Hidden Valley Ranch

River Partners began restoring Hidden Valley Ranch in fall 2023. Located along the San Joaquin River, our state’s second-largest river, this restoration project sits approximately nine miles west of downtown Modesto in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley.

River Partners planted over 75,000 native trees and plants to the site—from fast-growing Fremont cottonwoods and willows to understory of creeping rye and gumplant to mugwort and a dozen other flowering and herbaceous species. All of this is designed to contribute to riparian habitat, while also replenishing freshwater on and off the property by transitioning commercial crops into low-water native plants.

Hidden Valley Ranch promotes California’s climate resilience by providing space for the increased flash-flood flows expected as the result of a changing climate, as well as providing more inundated floodplain and riparian areas to benefit special status species. And groundwater infiltration occurring during the wet season could also provide cooler flows back into the river during warm, dry summer months and improve water quality.

Steve RothertManager of the Division of multi-benefit initiatives at the california department of water resources

After three years of irrigating the native plants, River Partners will shut off the property’s pumps for good, freeing up even more water for the river, local ecosystem, wildlife like endangered salmon that call the river home, and ultimately the public.

The state-funded project totaled about $20.8 million—$10.3 million to purchase the site and $10.5 million to restore it. Amongst the generous sources of funding are $6.3 million from the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) with the rest coming from the California Wildlife Conservation Board.

A highlight of Hidden Valley Ranch is the construction of the refugia for the imperiled riparian brush rabbit, mounds of land called bunny mounds. Each elevated bunny mound ranges in size from roughly 1 to nearly 3.5 acres in size, and will provide ample food, safety, and shelter for the riparian brush rabbits during floods.