photo credit: Wilderness Land Trust
View from the hills above Thomas Creek, now a part of the Mendocino National Forest.

It's a new year, and one of growth for the Mendocino National Forest.

North of Potter Valley, nearly a thousand acres of oak woodland sandwiched between the Sanhedrin Wilderness and the Eel River is switching hands into public ownership.

Called the Thomas Creek project, the tract of land has been held by the Wilderness Land Trust, with the intent to transfer, since October 2022.

Now the 917-acre property, which for years was held privately, is part of the Mendocino National Forest.

So said the Land Trust’s Margosia Jadkowski.

"It's really important wildlife habitat, both for the habitat within those 900 acres and also the role that it plays in the larger landscape with connectivity between different protected areas with wildlife migration corridors," Jadkowski said.

She said that's as well as providing a corridor to higher elevation forest land for species including black bears and mountain lions.

The area is also home to rare plants like the Anthony Peak lupine, found only in the Mendocino National Forest, Jadkowski said.

"So it plays an important part in the larger landscape scale conservation," Jadkowski said. "Also from the watershed perspective, it was one of the last private sections of Thomas Creek, which is an important tributary to the Eel River and is spawning grounds for steelhead and co-host salmon as well."

Despite the property’s relatively small size, Jadkowksi said it’s a critical type of landscape for preservation.

"It's also kinda interesting mid-elevation landscape that's transitional between kind of two different habitats, and as climate changes and there's changes in the forest and in those habitats, protecting those transitional areas is really important for climate resilience," Jadkowski said.

The Thomas Creek project is the sixth property in the area in recent years to transfer from private ownership to public lands.