There are new places to hike in Sierra foothills. Here’s where, and how to help conservation
More than 50,000 acres of rolling hills above central San Joaquin Valley cities have been protected by Sierra Foothill Conservancy, with thousands of new acres coming into the fold within the past year.
It’s a milestone achievement in a milestone year for the nonprofit based in Mariposa and Fresno that will celebrate its 25th anniversary with events starting Friday.
The conservancy’s vast network of protected lands stretch across Fresno, Madera, Mariposa and Merced counties. That includes 10 nature preserves and 40 conservation easements – most of them private lands, where residents agree to never majorly disrupt the place, like building a new housing development.
The conservancy also has more than 3,000 acres of conservation easements, and one preserve, that are always open for recreation – mostly where a utility company or government agency owns the property.
Bridget Fithian, the conservancy’s executive director, said as interest in outdoor recreation increases, her group is working to meet the need. She said the conservancy is protecting more land now with recreation as a central goal. Many of the conservancy’s earliest purchases focused more on just preserving ecosystems. The Fresno area especially needs more recreational opportunities, she said.
“Fresno is one of the most parks-poor places in the entire state,” Fithian said, “and we need more green spaces in Fresno. We’re desperate for it.”
Open conservancy lands for hiking above San Joaquin Valley
Sierra Foothill Conservancy has some always-open conservation easements for recreation around the Tesoro Viejo development north of Fresno, Wishon Reservoir (around Helms Picnic Site) and Kerckhoff Reservoir (around Smalley Cove Campground) in Sierra National Forest, Willow Creek (off Road 222 south of North Fork), Manzanita Lake (off Road 222 north of North Fork), and the Merced Falls easement along the Merced River, just below Lake McSwain in Merced County.
Sierra Foothill Conservancy leaders shared those general locations in a newsletter, but information about the always-open easements isn’t listed on the conservancy’s website. There are easement maps on the planning units page of Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council’s website.
The Stockton Creek Preserve in Mariposa – first protected with a conservancy easement 10 years ago, and expanded to 722 acres in 2019 – is also always open to the public. It’s owned by the Mariposa Public Utility District. There are parking areas and entrances at Trabucco Street and along Highway 140, nearly a mile east of 140’s intersection with Highway 49.
The conservancy’s nine other preserves are owned by Sierra Foothill Conservancy and are only open periodically, usually for guided hikes, and mostly during fall, winter and spring months.
Some preserves will open this weekend, May 15-16, for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began for those who pay for guided hikes and activities ($50 and above) as part of Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s 25th anniversary fundraiser. Some experiences will be sold in a live auction during a virtual anniversary celebration Friday night.
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Newly protected lands in Fresno and Madera counties
Fithian said the conservancy’s vision is to establish connected corridors of conserved lands that stretch from grasslands in the Valley to the crest of the Sierra Nevada.
A lot has been accomplished on that front along the San Joaquin River corridor, Fithian said, including by the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust. That group also has lands open for hiking near Fresno, including the Sumner Peck Ranch acquired earlier this year, just south of Friant on the San Joaquin River.
Sierra Foothill Conservancy’s most recent conservation easement, in February, protected the 3,602-acre McKinney ranch near Madera Ranchos, close to the intersection of Highways 41 and 145.
That “four corners” region has become a “critical space” for the conservancy in its conservation work as the area continues to see more housing development.
The conservation easement lets the McKinney family continue to use their property for ranching and grazing cattle while simultaneously protecting the land from many other developments into perpetuity.
“Basically it keeps the land intact as it is today,” Fithian said of conservation easements, which stay with properties when they are sold or passed on to other members in a family.
The conservancy said the McKinney ranch has “some of the highest quality vernal pool land in the world.”
Another recent conservation easement, in January: 4,598 acres of working rangeland between Mariposa and Raymond, including the historic Quick “Ben Hur” Ranch, Silver Bar Ranch and Striped Creek Ranch.
It was donated by Jim Larrick and Jun Chen, who purchased the property with the intention of preserving it.
“Historical and cultural artifacts abound and serve as mementos of the past, telling stories of the land’s rich heritage,” including bedrock mortars used by Native Americans, the conservancy wrote in announcing the new conservation easement.
The conservancy has also started doing vegetation management treatments, thinning about 5,000 of its acres across various locations over the past decade, to try and make its lands more resilient to wildfires. A turning point came in 2016, when a majority of its Black Mountain preserve near Prather burned in the Goose Fire.
The conservancy’s newest preserve, the Mastin Ranch, was added at the end of 2019. It’s 1,000 acres of meadows, rangeland and oak woodland located in Raymond in eastern Madera County. It was donated by Norma Mastin, a high school biology teacher who gave it to the conservancy when she died.
The preserve will open to some members of the public for the first time soon. A first-look guided trip into the preserve is up for bid in the conservancy’s virtual live auction on Friday.
This story was originally published May 14, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
