Named in honor of our co-founder, The Bernard F. Flynn Jr. Wildland Preserve has exceptional value to wildlife. River Partners designed the Preserve to serve as habitat specifically for Bald eagle, Chinook salmon, steelhead, Swainson’s hawk, valley elderberry longhorn beetle, western yellow-billed cuckoo, and willow flycatcher.
Project Impact
259 acres restored
50,000 trees planted
12 priority species protected
PLUS
2 river miles restored and 1,000 acre-feet of water saved annually
About the Flynn Wildland Preserve
The Preserve’s location 20 miles outside Chico, California is readily accessible to communities in the Sacramento Valley. The Preserve welcomes frequent recreational and educational events, from field days with students from local schools, to the Snow Goose Festival Birds of the Riparian Habitat tour. River Partners initiated restoration activities on retired farmland between the Sacramento River Flood Control Project levee and Angel Slough in 2004, and completed work in 2008.
To honor Barney’s memory the Board of River Partners voted to change the name of the Del Rio Wildland Preserve to the Bernard F. Flynn Jr. Wildland Preserve. It is particularly fitting that the Del Rio Preserve is dedicated in Barney’s honor, as Barney played an essential role in obtaining the several grants that allowed the organization to purchase and restore the property.
Bernard (Barney) Flynn understood the importance and value of riparian restoration as well as the need to increase public access to restoration areas. In dedicating the Bernard F. Flynn, Jr. Wildland Preserve in his honor, we celebrate Barney’s drive to protect and restore the riparian forests of California, not only as a resource for wildlife, but for the citizens of the Central Valley and State of California.
River Partners Board
