CONSERVED FOREVER
Partnership Secures More Tule Elk Habitat and Public Access in California
PHOTO: RMEF
by Lee Lamb
Between 1800 and the early 1870s, hide and tallow hunters, settlers, miners and market hunters whittled away the herds of California’s iconic subspecies, tule elk, from a half million animals to just a few.
In 1873 California passed a law protecting tule elk, and a conservation-minded landowner named Henry Miller stepped up to provide a refuge for tules on his ranch. As the herd grew during the 20th century, elk were relocated to areas within their former range; today 5,700 tule elk live in 22 herds throughout central California.
Tules continue to face challenges, the most crucial being habitat loss. Much of their range lies on private property imminently threatened by human development and encroachment. Fortunately, in 2006 another conservation-minded landowner named Rich Padula stepped up for tule elk by embarking on a remarkable partnership with the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
Dubbed the Eel River Peninsula (ERP) Conservation Project, the landscape-scale effort aims to achieve Padula’s vision of protecting 70,000 acres of wildlife habitat, migratory corridors and open space through land acquisitions and voluntary conservation agreements (also known as conservation easements).
Padula grew up logging and farming in the area, and the ties he built with the land sparked a desire to conserve it. “The area held a special place in his heart, and he envisioned keeping it in its natural state rather than seeing it broken up,” says Padula’s son, Logan Nuberg. Padula strategically acquired properties for over three decades, then worked with RMEF to permanently protect them. Padula passed away in 2021, but Nuberg and the family continue to carry on his conservation vision for the ERP.
To date, the project has protected nearly 40,000 acres via several phases, including the most recent nearly 3,400-acre Elk Creek Acquisition in 2024 which consists of two parcels located near the town of Willits. One is an inholding surrounded by Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land and the other—which includes four miles of Elk Creek—lies between large, unfragmented blocks of BLM and U.S. Forest Service lands.
The acquisition’s diverse landscape of oak woodlands, chaparral, coastal grasslands and creeks supports tule elk, black-tailed deer, predators, raptors, migratory songbirds and federally listed Chinook salmon and Northern California steelhead.
This latest phase of the ERP project—which was financially supported by the Land and Water Conservation Fund and Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Outdoor Fund—connects more than 30,000 acres of existing public land critical to the region’s wildlife.
Managed by the BLM, the Elk Creek property is now open for hunting, fishing and other recreational activities.
“This conservation achievement will benefit wildlife and the people who love this land well into the future,” says Dereck Wilson, BLM Northern California District manager.
The next phase of the ERP project is a 26,000-acre RMEF-negotiated voluntary conservation agreement slated for completion this year.
