Area: 373.5 acres
Location: 5 miles south of the City of Coalinga, Fresno County, CA
Date Acquired: July 3, 2025
Acquisition Type: CNLM holds a conservation easement to protect imperiled species and habitats that exist on the preserve in perpetuity. The preserve is owned by third party.
Key Habitats: Annual and Perennial Grassland, Juniper, Valley Foothill Riparian, and Alkali Desert Scrub.
Species of Special Interest to CNLM: San Joaquin kit fox (Vulpes macrotis mutica)
The 373.5-acre Coalinga Preserve was established in 2025 for the purpose of protecting habitat for the federal-endangered and state-threatened San Joaquin kit fox. This Preserve is owned by RES-RLH West Coast, LLC., a for-profit land management company and managed by Resource Environmental Solutions, LLC (“RES”). The Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM) was granted a conservation easement in 2025, and is responsible for enforcement, defense, and monitoring of the conservation easement.
The Preserve borders the Kreyenhagen Hills Conservation Bank, over which CNLM has held a conservation easement since 2006. Both the Coalinga Preserve and the Kreyenhagen Hills Conservation Bank were created from the former Slievenamon Ranch, which covers approximately 1,655 acres within the Kreyenhagen Hills, six miles southwest of Coalinga in Western Fresno County.
Conservation Significance
The Coalinga Preserve provides habitat for the federal-endangered and state-threatened San Joaquin kit fox and other special-status species including the state-candidate endangered western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia), federal-endangered and state-endangered blunt-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia sila), San Joaquin antelope ground squirrel (Ammospermophilus nelsoni), short-nosed kangaroo rat (Dipodomys nitratoides brevinasus), California horned lark (Eremophila alpestris actia), loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus), and federal-proposed threatened western spadefoot (Spea hammondii).
The primary vegetation type on the Preserve is annual grassland with sparse juniper woodland, riparian areas, and seasonal drainages with riparian vegetation. Elevation ranges from approximately 825 to 1,550 feet and generally consists of flat ground to rolling hills on the eastern portion of the site, to steeper rolling hills on the western portion of the site and steep bluff and cliff areas. Jacalitos and Salt creeks run through the site from west to east and has a number of seasonal drainages and springs that carry watershed runoff to the creek primarily during the winter. Jacalitos Creek is seasonal and reduces to an intermittent trickle during the summer as is Salt Creek, but several alkaline springs remain there throughout the year.
Our Work
The primary goal for the Preserve is to maintain and enhance habitat for kit foxes. Management is the responsibility of the landowner who uses cattle grazing to maintain vegetation height and biomass optimal for kit foxes and their prey. Yearling cattle graze the entire site with concentrated use within the flatter terrain and along streams and drainages. Cattle are provided water at stock tanks and troughs along Jacalitos and Salt creeks. Although the creeks are ephemeral, springs along the creek provide a year-round supply of water.
CNLM monitors the Preserve to ensure that no prohibited activities are occurring and that there is compliance with the terms of the Conservation Easement.
Public Access
This is a privately-owned preserve with no general public access. It is protected and managed for sensitive species and habitats.
Contact
For information on Coalinga Preserve or Center for Natural Lands Management please contact Bobby Kamansky, Preserve Manager at bkamansky@cnlm.org or 760.731.7790 extension 222.