A Forever Home for Gold Country Wildlife Rescue: A Space to Give Wildlife a Second Chance
We are excited to update you on our progress and plans for our permanent home. In 2020 we were lucky enough to acquire a beautiful 15 acre property in Auburn, CA, with the intent to make it our permanent home. Over the last 4 years, we have begun to use the site by slowly building enclosures for thousands of animals who are ready to move to outdoor enclosures as they work through their rehabilitative process. At the same time we began working on plans to turn this property into our permanent home. We have a 4-phased plan for the development of the space to make it exactly what is needed to allow us to move out of our current leased facility and continue to do the ever-increasing work for Northern California wildlife and the communities they call home.
A key part of this project will be possible thanks to the donation of 9 modular buildings from a local school. These buildings will become the heart of our administrative, intake/intensive care, and education facilities. We will also be using existing facilities (a large covered arena and a barn) as the basis of the critical care and aquatic animal facilities that will be needed for the ongoing care we provide to 4,000+ animals annually. Beyond that, we will be utilizing the rest of the land for specialty outdoor enclosures for our patients to prepare for their return to the wild.
The total goal for this 4-phased capital campaign is $10,000,000. We are thrilled that we have already raised enough funds to start Phase 1 of the project and are working hard to continue fundraising so that Phase 2 can follow close behind.
Preparing our new campus is no small feat! The four phases the project has been split into are designed to allow us to move as soon as possible while also maintaining our ability to provide the best care possible to the thousands of wild animals that come into our care every year. Our goal is to continue to develop our organization, focusing on supporting communities across Northern California to the very best of our abilities.
GCWR’s Capital Campaign Phase Breakdown:
Phase 1
“Clearing the Path” - happening now!
- Completion of all initially necessary site preparations, including basic infrastructure development, grading, and moving the modular buildings into place to be used for administration, intake, triage, intensive care, education, and more.
Phase 2
“Wild Road Home” - currently raising funds
- Completion of additional necessary infrastructure, including things like water, power, main roads, etc.
- Build out of administrative, intake/triage, and initial kitchen & laundry facilities.
- Additional indoor and outdoor enclosures will be developed to replace enclosures and critical care facilities at the current intake center.
- Once this phase is complete, we will be able to make our move!
Phase 3
“Wildlife Discovery Center”
- Completion of habitats for our current Wildlife Ambassadors.
- Development of our public education facilities.
- Completion of this exciting phase will allow us to begin welcoming the public to visit us for educational experiences.
Phase 4
“Wildlife Hospital Campus”
- Transforming the covered arena into our covered critical care area, including a section dedicated to Black Bear cub intensive care.
- Completion of the initial aquatic animal care facilities, which will allow us to continue to care for the hundreds of aquatic animals that come into our care annually.
- Completion of initial specialty enclosures and infrastructure required for our common patients that require specialized care facilities.
Though this project may seem huge (and it is), we believe strongly in our mission (the work we have been doing in the community for well over thirty years), and we know that the support is there. While financial donations are imperative, that’s not the only thing that will make this possible. Businesses interested in partnering through labor and materials donations also make a huge difference in helping us make this project a success. Community members sharing who we are, what we do, and what we need with others helps connect us to new people who may be interested in supporting the project. We know from experience that it takes a village to make something like this possible, and we are so grateful to have such an amazing “village” of supporters behind us.
If you are interested in speaking with us more about the capital campaign and how you might be able to help, please email us at: capitalcampaign@goldcountrywildliferescue.org
If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so through this link or you can mail a check (please note “Cap Campaign” in the subject line) to:
Gold Country Wildlife Rescue
P.O. Box 4162
Auburn, CA 95604