California
CONNECTING EVERYONE TO THE OUTDOORS IN 2025 AND BEYOND
Connecting Everyone to the Outdoors in California!
CALIFORNIA BY THE NUMBERS
Heat from the granite rocks under your palm. Gentle wind shuffling the needles in towering redwood trees. The chatter of friends picnicking and of birds singing in the underbrush. These simple, yet profound, moments in nature are vital.
In our fast-paced, ever-changing, and sometimes uncertain world, publicly accessible outdoor spaces are essential. They nourish our well-being and remind us that each day holds the promise of renewal. That is why, like you, Trust for Public Land is standing up for the outdoor spaces that bring us joy. In California and across the nation, YOU empower us to advance our mission to create, enhance, and protect the outdoor spaces that uplift and connect communities.
California communities are living on the front lines of the climate crisis. Every year, more extreme and severe wildfires, heat waves, flooding, and droughts make headlines. In the face of such daunting challenges, TPL is working with residents, city and state agencies, Native Tribes, and community partners to implement nature-based solutions to the most pressing environmental challenges facing Californians.
761
land protection efforts, covering 559,000 acres and over 31 miles of California coastline
Over 1.2 million
93 park and schoolyard projects completed
Californians live within a 10-minute walk of a TPL project
When we unite to achieve our goals, the possibilities are endless. Together, we are shaping a future that prioritizes resilient communities and access to nature for all. Thank you for standing with us today as we create a greener, healthier, and more sustainable tomorrow for everyone.
Sincerely,
Guillermo Rodriguez Vice President Pacific Region, California State Director
PHOTO BY JYOTSNA BHAMIDIPATI
Nature Wins on Election Day
Over and over, we are told that Americans are impossibly divided. But when it comes to parks and land conservation, the story is different. In communities red, blue, and purple; urban, rural, and suburban; voters overwhelmingly choose to protect nature, build new parks and green spaces, transform schoolyards, and invest in natural climate solutions.
In our nearly 30 years of advancing policy and public funding efforts, we have helped pass 681 ballot measures across the country. We are proud of our 84 percent success rate for approved ballot measures, which have raised over $111 billion in public funds .
In November 2024, California voters approved taxes on themselves in the following ballot measures that TPL advocated for:
• Proposition 4: $10 billion—the largest natural resource bond in state history—to prevent wildfires, provide safe drinking water, and protect California lands and people in the face of significant threats from climate change.
• Proposition 2: $10 billion in bonds to construct and modernize education facilities, including $3.3 billion for schoolyard greening.
• Los Angeles Unified School District Measure US: $9 billion school bond, with $1.25 billion for green schoolyards.
• Santa Cruz County Measure Q: Estimated to generate $146 million through $87 per parcel per year to protect water, beaches, and parks, reduce catastrophic wildfire risks, and preserve native wildlife habitats and agriculture.
Your philanthropy makes it possible for us to engage in designing and advocating for measures like these. During the last fiscal year, California raised approximately $22 million, and TPL raised over $97 million. Together, we are safeguarding our lands, helping neighborhoods thrive, and building more resilient communities for the future.
We hosted our California Advisory Board (CAB) in Sacramento for two robust days of advocating for TPL’s initiatives, meeting key partners and legislative staff, and learning from industry experts. Thank you, CAB!
PHOTOS BY: TOP, FLORENCE MIDDLETON; BOTTOM, TPL STAFF
California Climate Resilience
Nature is one of our best allies in combating the climate crisis. TPL is helping California meet the urgent challenges of climate change through nature-based solutions to protect communities, restore ecosystems, and expand access to the outdoors.
Through our California Climate Resilience program, we are especially focused on Water and Wildfire Resilience land protection projects. In the last year, we completed nine land protection projects that address the climate crisis by sequestering carbon, improving water and air quality, conserving essential water supplies, and preserving biodiversity. Here are a few highlights:
Trinity Alps to Castle Crags, Phase 1: TPL partnered with the Pacific Crest Trail Association and ShastaTrinity National Forest to restore nearly 3,000 acres located within the iconic Trinity Divide, expanding the Trinity Alps and Castle Crags wilderness areas and safeguarding the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). This project protects clean water from three major watersheds serving as lifelines for California’s businesses, climate goals, and public health.
Sardine Meadow: TPL protected 569 acres of essential meadows and streams. In partnership with the Truckee River Watershed Council, we restored five miles of historical stream channels. The project helps bring back natural stream water flow and healthy habitat for wildlife, including the rare Lahontan cutthroat trout and the willow flycatcher.
Trinity Alps to Castle Crags.
PHOTO BY JYOTSNA BHAMIDIPATI
Tiburon Ridge (Martha Property): The hilltop views from the Tiburon Peninsula are guaranteed to rival any postcard of the Golden Gate Bridge. Now, that picturesque, 360-degree view of the San Francisco Bay Area is accessible to everyone. After decades of preservation efforts, 110 acres of land have connected an unparalleled expanse of open space that enhances recreational access, climate resilience, and wildlife corridors.
Wind Wolves Preserve, Phase 2: The impressive array of landforms and habitats here serves as a critical wildlife corridor and as a destination for hiking, backpacking, and camping. Preserving Wind Wolves is a key piece to California’s climate resilience puzzle—contributing to the state’s conservation goals. Phase 1 protected 14,631 acres. Phase 2 protected an additional 13,515 acres of prime habitat and ranching land.
Deer Creek Beach: This 1,241-acre property— including 2.2 miles of beachfront—is the largest remaining undeveloped tract of coastal land between the Mexican border and Santa Barbara County. It is now in public ownership and protected. As part of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, its protection also means safeguarding large habitat linkages for better adaptation to hotter and drier climates, contributing to California’s 30×30 goals.
Looking Ahead
TPL is actively working on multiple land protection efforts across the state that will preserve and re-wild public land, advance climate resilience, conserve and restore essential wildlife habitats, protect endangered species, improve water quality, and promote outdoor access. Projects include Richards Ranch located northeast of Yuba City, Ferrini Ranch in Salinas, and Rancho Cañada Larga in Ventura County.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
Dave Sutton
“You can’t do this work and have this scale of impact without being bold,” says TPL’s California Land Conservation Director Dave Sutton.
Dave joined TPL in 1989 and, since 2000, has focused on the Sierra Nevada, where he launched TPL’s Sierra Checkerboard Initiative and led TPL’s participation in the Northern Sierra Partnership, and now works statewide. Known for his ability to bring multiple stakeholders into alignment, Dave has helped conserve hundreds of properties, totaling hundreds of thousands of acres in nine western states.
Dave also manages and mentors TPL’s 15 land conservation staff in California. “Project managers at TPL are experts in numerous skill sets: identifying properties for conservation, bringing together funding, and building support in the community.” Land protection efforts take, on average, two and a half years to complete, but many take much longer.
“It’s a monumental undertaking, no doubt about it,” he says. “If there wasn’t so much at stake, we probably wouldn’t do it, because the cost, effort, and uncertainty of success are all huge. But this work is so important and it’s part of the solution against the incredible challenges that we’re all facing together.”
Dave’s position is supported by the Sierra Pacific Fund endowment, established in 2020 by Sierra Pacific Foundation, recognizing the trusting relationship Sierra Pacific Industries and TPL (and Dave) have built.
We congratulate him on 35-plus years at TPL!
PHOTO BY JYOTSNABHAMIDIPATI
Community Parks and Schoolyards
Access to nature strengthens social connectedness among neighbors, enhances physical and mental health, and improves climate resilience. Across California, we work hand-in-hand with communities to achieve these benefits.
We are very excited to share that Urban Orchard Park opened July 2025. Previously a barren expanse of postindustrial land, Urban Orchard is now a vibrant community park in the City of South Gate. In a city where just three percent of land is made up of parks and nearly 40,000 residents lack access to green space, Urban Orchard is a beacon of hope. This seven-acre park boasts fruit trees, walking paths, native landscaping, an education garden, and a nature-based playground.
Through our green schoolyards renovations, TPL partners with local schools to transform underutilized schoolyards into vibrant, inclusive, green spaces that improve the daily lives of students, educators, and the surrounding community.
Los Angeles 28×28: TPL is on a mission to convert 28 asphalt schoolyards in South Los Angeles, East Los Angeles, and San Gabriel Valley neighborhoods into green schoolyards designed by the community in time for the
2028 Summer Olympics. In 2024, we completed our first 28×28 green schoolyard at Castellanos Elementary and have secured funding to transform 10 more schools across Greater Los Angeles. Overall, the project will put outdoor space within a 10-minute walk of home for 260,000 people by 2028.
Oakland Green Schoolyards: In October 2024, TPL celebrated the opening of the new Bridges Academy schoolyard, our fourth and final schoolyard pilot project in the city. Our seven-year pilot proved how valuable schoolyard greening is for the community, and now the school district will continue the program, transforming an additional 16 campuses in the coming years. The growing adoption of green schoolyards without TPL’s hands-on support is possible thanks to the adoption of a district-wide schoolyard greening policy advanced by TPL, successful public grant applications supported by TPL, and lessons learned through the pilot.
We are now pursuing expansion into Northern California unified school districts including West Contra Costa, Stockton, and San Jose. Many more students will gain improved schoolyards as our schoolyard greening initiative expands across the state in the decades to come.
Urban Orchard Park. PHOTO BY TPL PARTNER
CALIFORNIA ADVISORY BOARD
We are so grateful for the leadership of our volunteers.
Mike Allard , Freestone Capital
Marcia Choo, MSC Consulting Services
Val Cole †, Career 2.0
Lisa Craypo, Ad Lucem Consulting
Kellie Hawkins Davis , EKA
Lucy Finn , The Permanente Medical Group, Inc.
Larry Gelb, CareCounsel (Retired)
Kathryn Welch Howe , KWH Associates, Inc.
Alex M. Johnson*†, The California Wellness Foundation
Cindy Polite Kamm , Independent Artist & Naturalist/ Environmental Educator
Nina Lagpacan , Oceankind
Daniel Martin , Amped Solutions
Shirley McCrohan , AEW
Mandi McKay, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Andy Mercy, Impact Investor
Shannon Morrissey, WilmerHale
Julie Parish*, Parks Advocate, Community Leader
Michael Parish*, Real Estate Investor, Civic Leader
Desirée Portillo Rabinov, Board of Trustees, Glendale Community College
Daniel Rosenfeld , Community Partners
Laura Shell , Parks Advocate, Community Leader
Vanessa Smith , Boeing
Bob Valliere , CSAA Insurance Group
Francesca Vietor, San Francisco Foundation, California State Park & Recreation Commissioner
Trina Villanueva , Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank
Chris Wilmers , UC Santa Cruz
Ward Wolff, Upstart Co-Lab
* Also a member of TPL’s National Board of Directors; † CAB Co-Chairs
CORPORATE PARTNERS
Boeing
Cedars-Sinai
CSAA Insurance Group
Edison International
Freestone Capital
Northrup Grumman
PG&E Corporation Foundation
Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.
Sierra Pacific Foundation
Wells Fargo
FOUNDATIONS
Flora L. Thornton Foundation
Hellman Foundation
John S. Kiewit Memorial Foundation
Maxwell/Hanrahan Foundation
Mericos Foundation
Mimi and Peter Haas Fund
Natalie Orfalea Foundation
The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
The Joseph & Vera Long Foundation
The Martin Foundation
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation
William and Joanne Miller Charitable Trust
Top donors from July 2024 to June 2025
Alex Ashworth California Region Director of Philanthropy alex.ashworth@tpl.org 626.734.6433
Join Us
Help ensure everyone has access to the outdoors. Every park we create, schoolyard we transform, trail we extend, and landscape we protect is thanks to supporters like you. tpl.org/donate
Guillermo Rodriguez Vice President Pacific Region California State Director guillermo.rodriguez@tpl.org
23 Geary Street Suite 1000 San Francisco, CA 94108