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Press release from Save the Redwoods League:

Save the Redwoods League announced today that Westfall Ranch, a 72-acre property outside Eureka in Humboldt County, has been transferred to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) for permanent protection adjacent to Headwaters Forest Reserve. With this ownership change, Save the Redwoods, which purchased Westfall Ranch in 2016, completes a decade-long effort to restore the land, expand habitat connectivity and increase future public access potential to one of Northern California’s most treasured redwood destinations.

“We’re thrilled to add Westfall Ranch to the network of conserved lands in Humboldt County,” said Adrianna Andreucci, land protection manager for Save the Redwoods League. “Thanks to support from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, and thousands of Save the Redwoods League donors a decade ago, these lands and waterways are now part of the fabric of our shared public lands.”

About Westfall Ranch

Westfall Ranch is within the ancestral lands of the Wiyot people who have lived, traveled, and traded on these lands and along the region’s waterways since time immemorial.

Westfall Ranch is adjacent to Headwaters Forest Reserve and near the Elk River trailhead, south of Eureka, California. The property includes roughly a mile of the South Fork Elk River, floodplain meadows, and second-growth coast redwood forest. When Save the Redwoods League purchased it from the Westfall family in 2016, the long-term goal was to permanently conserve the land and restore the river frontage.

Over the past decade, Save the Redwoods has been restoring the property by planting native conifers, removing invasive plants with help from the California Conservation Corps and rehabilitating native meadow habitat. Fencing and old grazing infrastructure were also removed to support wildlife movement across the property.  

A Lifeline for Salmon and Steelhead

The South Fork Elk River flowing through Westfall Ranch is critical habitat for coho salmon, Chinook salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout. CalTrout, a leading freshwater conservation organization and partner of Save the Redwoods, released a Recovery Plan for the Elk River in 2022 and a conceptual design for the South Fork Elk River in 2021. 

The plans call for the recreation of natural structures where young fish can grow and thrive. Eddies and slow water refuges will be remade by contouring the riverbanks, adding large wood, reconnecting side channels and alcoves and enhancing connections with tributaries. Planting native vegetation will maintain shaded refuges and improve the biodiversity of streamside areas.

Expansion of Public Lands

Plans for the management of the property will be developed with input from the public and Tribal partners. The 7,500-acre Headwaters Forest Reserve is adjacent to the property and attracts more than 40,000 visitors a year, up from just 5,000 when it opened in the late 1990s. The addition of Westfall Ranch extends the Reserve’s publicly accessible landscape, connecting more people to the scenic Elk River watershed. 

Transaction

The $750,000 transfer to BLM was made possible by the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund. Save the Redwoods’ original purchase of the property in 2016 was supported by more than 3,100 members of Save the Redwoods League, demonstrating the broad grassroots support for expanding protections around Headwaters Forest Reserve. It is the only forest reserve in BLM’s National Conservation Lands and home to one of the largest old-growth coast redwoods stands on Earth.