FSCR now owns and manages 230 acres of river terrace property with over a mile of river frontage. The property, a portion of the Valley View Ranch 3 miles upstream from Santa Paula, was purchased by the State Coastal Conservancy and transferred to FSCR as part of the Conservancy's program of restoring coastal river floodplain and terrace lands to their natural state. The portion owned by FSCR has been renamed the Hedrick Ranch Nature Area. A Management Plan for the area was completed in 2003 and a major habitat restoration project is currently underway. This involves the planting of riparian vegetation on areas previously used for cattle grazing and removal of exotics such as Arundo Donax.

FSCR also just completed a three-year program of volunteer water monitoring at six sites along the river. Volunteer teams measured temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, flow, and several nutrient parameters. The nutrient samples were analyzed by laboratories at the University of California at Santa Barbara. This effort, which was partially funded by the State Water Resources Control Board, was performed in support of the Santa Clara River Nitrogen TMDL (Total Maximum Daily Load), which is now in effect on the river.

The Stream Team's final report is available for download, either as a Microsoft Word or PDF file. You can also download the final data as an Excel file.