Hershey Ranch (United States)

Image credit: Matt Griffis

In October 2024, the Wyss Foundation provided a $5,000,000 grant to The Conservation Fund to help the Tule River Tribe acquire 14,673 acres of forested ancestral land in California’s southern Sierra Nevada foothills.

The Hershey Ranch property contains the former homelands of both the Yokuts and Tubatulabal people, ancestors of the Tule River Tribe. It provides a vital link to the Tule River Indian Reservation, Giant Sequoia National Monument, and other conserved lands, enhancing connectivity and establishing critical wildlife corridors. The Tule River Tribe now manages and owns the property, conducting restoration and management work, including the reintroduction of species such as beavers and Tule elk to the ecosystem. The project also increases access to outdoor recreation for both Tribal members and communities in the Tule basin.

The property features a large elevational gradient—from 1,300 feet to 4,700 feet—creating a wide diversity of habitat types and providing room for species to adapt and migrate as the climate changes. An undammed perennial stream, Deer Creek, provides flows to wildlife areas in the southern Central Valley, including Pixley National Wildlife Refuge. Hershey Ranch also contains potential range for the Yowlumni wolfpack, the southernmost pack in California, which first appeared in 2023 in Giant Sequoia National Monument. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife ranks the property as its highest priority for protection in a twelve-county region encompassing 24 million acres. The property is home to black bears, mountain lions, mule deer, and golden eagles.

This project not only permanently protects Hershey Ranch from commercial grazing and potential subdivision, but critically, returns a portion of ancestral homeland to the Tule River Tribe.

This conservation success was made possible through the work of the Tule River Tribe and The Conservation Fund. Additional funding came from the California Natural Resources Agency’s Tribal Nature-Based Solutions Program, the California Wildlife Conservation Board, and the Schmidt Family Foundation.