The Southern Oregon Land Conservancy has secured the 142-acre Bear Gulch Preserve, a vital stretch of forests, grasslands, and creeks in the Colestin Valley near the California border. This marks Land Conversancy’s first fee-owned preserve in the Klamath River basin and protects one of the region’s last undeveloped corridors for wildlife migration and rare plants.
Bear Gulch sits at the crossroads of three mountain ranges and links public lands with the planned Mariposa Wildlife Crossing over Interstate 5, creating a safe passage for migrating animals. The area’s diverse habitats support steelhead, raptors, rare plants like the Ashland thistle and Greene’s mariposa lily, and even rare lichens.
Bear Gulch’s permanent protection strengthens the ecological network needed for species survival and regional biodiversity.