Trinity Divide

These 10,000 acres in one of the wildest areas of California were owned for decades by the Michigan-California Timber Company, which cared for their land with a light touch and an eye to preserving the vibrant diversity of life that takes refuge here. The Pacific Crest Trail traversed this beautiful landscape through a 10-foot wide easement granting public access to the trail—but not to any of the many alpine lakes or their surrounding lands that are currently under private ownership.

With a changing economy, however, these lands were threatened with new ownership and management. The Trinity Divide partnership worked with the landowner to purchase the entire tract for public use and ownership as wilderness in summer 2019. This milestone conservation project expands recreation access to the entire landscape, conserves wildlife habitat, protects water quality in four river systems, and guarantees the future of a 30-mile section of the PCT—the longest unprotected section along the entire trail.

We’re working to keep the Pacific Crest Trail wild for the thousands of people each year who thru-hike it, and for many more who visit it on day hikes or week-long adventures. To date, The Trust for Public Land has protected 36 special places and over 40,000 acres within a half-mile of the trail, which runs from the Mexico border in California to the Canadian border in Washington State.