Payne B & C, California
There is only one place in the world to find wild, free-ranging tule elk…and that is in California.
In the north-central part of the state about 70 miles northwest of Sacramento, you’ll find relatively remote Colusa County.
That’s where the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation remains actively involved and carried out a series of land conservation and access as well as habitat enhancement projects over many years.
Highlighting one of those projects, RMEF worked with landowners to acquire the Payne North B and C property and then convey it to the Bureau of Land Management in 2017.
Covered by native shrubs and grasses, it also features water resources that supply vital habitat for tule elk, blacktail deer, wild turkey, black bears, mountain lions, and other wildlife and bird species.
This project converted 120 acres of what was privately held land into what is now public land for hunting, hiking, and other recreational activities.
It lies near the 4,500-acre Payne Ranch, which RMEF and the BLM acquired around the turn of the century and is now part of the Cache Creek Natural Area – also open to public access.
Since 1984 – 1.5 million acres of opened or improved public access.
To view the sites and boundaries of RMEF land conservation and access projects, turn on the RMEF layer and use the code RMEF when you sign up for your onX subscription to receive a 20 percent discount.