Preserving a Family Farm in the Fall River Valley

The Shasta Land Trust is pleased to announce that a beloved family farm in the Fall River Valley, Paige Ranch, has been protected forever! Patricia Paige and her family have generously donated a conservation easement over their 207-acre wild rice farm, ensuring its preservation for generations to come.

The Fall River Valley has been a focus area of Shasta Land Trust for almost two decades now, with land trust staff collaborating and working with willing landowners to conserve the land in this special valley bit by bit. Paige Ranch, located just across the Little Tule River from Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park and a short distance from other Shasta Land Trust conserved properties, acts as a key piece in preserving agriculture and habitat connectivity in the valley.

The area is home to pristine spring-fed streams and rivers, top-ranked trout fisheries, and remarkably diverse habitat for wildlife, particularly migratory birds. Fall River Valley has been designated as an official Audubon Society Important Bird Area, recognized for a high diversity of breeding ducks, shorebirds, and other waterfowl, including the Sandhill Crane. The valley’s agricultural areas also provide food and wintering habitat for many raptors and large mammals, such as elk and deer. The rivers themselves also support large populations of breeding and wintering Bald Eagles and Ospreys.

Paige Ranch includes 180 acres of wild rice fields that provide valuable habitat for many of these migrating birds, in addition to other wildlife species. The property also provides solace for many wildlife species in its grasslands, with regular visitors such as black-tailed deer, black bears, coyotes, foxes, bats, otters, and more. Conserving the family farm prevents it from ever being subdivided or further developed, so it can remain open space and wildlife habitat in perpetuity.

When asked what the family’s motivation was for donating the conservation easement, Liza Baldwin, daughter of Patricia Paige, said, “I think that my mom conveyed the love she and my dad shared for the property during our meetings the past couple of years. When we were up at the ranch last week, sitting outside looking at the river my mom said - as she often says - ‘I always marvel that, in all these many years this view has never changed.’ That was my mom’s primary motivation for protecting the property with the conservation easement - that it will always possess the same raw beauty it had when my mom and dad first laid eyes on it, and fell in love with it over 46 years ago.”