Property will buffer old growth, build wildfire resilience in Mendocino
Imagine the satisfaction of clicking into place an important missing puzzle piece. Now imagine that piece is a living landscape, home to a recovering coast redwood forest, a rare orchid, and threatened wildlife. That’s the significance of the League’s recent acquisition of the 390-acre Dark Gulch property, part of the larger Montgomery Woods Initiative in Northern California’s Mendocino County.
Montgomery Woods State Natural Reserve, the region’s old-growth centerpiece, is surrounded by a jigsaw of timberland and privately owned properties. The League’s ambitious Montgomery Woods Initiative aims to protect and expand this stunning park by safeguarding the land around it. Collectively, these surrounding properties will provide a buffer against severe wildfires, high winds, and encroaching development.
“Dark Gulch fills a critical hole in the Montgomery Woods Initiative, particularly from a fire resilience perspective,” says Adrianna Andreucci, the League’s land protection manager. “Consolidating ownership helps us implement fuel reduction projects more efficiently and reduce the severity of wildfires. It allows us to be better stewards within a changing climate.”
The League will hold Dark Gulch until it can be officially added to Montgomery Woods in partnership with California State Parks and the Bureau of Land Management, which owns land between Dark Gulch and the state reserve.
From former timberland to future old growth
Located within the traditional lands of the Northern Pomo people, the previously logged Dark Gulch property is now regrowing a mixed forest of young coast redwoods, Douglas-fir, and tanoak. Manzanita, huckleberry, and California hazelnut grow in the shade of the larger trees, and in spring and summer, rare white-flowered rein orchids emerge from the forest floor, their slender green stems sprouting honey-scented blooms.
Investing in the Dark Gulch property ensures that these orchids, the redwoods, and other gorgeous flora will continue to flourish. “As you wander along the South Fork Big River, through a lush understory of ferns and redwood sorrel, the young forest gives you a sense of hope,” says Andreucci. “With the right care, this forest is well poised to become the old growth of the future.”
Connected lands benefit humans and animals
Within the Montgomery Woods Initiative, Dark Gulch connects two protected redwood properties—453-acre Atkins Place and 3,862-acre Weger Ranch. The League purchased Atkins Place in 2022 as a future addition to Montgomery Woods. In 2023, the League secured a conservation easement on Weger Ranch that protects this working forest from subdivision, development, and excessive logging in perpetuity.
By connecting Atkins Place to Weger Ranch, Dark Gulch helps secure the region’s redwood footprint and creates a new protected corridor for fish and wildlife. A section of the South Fork Big River—part of a priority recovery area for coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead trout—flows through Dark Gulch along its border with Atkins Place. The property also expands the habitat available to imperiled species such as the foothill yellow-legged frog and Northern spotted owl.
“It’s important to create connected corridors, like we have done at Dark Gulch and within the Montgomery Woods Initiative as a whole, so that bears, mountain lions, and other wide-ranging species can move freely,” says Andreucci.
This latest purchase is part of the League’s mission to protect and connect forest lands for the sake of wildlife, rare plants, and redwood trees. It’s an important step towards solving the puzzle of how to safeguard one of the most majestic places on Earth.
