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and supports numerous species in addition to salmon, including the southern bald eagle, osprey, Swainson’s hawk, yellow-billed cuckoo, ringtail, mule deer, and bobcat.

Protecting the Sacramento River Bend:

ALC has worked in the Sacramento River Bend area since 1995 and has protected more than 1,650 acres to date. ALC is partneringwith the BLM and willing landowners to eventually protect the entire 17,000-acre Sacramento River Bend Outstanding Natural Area.