When news reached Mt. Shasta in mid-April that a piece of property next to Castle Lake was going up for auction this summer, people wanted to know what they could do to keep that property from being purchased for development or logging. Siskiyou Land Trust reached out to a conservation partner and learned that they had been working on buying the property for a year and half and were optimistic that the purchase would happen before the auction.

 

We’re excited to share with you that that purchase by Wilderness Land Trust is near completion. WLT’s goal is to transfer the 637-acre property that includes part of the shoreline of Castle Lake, the trailhead to Heart Lake and Little Castle Lake to the US Forest Service. This partnership between Wilderness Land Trust and the Forest Service will save this property from potential development or restricted access, should it be purchase by a private entity. Once the purchase is complete, it could take 3-5 years to transfer to the Forest Service, with several costs beyond the purchase price that WLT will incur in the years they own the land.

 

We need your help! You can be a part of making this land public by donating to WLT’s “Saving Little Castle Lake” campaign. This national non-profit organization gets a lot done with their powerful staff of six. Take a few minutes to visit their website to read about their mission – acquiring and transferring private lands to public ownership that complete designated and proposed wilderness areas – and the work they’ve already accomplished in the Castle Crags Wilderness.

 

The snow has melted at Castle Lake and folks are hiking into Heart Lake and even Little Castle Lake. If you’ve ever hiked, skied or rode, swam, kayaked, sniffed the wildflowers, ice skated or drilled through the ice to fish, be part of the community effort to make it ours forever. Donate!