About Us
For more than 20 years, the American River Conservancy (ARC) has been preserving rivers and land for life. As a non-profit community organization in the central Sierra Nevada foothills, we work to preserve natural areas and cultural resources and build an enduring ethic of care, building a sustainable future for humans in harmony with nature.
We purchase or accept land and conservation easements from willing landowners and actively partner with governmental agencies, private donors, and foundations to acquire funding and to transfer these lands into the public domain. To date, we have achieved more than 10,000 acres of success.
We build an enduring ethic of care by providing environmental education and outdoor recreation for adults and children alike, and by promoting habitat restoration, trail building, and maintenance projects with volunteers.
What We Do
The American River Conservancy uses best available science, volunteers and partnerships to preserve rivers, land and the life they support. Through education and recreation, we inspire the care of natural landscapes for future generations.
Our uniquely integrated approach
• Conserves the land forever
• Promotes education and recreational outings for young and old alike on these lands
• Builds a volunteer base to maintain the land and trails and restore habitat for a healthy future
Where We Work
The American River Conservancy is headquartered at the historic Kane House in Marshall Gold Discovery Park, in Coloma, California. The Nature Center is conveniently located next to the South Fork of the American River and a brief stroll away from where the Gold Rush began and where over 400,000 visitors and more than 70,000 school children visit annually.
We focus on the American and Cosumnes River watersheds. Ranging in elevation from a few hundred feet to over 10,000 feet, the American and Cosumnes River watersheds encompass a wide diversity of habitats.
The location is ideal to safeguard the quality of water flowing from Sierra Nevada streams into State and Federal water projects that deliver domestic water supplies to Sacramento and 23 million California residents and that supply much of the water to irrigate California’s crops.
Within this area lies a unique combination of gabbroic soils that support some rare plants that grow nowhere else on earth. Of all the states in the US, California has both the highest total number of plant and animal species and the highest number of endemic species – those that occur nowhere else.
The South Fork American River is most commercially rafted river in the state. Recreational opportunities are abundant, from rafting and kayaking to fishing, mountain biking, riding horses, and hiking and backpacking. We build preserve systems that connect the South Fork American River in the foothills to Folsom Recreation Area and to the American River Parkway in Sacramento.
The proximity to two major metropolitan areas, Sacramento and San Francisco, allows us to bring nature and experiential environmental education to children growing up in urban and suburban environments that might otherwise never experience the natural outdoors.
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Learn more about ARC
Partners
Mission
Acres of Success and History
Watch a video of ARC's story
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