Description
Located in the Klamath Basin, Sycan March protects vital wetland and dry forest habitats.
This property is privately owned and managed in order to protect the sensitive species that call it home and is closed to the public unless otherwise permitted. We appreciate your help in protecting the landscape and respecting all those who enjoy it.
About Sycan Marsh
This vast, verdant wetland in the upper reaches of the Klamath Basin is a key site for wetland research and restoration and is home to thousands of nesting and migrating birds, threatened fish and newly discovered aquatic creatures. The preserve also includes thousands of acres of upland ponderosa and lodgepole pine forest.
Derived from the Klamath Indian term saiga keni, "Sycan" means "level, grassy place."
Caring for the Land
Historically Sycan Marsh functioned as a giant sponge, soaking up the spring runoff and slowly releasing it into the Sycan River into the fall, but early 20th century dikes and drains were drying it out. With agency and watershed partners, TNC is restoring natural water flows to the system, revitalizing more than 20,000 acres of wetlands.
The Jim Castles Applied Research Station, completed in 1997, provides facilities for researchers and meeting space for scientists and others to share research findings and restoration strategies. Research has included radio telemetry studies of bull and redband trout migration and distribution patterns, species of mussel, lamprey, snails and other aquatic organisms, a botanical study of a highly unusual groundwater-fed fen, and breeding surveys of the elusive yellow rail.
The preserve also includes nearly 6000 acres of upland dry forest, which TNC manages through ecological tree thinning and prescribed fire. In the wake of the 2021 Bootleg fire, which burned approximately one half of the preserve, it has become a case study for improved dry forest management. Work with partners such as The Klamath Tribe and the US Forest Service continues.
