- PROGRAM:
- Great Basin
- PROJECT:
- Bridgeport Valley
- LOCATION:
- Mono County, California
- ACREAGE:
- 10,732 acres
- STATUS:
- Completed 2006
Bridgeport Valley
Conserving a Scenic Working Landscape
Bridgeport Valley is one of the last undeveloped high altitude valleys in California and the largest wetland complex in the Eastern Sierra. It is a haven for wildlife, including the Mono sage grouse, various raptors and the state-threatened wolverine.
Like so much of the ranchland in the fast-growing West, Bridgeport Valley is at risk of being sold off as “ranchettes". ALC’s strategy is to acquire conservation easements to prevent fragmentation while helping ranching families hold onto their land and maintain their lifestyle. By keeping land as open space, this effort preserves a corridor encompassing hundreds of thousands of acres for deer and other wildlife migrating between Yosemite National Park and the Hoover Wilderness.
In March 2003, ALC and our partners protected a 6,332-acre historic ranch, the Centennial Dressler Ranch, through a conservation easement held by the California Rangeland Trust. ALC currently is working to protect an adjacent 4,400-acre ranch.
Together, these two ranches preserve 25 miles of the Walker River system, one of the most renowned trout fisheries in the West.
