Media Contacts
-
Claire Cornell
Senior Communications Manager
The Nature Conservancy in Idaho
Phone: 208-350-2206
Email: claire.cornell@tnc.org
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Idaho announces the purchase of a 1,461-acre property adjacent to Silver Creek Preserve, ensuring the protection of significant acreage in the Silver Creek ecosystem where TNC has worked for nearly 50 years.
Located in the heart of an ecologically and culturally important landscape, conserving this property and its freshwater streams is vital for maintaining connectivity—especially for wildlife migrations—between large blocks of private and federal lands.
Over the next several years, TNC will implement a series of restoration projects to improve the habitat values for fish and wildlife. These efforts will include stream, wetland and riparian restoration, installation of wildlife-friendly fencing, sagebrush habitat rehabilitation, native plantings, and more. The property currently has 1,370 acres of agricultural lands that will remain in production under regenerative agriculture practices, in partnership with TNC’s agriculture advisors, that support healthy soil and clean water. Collectively, these efforts will improve wildlife habitat and enhance water quality and quantity—not just on the property, but throughout the entire Silver Creek ecosystem.
“This project reflects TNC’s deep commitment to the region and offers a rare opportunity to continue expanding our protection of Silver Creek’s unique ecosystem,” said Mark Menlove, Idaho State Director of The Nature Conservancy. “Conserving this property will safeguard irreplaceable habitat in a critical area that TNC has worked for decades to restore.”
Since 1976, TNC, partners and landowners have protected more than 12,000 acres in the Silver Creek landscape through conservation easements in one of the most successful stream conservation efforts ever undertaken for public benefit and a model for community-based conservation. The Silver Creek system provides critical habitat for an abundance of wildlife, including moose, bobcats, coyotes, eagles, more than 150 species of birds, and aquatic species like native trout.
TNC will draw on its local stewardship expertise from the nearby Silver Creek Preserve to manage the property and restoration activities and secure a conservation easement, at which point it will be sold to a landowner committed to stewarding the land into the future.
TNC raised private funding from anonymous donors to purchase and restore the property.
The Nature Conservancy is a global conservation organization dedicated to conserving the lands and waters on which all life depends. Guided by science, we create innovative, on-the-ground solutions to our world’s toughest challenges so that nature and people can thrive together. We are tackling climate change, conserving lands, waters and oceans at an unprecedented scale, providing food and water sustainably and helping make cities more resilient. The Nature Conservancy is working to make a lasting difference around the world in 81 countries and territories (40 by direct conservation impact and 41 through partners) through a collaborative approach that engages local communities, governments, the private sector, and other partners. To learn more, visit nature.org or follow @nature_press on X.