Quick Facts:
- 320 acres of blue oak woodland, grasslands, and high quality grazing land
- Located north of Lincoln along Raccoon Creek
- Protected by Agricultural Conservation Easement in 2025
- Project funding from SALC/California Climate Investments
About the Preserve
Ancestors of today’s Tahti, Fleming, and Bokisch families purchased Upper Ranch in the 1800s. The land consists of high-quality grazing land with unfragmented blue oak woodlands and annual grasslands. Nearly a mile of Raccoon Creek runs through the ranch, providing a biodiverse range of wildlife habitat.
Placer Land Trust purchased an Agricultural Conservation Easement from the family at market value, permanently protecting the property while allowing the family to continue their agricultural operations and use of the property. The current family members wanted to protect the ranch from subdivision and development and pass it along intact to future generations of their family. Through the easement, the family sold the rights to build six or more homes on the property.
Conservation Values
Upper Ranch is adjacent to the Land Trust-protected Whiskey Run Ranch, expanding the contiguous conservation land between the Bear River and Raccoon Creek. In addition to the benefits to local agriculture, protecting this land helps preserve the creek corridor, an important wildlife migration route. When possible, Placer Land Trust works to protect large blocks of land that are connected with other protected pieces, as this provides critical habitat for larger animal species and allows wildlife to safely move between different habitat areas.
The property’s oak woodlands host an incredible abundance of wildlife. Blue oak woodlands are one of the natural communities with the highest biodiversity in the state of California. Approximately 330 species of wildlife inhabit Placer County’s oak woodlands. At Upper Ranch, the riparian corridor along Raccoon Creek and the creek itself provide even more habitat for aquatic and migratory wildlife.
Special-status species in the area include Swainson’s hawk, Tricolor blackbird, California black rail, steelhead, and salmon, as well as several plants listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society. The landowners have observed a variety of wildlife on the property including bald eagles, golden eagles, various hawks, owls, hummingbirds, wood ducks, mallards, woodpeckers, turkeys, quail, deer, bobcats, foxes, and skunks.
Funding Partnership
Funds for the Upper Ranch project were made available through the California Strategic Growth Council’s Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program (SALC) in collaboration with the Department of Conservation. SALC is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities. Placer County remains one of the fastest-growing counties in California, and the growth of Lincoln has been particularly explosive, with hundreds or even thousands of acres of farmland being converted to development every year. Agricultural conservation easements that limit or prohibit future residential development avoid ongoing greenhouse gas emissions associated with that development, and also promote healthy land use practices that promote environmental health.
