The Bill and Betty Stookey Preserve
Sierra Foothill Conservancy acquired the 226-acre Bill and Betty Stookey Preserve in 2021. Conservation of the Preserve, a phenomenal working landscape located in southeast Mariposa County, was made possible through the immense generosity and commitment of both the Stookey Family and the California Wildlife Conservation Board which provided the integral competitive grant funding for SFC to purchase the Stookey Preserve through its Forest Conservation Program.
History
The following history comes from primary documents, various records, and the Mariposa Gazette: J.J. Westfall, (originally from Virginia) was known as “an old mountaineer and one of the pioneers of Mariposa County.” He and his wife, Julia, purchased the Westfall property (Stookey Preserve) in the mid 1800’s, and J.J. later served as a Mariposa County Supervisor for 16 years. After his first wife’s death, Westfall married his housekeeper, Mary Tong-U of Canton Province, China. At the time of the marriage, Westfall was 44 years old. Mary became a well-known midwife and healer to her surrounding community. They were married for many years and did not have any children. In 1901, the Mariposa Gazette reported her death saying she died at her home in the Snow Creek district on April 26 after a week’s illness with pneumonia. She was 71 years old and “respected by all of her acquaintances,” according to the newspaper article. A couple of years after Mary’s death, J.J. sold his property in Mariposa County and returned to West Virginia to live with his son. He died in 1910 at the age of 91. 
There are several historic buildings on the Preserve including an iconic home, barn, and blacksmith shop dating back to the 1860s. These historic buildings have been painstakingly preserved by the Westfall family and even survived the “Bootjack Fire” of 1924.
Bill and Betty Stookey purchased the property in the 1970s, caring for the land, its wildlife, and its waters. In the early 2000s, Bill and Betty became members of SFC and expressed a desire to conserve the property forever. After their passing, Bill and Betty’s son and daughter-in-law, Chris and Sandra, took over ownership of the property. They knew that, with Mountain Home zoning and existing housing developments nearby, future fragmentation of the property seemed likely. Consequently, they generously completed a bargain sale of the property to SFC, and then donated funds for the long-term stewardship of the property in order to ensure that the land’s natural, historical, and cultural legacy would be protected in perpetuity. “I have loved this land for over half a century,” Chris thoughtfully reflected. “We donated it to protect it forever from development, preserving the habitat for the native animals and plants that thrive in this beautiful corner of the world.”
Habitat
The Bill and Betty Stookey Preserve is home to important watershed and forest lands within one quarter-mile of Sierra National Forest and within seven miles of Yosemite National Park. The Stookey Preserve strategically connects a mosaic of habitat types found on and near the property including mountain meadow, wetlands, riparian corridors of the Chowchilla River watershed, and mixed conifer forest. Mixed conifer forests and water resources such as those on the Preserve have powerful positive impacts on climate and water cycling patterns in the Sierra Nevada and provide immense habitat for diverse species. The property contains numerous native plant species and provides habitat opportunities for great gray owl, olive-sided flycatcher, western pond turtle, pallid bat, ringtail, porcupine, foothill yellow-legged frog, and other endemic, native, and rare species, many of which are federally or state-listed as threatened or endangered. Four ponds totaling an area of approximately four acres, along with two creeks totaling 1.5 miles, offer optimal wetland habitat and high-quality water sources. SFC has long term management plans to holistically stewarding the Stookey Preserve’s numerous natural, historic, agricultural and cultural resources.
