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Tim Alpers sells historic trout ranch operation in Mono |
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Tuesday, 18 December 2007 |
 While anglers will no longer be able to fish the waters of the legendary Alpers Owens River Ranch, they will still be able to ply Eastern Sierra waters for Alpers-grown trout, which will be planted as in years past by Tim Alpers (above at Intake II). Alpers is moving his trout-growing operation to Conway Ranch. Photo by Mike Gervais By Gary Nickell
Register Correspondent 12-15-2007
Mono County fish rancher Tim Alpers has confirmed that he has sold Alpers Owens River Ranch and will move his fish rearing operations up the road to Conway Ranch.
“Hatchery operations are basically finished at Alpers Owens River Ranch and will be closed and moved to Conway Ranch,” he said. “Our grow-out facilities will basically be duplicated at Conway Ranch.”
Alpers stressed that while recreational fishing from the ponds on his soon to be former property will no longer be available to the public, his renowned Alpers Trophy Trout will still be supplied to restaurants and various events throughout the Eastern Sierra. “All those contracts and customers will be maintained,” he said.
The sale currently in escrow, Alpers identified the buyer as the Gottwalds, the family that has owned the adjacent Arcularius property for about 10 years. According to Alpers, the Gottwald family plans to revert his property from a public to a private fly fishing retreat and recreation ranch for family, friends and associates, adding Alpers’ 210 acres to the Gottwald’s 1,000-plus acres, including a two-mile stretch of prime Owens River riparian habitat and fishing access, fly fishing ponds and handful of structures.
Alpers’ property lies just one mile south of Big Springs, the headwaters of the Owens River where the waterway bubbles to the surface and begins its long journey south through Mono and Inyo counties, flowing through springs and gathering the cool, clear water perfectly suited for raising fish.
Since the land has been in his family for more than 100 years, Alpers has grown close to the property and was understandably very concerned that the new owner be committed to a respect for the land, its history and its scenic beauty. Underscoring his conviction that the land be maintained in its mostly natural state, Alpers noted that he would have received a higher price had he sold to a developer. “Some pieces of land should not be developed and this is one of them,” he exclaimed. “They (the Gottwalds) areexcellent stewards of the land, conservationists, and it was important that we keep it open land. I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing that. We should all be stewards of the land.”
Acquired by his grandparents in 1906, Alpers explained that his parents took possession in the 1950s, and he and his sister have run it since 2001. Over the years Alpers Owens River Ranch has been a dude ranch, fishing and recreation ranch, grazed livestock, whatever it took to keep the operation viable.
Alpers remarked that it was time to sell the historic property for a variety of reasons, explaining that the cumulative impact of government regulations on the trout hatchery and resort was having its effects, “plus I’m nearing retirement age,” he said. He added that it’s also very difficult in this day and age for a family business to make a living when it operates just six months a year.
However, the Conway Ranch operation should keep Alpers in the fish-stocking business for a while longer. Located about 10 miles north of Lee Vining near Conway Summit, Conway Ranch has been “a very small-scale fish operation in the past,” Alpers said, “but was mostly a sheep-grazing property.”
Conway Ranch was acquired by Mono County in the 1990s through a grant program which acquires sensitive properties with use-stipulations such as no structures and maintaining the open land, then turns those properties over to entities that maintain the land under those conditions. In partnership with John Frederickson, owner of June Lake Marina and Crowley Lake Fish Camp, and another unnamed individual, Alpers obtained a long-term lease to turn Conway Ranch into a more comprehensive fish-raising facility.
It may be a sad day for the fly fishermen who were lucky enough to spend an idyllic day in one of Alpers’ ponds, catching fish and enjoying this slice of paradise in Upper Long Valley, but local folks can still count on Alpers Trout being listed on local menus and the land staying open and untamed.
But, there is no denying that an Eastern Sierra landmark is now forever changed and an era has passed.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 08 February 2008 )
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