L.A.-Ventura Project

Big Sky Ranch
© Nils Vidstrand

Significant natural landscapes still survive in the greater Los Angeles area. Surrounded by millions of people and endless freeways, the L.A.-Ventura Project Area features a range of habitats once extensive throughout the South Coast. These landscapes serve as wildlife migration corridors and home territories for a wide range of native species.

Location
The L.A.-Ventura Project area is situated in northwestern Los Angeles County and southern Ventura County. Map

Size
519,000 acres

Plants
Oak savannas, southern walnut woodlands, sycamore-willow streamside groves, coastal sage scrub, and chaparral.

Animals
Native species include bobcats, gray foxes, mountain lions, coyotes, badgers, raptors, and neotropical songbirds. Species of concern in the Santa Clara River ecosystem include the tidewater goby, Santa Ana sucker, arroyo southwestern toad, California red-legged frog, southwestern pond turtle, two-striped garter snake, San Diego horned lizard, western snowy plover, spotted owl, southwestern willow flycatcher, Belding's savanna sparrow, Cooper's hawk, black-shouldered kite, yellow warbler, yellow-breasted chat, western yellow-billed cuckoo, and bank swallow. One of the most significant inhabitants of the Santa Clara River is the southern steelhead, an endangered species that the Conservancy is working to protect.

Why the Conservancy Selected This Site
More than 12 million people in 100 cities live within an hour's drive of the project area, and the population is expected to increase by another seven million by 2020. Many of the remaining natural areas are under direct threat of urban development. Suburban homes perch on hillsides of Venturan coastal sage scrub, shopping malls erupt in rolling oak savannas, and an ever-expanding maze of freeways threatens to fragment intact ecosystems. Natural habitats and native species are also harmed by polluted urban and agricultural runoff and by the growth of invasive non-native plants.

What the Conservancy Has Done/Is Doing
The Nature Conservancy launched its L.A.-Ventura Project in 1999. As of spring 2002, the project had acquired and protected lands totaling more than 1,100 acres, all along the Santa Clara River. We will acquire some 6,000 acres of land along the river to protect, restore, and enhance native riparian and alluvial habitats. We're also exploring a program designed to encourage ecologically compatible and economically viable local farming operations as buffer zones between the river and developed areas. Our partners include the National Park Service, California Department of Parks and Recreation, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, Coastal Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, California Department of Fish and Game, Friends of Santa Clara River, other local organizations and public agencies, landowners, and farmers.

In addition, working with partner organizations and agencies, The Nature Conservancy plans to establish a Big Sky Ecological Reserve in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The reserve would encompass up to 10 contiguous properties totaling approximately 30,000 acres. The L.A.-Ventura Project is also participating in one of the nation's most ambitious carnivore studies, which seeks to identify how urban sprawl is threatening the survival of southern California's predators. The study focuses on animal behavior in the boundary between a wilderness and a metropolis. Scientists want to know how large predators such as mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes cope with human encroachment.