A COMMITMENT to Diverse & Healthy habitats
C2 Ranch is home to thousands of acres of white oak woodlands, cold water streams, irrigated pastures, hundreds of wildlife species, and a herd of organic grass-eating cattle. The scenery is enjoyed by thousands of people annually who wind their way from the valley floor near White City through oak woodlands and savannas and up into the Cascade Range conifer forests at the headwaters of the Little Butte Creek drainage along Highway 140.
History
In 2006, SOLC worked with ranch owner Jim Coonan and his family to put a conservation easement on the pine and mixed conifer forest stands located within this 9,063 acre ranch. The purpose of the easement was to preserve the scenic beauty of the land while allowing sustainable timber harvest and ecologically-sound forest management to benefit the ranch and protect habitat for a diversity of native plant and animal species. Outside of the forested easement areas, the remaining thousands of acres of ranch land are home to a mix of Oregon white oak and mixed oak pine woodland, savanna, chaparral, meadow, riparian, and irrigated pasture.
C2 Ranch and other conservation-minded ranch owners and managers have worked with local conservation groups including the Rogue River Watershed Council to improve riparian and in-stream fish habitat on Little Butte Creek. The Coonan family converted from a more traditional ranching model to a certified organic cattle operation, furthering their commitment to protection of clean water in the Little Butte Creek system.
We are proud to work with the Coonan family to protect conservation values in perpetuity on their working ranch.
C2 Cattle Ranch
Irrigation diversion
Little Butte Creek
Images: C2 Ranch. Tom Kirchen photos.
