The Klamath-Cascade: California’s Watershed in the Balance
Pacific Forest Trust is pursuing a major strategic initiative to conserve one of America’s priceless forest treasures, the Klamath-Cascade Region. The Klamath-Cascade is the primary source of California’s most critical natural resource: water. This region provides the vast majority of the state’s water, and its role will be increasingly important as the climate changes.
Stretching across almost 10 million acres in an arc from Mount Lassen across northern California to the headwaters of the mighty Klamath River in Oregon, the forests of the Klamath-Cascade are a patchwork of public and private ownerships that anchor both globally recognized biodiversity and California’s timber industry. Fed by glaciers and snowmelt from Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta, the Region’s great rivers provide drinking water for more than 22 million Californians. Pacific Forest Trust holds a growing network of conservation easements throughout this region. Our vision is an integrated, diversified forest economy in the region; investments in conserving this water source that cost a fraction of what other solutions cost; restoration and maintenance of natural watershed infrastructure encouraged by better policies; a reduction in the likelihood of devastating wildfires and a reduction in firefighting costs; and many other benefits for wood, water, wildlife, and well-being, all grounded in conservation and sustainability into the future.
Read the full report below or download the report as a PDF.