The Audubon Kern River Preserve is a riparian nature reserve owned by the National Audubon Society in the US state of California, near Weldon in Kern County. The preserve is located in one of the largest contiguous riparian forests remaining in the state. The 3,000-acre (12 km2) preserve provides habitat for rare and Audubon's endangered birds, one of which is the federally listed endangered southwestern willow flycatcher, a subspecies of the willow flycatcher. The preserve is located within a designated Globally Important Bird Area, a program of the National Audubon Society with its partner BirdLife International to identify and protect critical avian habitats. The South Fork Kern River, designated a national Wild and Scenic River since 1987. flows down the South Fork Valley, through the Kern River Preserve and then into Lake Isabella. The South Fork is the source for irrigation water for agriculture and the rare riparian forests of the valley. The river's upper reaches have populations of golden trout, California's state fish. The golden trout is being reviewed by United States Fish and Wildlife Service for listing under the Endangered Species Act. Scientific research studies are conducted at the Kern River Preserve, including the Grinnell Resurvey Project, a 2008-09 resurvey by University of California, Berkeley students of zoologist Joseph Grinnell's 1914 landmark survey of California species. The preserve features a visitor center, a self-guided nature trail, monthly nature events, monthly volunteer work days and a variety of festivals during the year.
History The Preserve is located on the former cattle ranch of Andrew Brown, which dates to the 1860s. The ranch was bought by The Nature Conservancy in 1979 and the deed transferred to National Audubon Society in 1998.
Pioneer Andrew Brown Andrew Brown was born in Ireland in 1829, arrived in California in 1852, and eventually settled in Kern County. He operated a general store in Kernville, and expanded into Weldon township with the purchase of a second store and a ranch. Brown raised cattle, sheep, hogs and wheat. He built a flour mill in Weldon and later a sawmill near what is now Wofford Heights. Business success enabled Brown to purchase and trade for other ranch and farm land, and he incorporated all his interests into the A. Brown Company in 1901. Brown was company president until his death in 1909. The Brown family continued operations until the 1970s. when the heirs sold the Brown Ranch to the Kern County Land and Cattle Company. Development of the property was a possibility, however, The Nature Conservancy moved quickly to purchase 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of the ranch. The purchase was accomplished in 1979 with funds from donors, two of which were Getty Oil Company and the W. M. Keck Foundation.
Expansion of the preserve The Nature Conservancy acquired adjacent acreage through a program of land trades which swapped pasture land parcels for riparian forest parcels with nearby Sprague Ranch and the Prince Ranch in 1980. The preserve now bordered the Army Corps of Engineers' (now Sequoia National Forest) South Fork Wildlife Area on the west and the eastern end of Lake Isabella where the South Fork Kern River enters the reservoir. In 1981, a fence was constructed to protect the streamside vegetation from grazing cattle. On March 31, 2005, Audubon California chapter and California Department of Fish and Game bought 4,358 acres (17.64 km2) of the Sprague Ranch. The purchase was in part to mitigate for the flooding of the South Fork Wildlife Area from Lake Isabella during high water years and resulting loss of willow flycatcher habitat. A total of 1,640 acres (6.6 km2) was added to the preserve, the remaining 2,718 acres (11.00 km2) of Sprague Ranch went to California Department of Fish and Game. Funding was provided by US Army Corps of Engineers; California Wildlife Conservation Board; and the National Audubon Society from a grant from the Packard Foundation's Conserving California's Landscape Initiative. On January 31, 2006, the purchase of 105 acres (0.42 km2) of the Alexander Ranch that flanks the South Fork Kern River was completed with funds from the Resources Legacy Foundation. The riverfront property has nesting sites of vermilion flycatchers, yellow warblers, Bullock's orioles and southwestern willow flycatcher. The land is in good condition, with ponds of duckweed and other wetland plants that harbor several pond turtles. There were two land acquisitions in 2009: On August 28, the 26-acre (110,000 m2) Vig property was purchased by Audubon, and November 20, the 80-acre (320,000 m2) Pond Ranch sale closed a gap between Fay Ranch Road and Sierra Way Road. The Pond Ranch purchase added one-quarter mile of the South Fork Kern River frontage to the preserve
Cattle and conservation In addition to real estate purchases, the Audubon California organization continues to work with private land owners in the South Fork Valley on conservation issues. Bruce Hafenfeld, of the California Cattlemen's Association, operates a family ranch raising commercial calves and cows on both private property and public lands on a federal grazing allotment. Hafenfeld has entered into a perpetual conservation easement with the Natural Resources Conservation Service (formerly Soil Conservation Service) to ensure the property is maintained as a working ranch. "We developed a management plan for 1.3 acres along the Kern River Preserve, went after a wetland reserve grant, and developed habitat that increased opportunities for species to come onto my land. We were trying to show that we were not a liability, but an asset." Hafenfeld said, speaking at the 2007 Conference of the Riparian Habitat Joint Venture. The Riparian Habitat Joint Venture is a cooperative conservation agreement between federal, state and private entities modeled after the joint venture projects of the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. It was started in 1994 by Partners in flight. It took eight years, working with multiple agencies, to form the conservation easement for the Hafenfeld Ranch.
Flora and fauna
South Fork Kern River and Valley
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