###

A 73-acre property adjacent to Headwaters Forest Reserve is set to be transferred to the Bureau of Land Management this summer.

Save the Redwoods League is hoping the sale of Westfall Ranch will be wrapped up in July, if everything goes to plan.

“We’ve owned the property since 2016, so 10 years later, it’s all coming to fruition — fingers crossed,” Adrianna Andreucci, a land protection manager with the Save the Redwoods League, told the Outpost.

Located along Elk River Road just down the way from the trailhead of the 7,472 acre Headwaters Forest Reserve, the property hosts former rangeland and a smattering of second growth trees.

The ranch was purchased by the League in 2016 for $1.1 million with aims to prevent development and hand it off to public ownership after restoration. 

Since then, the organization has focused on vegetation in the former rangeland, with on-and-off planting of conifers, removal of invasive species and restoration of meadow habitat (future restoration work on the property with the Wiyot Tribe is also planned).

Andreucci said, since the property hosts about a mile of the South Fork Elk River, “the exciting next focus is seeing that river restored.”

Collin Ewing, manager of BLM’s Arcata field office, said once the land is owned by the agency and becomes public, people will be able to walk freely around on it.

But of particular interest to BLM is the habitat.

“The main reason why BLM was interested in managing it is to help restore salmon and steelhead spawning and rearing habitat,” he said.

Environmental organization CalTrout has completed a conceptual design for a restoration project on the property. This would include removal of sediment, vegetation work and adding some wood in the riparian area for fish to live in.

The ranch is below industrial timberlands and sees a fair amount of sediment, said Darren Mierau, North Coast director of CalTrout. 

Too much sediment can clog fish gills and hinder spawning grounds.

“I think our restoration will help that, but we’re still dependent on the upper forested watershed areas to also heal and contribute less sediment,” said Mierau.

He said the organization is prioritizing other parts of the Elk River before pushing ahead on this section of the South Fork.

The sale price is $750,000, sourced from the BLM’s Land and Water Conservation Fund program funding. This fund is mostly sourced from royalties levied on offshore oil and gas drilling.

There’s still some county planning hurdles to go through before the transfer is finalized. A bundle of zoning changes to facilitate the transfer were approved, without discussion as part of the consent calendar, during the Humboldt County Planning Commission meeting Thursday night. Land use and zoning requirements required before the sale could happen caused some delay of the transfer, according to Andreucci.

A 4.3-acre piece of the ranch with a 1,200 square foot home and barn was parceled out, which the League intends to sell after transferring the property.

No concrete plans are yet in place for trails. The land won’t technically be a part of the Headwaters Reserve proper, explained Ewing, but would be managed in accordance with it by the Arcata BLM field office.