The Wildlands Conservancy/ Wind Wolves Preserve: Free Summer Hikes

Wind Wolves Preserve is in an ecologically unique region where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley influences converge. Due to elevation ranges from 640 to 6,005 feet, the Preserve has an impressive array of landforms and habitats that serve as a critical landscape linkage and wildlife corridor between the Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada.

On the San Joaquin Valley floor, the Preserve is a 30-square-mile veritable sea of grasslands with remnant stands of saltbush. These grasslands are home to the endangered San Joaquin kit fox and blunt-nosed leopard lizard as well as one of the largest stands of the endangered Bakersfield cactus. The Preserve’s main wetland is home to the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew—one of the most endangered mammals in the United States. Rolling grasslands rise from the valley floor, transitioning into classic California blue oak and valley oak savanna with extensive riparian wetlands. The oak savanna ascends into juniper and pinyon forests that vault into stands of ponderosa pine and big cone spruce.

Volunteers have played a major role in working with staff to restore this heroic landscape. Fourteen years of monthly work parties have removed invasive tamarisk from 30 miles of stream channels. Volunteers have made miles of boundary fencing antelope friendly, as well as make kit fox dens for the recruitment of kit foxes. And volunteers through school, family work parties, and collaborating organizations have planted tens of thousands of native trees and shrubs.

The preserve includes the entire San Emidio Land Grant, once owned by John C. Fremont. Wind Wolves’ rich cultural history includes some of the most noteworthy Native American rock art in North America.