About an hour’s drive east of Bakersfield is an amazing natural oasis that few Californians ever get a chance to see. The Kern River Valley is home to one of the largest contiguous riparian cottonwood forests in the state – which is a fancy way of saying that it’s an awesome place for birds. This is where the Audubon Kern River Preserve is located, and while we work hard to maximize the habitat value of our land, we also spend a great deal of time protecting the value habitat around it. Yesterday, we talked about the Tejon Ranch’s important role in migration. But the Audubon Kern River Preserve and the surrounding valley are also key stopping points for migratory birds. According to Reed Tollefson, who manages the Preserve, birders are already seeing more spring birds, including Violet-green Swallows, Tree Swallows, and many others. (photo of Reed Tollefson at the Audubon Kern River Preserve by Alison Sheehey)

As mentioned above, Tollefson and his staff do an amazing job maintaining the natural habitat of the Preserve itself, but he outdoes himself finding ways to protect the larger habitat area. The South Fork Kern River Valley has been identified as an Important Bird Area of Global Importance, so it’s vital thatAudubon work to protect a bigger space than just what we own. To this end, Tollefson has acquired a number of key sites and either incorporated them into the Preserve or found partners to secure their long-term protection.

A good example of this was the recent protection of the Sage and Horse canyons, which are critical “stepping stones” in the Pacific Flyway for spring migrating birds as they battle to cross the aridMojave Deserton their way to the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains.

“These are vital places for birds that are just coming out of theMojave Desert,” says Tollefson. “In the spring, they funnel down into these canyons, which are one of the first places to rest and refuel before they head up into the Sierras.”

At the end of last year, Audubon California partnered with the Mojave Desert Land Trust to purchase 1,341 acres from a willing seller. This effort protects the riparian corridor and Joshua tree/creosote uplands that line Sage and Horse canyons on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada. These lands will be conveyed to the Bureau of Land Management for inclusion in the surrounding Kiavah Wilderness Area where they will remain protected in perpetuity.

The importance of Eastern Sierra Canyons for desert wildlife and migratory birds is startling. Each spring hundreds of thousands of birds from the interior corridor of the Pacific Flyway travel up these canyons into theSierra Nevadaand their breeding grounds beyond. Horse and Sage canyon are surrounded by magnificent volcanic tuff and granite canyons and are home to many species of reptiles and mammals as well as the nesting grounds for desert birds such as Le Conte's Thrasher and Sage Sparrow.