WALKER RIDGE- Canadian developer. Alta Gas Income Trust, proposes industrial wind development on Walker Ridge that will require ridge top removal of potentially toxic mercury and chromium laden serpentine soils in a critical environmental region…

Walker Ridge is located north of Highway 20 between Indian Valley Reservoir and Bear Valley. It is a special place with many rare and endemic plants situated on serpentine soils. The ridge was a key source of mercury mining for use in Sierra Nevada gold mining.

Tuleyome, other groups, and citizens have a strong interest in Walker Ridge. The region between Walker Ridge Road and Indian Valley Reservoir has been proposed in the Citizen’s Wilderness Inventory as a potential wilderness area and the entire 14,000-acre Walker Ridge unit was proposed by the California Native Plant Society in 2005 as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Tuleyome supports both of these proposed designations.

In addition, in the region east of Indian Valley Reservoir, Tuleyome has identified elements of a significant conservation landscape linkage through the inner Coast Range, which we believe constitutes an element in the major migratory bird pathway west of the Central Valley.

Tuleyome is supportive of renewable energy, but new wind development must be carefully sited such as Sacramento Municipal Utility Districts wind development in Solano County. It should not destroy critical environmental habitat.

Click on the following to learn more:

1. Letter to BLM on biological values of Walker Ridge dated December 22, 2009
2. Letter to BLM on risk liability issues with toxic mercury and chromium soils dated January 2, 2010.
3. Significant Environmental Resources and Values of the Walker Ridge Public Lands: A Nomination to the U. S. Bureau of Land Management (Ukiah Field Office) for Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) Status October 27, 2005 Submitted by: Sacramento Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. By John C. Hunter, Ph.D.
4. Map of developer Alta Gas Income Trust proposed wind turbine locations on Walker Ridge
5. Photos of developer Alta Gas Income Trust Bear Mountain Wind Development
6. Tuleyome Gives Testimony on Abandoned Mine and Mercury at House Subcommittee