Behold The Beauty | Spring 2024

Behold the Beauty

SPRING 2024

A STORY OF TWO RIVERS: THE EEL AND THE SANTA ANA

A LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

The Wildlands Conservancy’s conservation efforts have taken many forms since our founding nearly 30 years ago, from being a leading provider of free outdoor education for underserved youth to making the largest conservation land gift in U.S. history. The greatest of these efforts — and the one which sets our organization apart from others in the conservation field — is the protection and stewardship of our Preserve system, which is open daily to the public for free. These 25 preserves range from jagged redwoodcovered coastline to one-of-a-kind High Sierra fishing lakes to water-blessed preserves on the desert floor. Our goal is that each Preserve serves to create greater conservation outcomes, such as our Southern California Preserves leading the advocacy effort to create the Sand to Snow and Mojave Trails National Monuments.

While we have recently been focused on land acquisition to expand this Preserve system, we are also advancing many other conservation projects that are producing lasting outcomes. We continue to be California’s leader in landbased advocacy, take bold action to rewild native species, and play an influential role in visionary conservation projects including the Santa Ana River Trail and Parkway and the Eel River Emerald Necklace, which are the focus of this newsletter.

Both rivers begin in protected mountain wilderness areas where they are free-flowing and pristine, splashing over river rocks and through clear pools. As they make their way to the sea, both rivers are tortured by dams, water diversions, and pollution, having only a remembrance of their once rich biological diversity. While they share many qualities, the two rivers run through very different landscapes and communities on their way to the Pacific — the Santa Ana through urban Southern California, the Eel through wild Northern California.

While we find our efforts on both of these rivers equally inspiring, these initiatives — like the rivers themselves — are different. On the Santa Ana, we’re working closely with some of the largest cities in Southern California: San Bernardino, Riverside, Anaheim, and Santa Ana. In doing so, we’ve become part of a movement for urban communities to restore their connection to their lost rivers. On the National Wild and Scenic Eel, we’re working to protect the wild character of the river by acquiring unprotected private land and creating opportunities for free public access.

We invite you to learn more about our efforts along these two rivers and how The Wildlands Conservancy has become part of the river restoration dreams of the communities they flow through. In learning more, we hope that you will be inspired to join our efforts by volunteering at your local Preserve, signing on to our calls for action, or making a donation to sustain and expand our work. Supporting The Wildlands Conservancy is an opportunity to bring profound purpose into your life, and in doing so you are joining a circle of like-minded people that are guided by hopeful action and inspired by nature.

Warmest wishes,

Frazier Haney

Front cover: Eel River Estuary Preserve, part of Eel River Emerald Necklace and project site of Centerville Slough Restoration Project. Photo by Gary Peplow.

FIRST TENET

We believe the Earth is sacred. All of our preserves are protected forever and bound by legal instruments.

SECOND TENET

We believe having to pay to visit nature is to be dispossessed of a birthright. Our preserves are open to the public for free, removing the socio-economic barriers that promote a disconnect with nature.

THIRD TENET

We believe children are the future of protecting the Earth’s beauty and biodiversity. For this reason, The Wildlands Conservancy focuses on outdoor education and is California’s nonprofit leader in providing free youth programs.

OUR CORE BELIEFS AND PRINCIPLES

FOURTH TENET

We believe in imparadising the Earth by healing human impacts to both the beauty of the land and its rich biodiversity in order to foster inspiration and joyful nature experiences.

FIFTH TENET

We abide by a ‘do no harm’ policy which prohibits us from selling the carbon sequestered in our trees to carbon markets that offset global polluters and from using our protected lands for mitigation banks for species and habitats destroyed elsewhere.

SIXTH TENET

Our preserves are limited to passive recreation, such as hiking, camping, photography, and self-exploration

that fosters the contemplation of beauty and the timeless attributes of nature shared by all cultures throughout time.

SEVENTH TENET

The Earth is never saved; it is always being saved. The Wildlands Conservancy safeguards its lands from aggression and will time and again defend them from proposed exploitation. Our commitment to environmental advocacy led to the establishment of the largest National Monument in the lower forty eight states — the 1.6 million-acre Mojave Trails National Monument.

Gray fox in the wild at Oak Glen Preserve, San Bernardino Mountains

Outdoor education program, San Bernardino Mountains

Mojave Trails National Monument, California Desert

photo: Jack Thompson

photo: Elba Mora

photo: Elba Mora

Humanshave been living near rivers since the beginning of time, relying on their abundance for drinking water, fish, and for growing crops. As society industrialized, humans were cut off from a daily connection to rivers, using plumbing to deliver drinking water, and obtaining food from unseen fields and farms. As we channeled, polluted, and dewatered so many great rivers in haste to extract their natural wealth, we lost a spiritual connection to our rivers, poisoned our own water sources, and diminished our own lives through the loss of natural beauty.

The current generation has a choice: to continue to diminish and damage, or to heal our relationships with rivers. In healing our relationship to rivers, we relearn what a gift they are to us as human beings, enriching our days and seasons, offering recreation and serving as a gateway to peace and solace.

In pondering the Santa Ana, Southern California’s longest river, we see a place where nature and wildness has been relentlessly wounded, maimed and fenced off. Urban development has severely impacted the natural flow of the Santa Ana River and its webs of life, eroding our human connection to this once free flowing river. The story of the Santa Ana River Renaissance was, and is, about giving people access to nature, and the resiliency of the natural world, despite what’s been lost.

Beginning as a cold alpine stream in the high peaks of the San Bernardino Mountains, the Santa Ana River stretches for more than 110 miles, flowing through the urban core of San Bernardino, Riverside, and

Orange Counties, traversing deep canyons, sandy washes, wetlands, and concrete channels, before finally reaching the Pacific Ocean at Newport and Huntington Beaches.

In 1998, The Wildlands Conservancy started promoting a Santa Ana River Renaissance, reviving the vision of a continuous trail from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. With over 6 million California residents living within the Santa Ana River watershed, co-founder and president of The Wildlands Conservancy, David Myers, dreamt of providing a passport to nature for these residents by expanding a tricounty trail concept into a tri-county natural habitat and open space parkway project.

The Wildlands Conservancy has been advocating for the Santa Ana River Trail and Parkway system for the past 25 years, and has spent over 70 millions dollars to date on habitat acquisition, visitor facilities, outdoor education, and trail planning and construction. Wildlands has been the primary advocate for securing public funding and promoting the River

Trail and Parkway with the state of California and cities along its length. This type of dedication represents a love for place, a love for wildness, and a love for people and communities.

As we approach 30 years of dedicated conservation work, we’ve come to understand that people will work to save something if they know it and if they care about it. By expanding public access to the Santa Ana River, Wildlands hopes to inspire a new generation of advocates for the river. Central to our mission, we believe all people should have access to nature, especially underserved children, in order to foster a future generation that can more intelligently care for the natural world.

You can join our efforts to complete the Santa Ana River Trail, help fund new nature parks along the River, and engage communities along its length, by signing our Call To Action urging elected leaders to prioritize support for the Santa Ana River Trail and Parkway. Please visit:

Huntington Beach, Orange County

Jurupa Valley, Riverside County

Notunlike the 110-mile Santa Ana River Trail, The Wildlands Conservancy holds a grand vision for conservation and public access projects along the National Wild and Scenic Eel River, the third largest watershed in California, spanning 196 miles. Historically, the Eel was one of the most productive fisheries in the state, supporting a diverse array of native species, including Chinook and coho salmon, steelhead, rainbow trout, and coastal cutthroat trout. The construction of Cape Horn Dam in 1908 and Scott Dam in 1922 severely impacted the ecosystem of the Eel River, which is now identified as one of the most endangered river systems in the United States.

Ninety percent of the Wild and Scenic main stem is in unprotected private ownership along the river’s 150-mile course between the Cape Horn Dam to the Pacific Ocean. Since 2005, The Wildlands Conservancy has acquired over 38,000 acres along the Eel for conservation and public access, a project known as the Eel River Emerald Necklace. The Wildlands Conservancy’s goal in establishing the Eel River Emerald Necklace is to acquire a system of preserves along the Eel River between Dos Rios in Mendocino County and the Pacific. These preserves will help protect over 75 mammal species and over 400 bird species found in the watershed. Preserve stewardship will focus on habitat restoration, removing roads, rewilding wilderness areas, and providing passive recreation and outdoor education to reconnect people to a wild and scenic river.

In 2021, with support from private donors, state agencies, partner organizations, and elected leaders,

The Wildlands Conservancy secured the 29,600-acre Lone Pine Ranch — which is now part of Eel River Canyon Preserve. This preserve features 18 miles of river frontage, carbon sequestering forests, herds of Roosevelt elk, and significant wetlands. In addition, the preserve itself will anchor and provide future access to the envisioned 307-mile Great Redwood Trail connecting San Francisco and Humboldt bays.

Wild rivers hold immeasurable value, not only for the environment, but for the hearts and minds of people. By providing public access to the Eel River and Great Redwood Trail, Wildlands hopes to inspire a new generation of supporters and advocates for the river, its biological diversity, and its scenic beauty.

“THE ‘GRAND CANYON OF THE EEL RIVER’ IS HOME TO DOZENS OF ENDANGERED SPECIES AND RARE WILDLIFE.

THE WILDLANDS CONSERVANCY’S HEROIC AND VISIONARY EFFORTS TO RESTORE THE EEL RIVER AND CALIFORNIA’S WILDLANDS WILL BE APPRECIATED BY GENERATIONS TO COME.”

-Peter Galvin, Co-founder and Director of Programs Center for Biological Diversity

Eel River Canyon Preserve in the springtime. Photo by Landon Peppel

Future Great Redwood Trail passing through the Eel River Canyon Preserve and its 18 miles of river frontage. Photo by Jacob Muggeridge

THE FASTEST GROWING NONPROFIT NATURE

PRESERVE SYSTEM IN THE WEST

Founded in 1995, The Wildlands Conservancy is dedicated to preserving the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to providing programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature. To this end, we protect land and waters across the West including rivers, mountains, deserts and coastlines — more than 200,000 acres to date. We open these 25 preserves to the public, free of charge, for passive recreation including camping, hiking, picnicking, birding, children’s outdoor education, and more — fostering a love and respect for life in all of its magnificent forms.

OREGON JOHN DAY RIVER

Enchanted Rocks Preserve

CALIFORNIA

NORTH COAST

Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve

Seawood Cape Preserve

Eel River Estuary Preserve

Sounding Seas Dunes Reserve

EEL RIVER CANYON

Emerald Waters Reserve

Eel River Canyon Preserve

Spyrock Reserve

SONOMA COAST

Jenner Headlands Preserve

Estero Americano Coast Preserve

CENTRAL COAST RANGES

Rana Creek

Wind Wolves Preserve

SAN BERNARDINO MOUNTAINS

Bluff Lake Reserve

Bearpaw Reserve

Oak Glen Preserve

Galena Peak Wilderness Reserve

CALIFORNIA DESERT

Whitewater Preserve

Mission Creek Preserve

Pioneertown Mountains Preserve

SOUTH COAST

Mariposa Reserve

West Walker River Preserve

Two Rivers

FINANCES

TOTAL REVENUE OPERATING EXPENSE

Grant Income & Contract Revenue is typically restricted to buying land and funding public access and conservation projects. Grant funds restricted to the purchase of land pass through the organization and are not reflected as an operating expense. The operating expenses associated with buying land (Conservation Land Acquisition) reflect all of the operating activities related to acquisition including due diligence.

Our preserves provide the venues for both our free student outdoor education field trips as well as our free public interpretive programming. In prior years, the cost to maintain outdoor education venues was reflected in Preserve Management, Stewardship & Restoration. These expenses are now reflected in Outdoor Education to more clearly show how the organization uses its resources to support various elements of our mission.

The Total Revenue chart does not include realized and unrealized gains and losses from investments.

PROGRAM EXPENSE RATIO AND PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS

In the fiscal year, strategic multi-year acquisition projects were advanced. These projects added nearly 17,000 acres to The Wildlands Conservancy’s protected lands in the following fiscal year (2023-24), including two new locations at Rana Creek on California’s Central Coast and Cottonwood Wash inside Bears Ears National Monument in southeast Utah.

PRESERVE, MANAGEMENT, STEWARDSHIP &

At the end of the 2022-2023 fiscal year, The Wildlands Conservancy’s preserve system included nearly 200,000 acres across 23 preserves and two states. Every day, our team of managers and rangers not only protect and steward these landscapes, but also work to rewild biodiversity and restore healthy

ecosystems, all while welcoming the public for passive recreation and nature appreciation.

OUTDOOR EDUCATION

The Wildlands Conservancy is California’s leader in providing free outdoor education programs to underserved youth through our hands-on, curriculum-based field trips. Nearly 12,000 students participated in these field trip programs in the fiscal year, up nearly

5,000 students over the previous year as the program continues to recover from the pandemic. Public programming continued to grow during the year, as our team of outdoor educators developed new and exciting programs to connect more people with nature. Tens of thousands of people of all ages and from all backgrounds participated in an educational opportunity at a Wildlands preserve.

ASSETS

Cash

Livestock

Land

Land

Land

Protected

Pending

Vehicles

Buildings

Accumulated Depreciation

169,239,371 180,959,564

17,327,086 165,668,900 1,201,653 166,870,553 184,197,639

Other Assets include prepaid expenses and inventory. Accounts Payable & Accrued Liabilities include accrued payroll costs and accrued interest.

The financial information provided here is derived from our audited financial statements. To review our completed audited financial statements and 990s, go to wildlandsconservancy.org/aboutus/financials. The Wildlands Conservancy is a California nonprofit public benefit corporation. Tax Identification No. 33-0676450.

LEADERSHIP

Board of Directors

DAVID MYERS

President & Senior Strategist

The Wildlands Conservancy

CHRISTOPHER M.

CARRILLO

Attorney

Jackson Lewis P.C.

DANIEL GELBAUM

EMILY GELBAUM

Partnerships & Communications Manager

Four Freedoms Fund

FRAZIER HANEY

Executive Director The Wildlands Conservancy

ERIC HELMLE

Businessperson In The Trees, LLC

CARL POPE

Principal Inside Straight Strategies

MATT RITTER

Professor

APRIL SALL

President

California Desert Coalition

JOAN TAYLOR

Chair

Sierra Club California/Nevada Desert Committee

CHARLES THOMAS

Executive Director

Outward Bound Adventures