California Archived News

  • San Felipe Ranch, Mt. Hamilton, California

    Mount Hamilton Project

    The Conservancy's 300,000-acre Mount Hamilton Project is not only home to iconic landscapes, but is also a major source of fresh water for millions of Bay Area residents

  • Fishing boats set sail in Morro Bay California

    California Marine Conservation

    Building on our decades-long experience, the California Coastal and Marine Program is helping to protect our valuable oceans and preserve our maritime heritage.

  • Carrizo Plain National Monument

    Carrizo Plain National Monument

    Spectacular vistas and diverse wildlife await the summertime traveler at the Carrizo Plain National Monument — 250,000 acres of pristine California wilderness east of San Luis Obispo.

  • Morro Bay harbor, California

    Central Coast Groundfish Project

    Together with fishermen, The Nature Conservancy is working to find sustainable ways to fish in order to protect nature and preserve California’s maritime heritage.

  • Coachella Valley Preserve

    Coachella Valley Preserve

    In 1980 the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard sparked a controversy that resulted in an innovative model of conservation that benefited both people and wildlife.

  • Saving Salmon in the Lassen Foothills

    Saving Salmon

    With salmon populations dwindling in the West, the Conservancy has been fighting to protect some of the best spawning habitats in California — the creeks of the Lassen Foothills.

  • Santa Cruz Island bald eagle in flight

    Eagles Q&A

    Read a Q&A with wildlife biologist Peter Sharpe about the early and tragic ending of the Santa Cruz Island bald eagles' 2009 nesting season.

  • migrating salmon

    Shasta Big Springs Ranch

    The Nature Conservancy has protected the 4,543-acre Shasta Big Springs Ranch in Siskiyou County, California — one of the last strongholds for endangered coho in California.

  • Santa Cruz Island bald eagles

    Santa Cruz Island Bald Eagles: Unhappy Endings

    What happened to the Santa Cruz Island eaglets? Read a Q&A with a wildlife biologist to learn more about the 2009 nesting season for bald eagle parents K-26 and K-10.

  • Sacramento River

    1988: Sacramento River

    Twenty years ago, the Sacramento River had as little as two percent of its original riverside forest left. Since then, The Nature Conservancy and its partners have been working to restore a 100-mile stretch of riparian habitat between Red Bluff and Colusa.

  • mountain lion in southern California

    Learning from Mountain Lions in Southern California

    The big cats are making tracks in the wilds of southern California, and Conservancy scientists are mapping their every move.

  • Santa Cruz Island bald eagles

    Bald Eagles Nesting on Santa Cruz Island: 2009

    Follow the activities of bald eagle parents K-26 and K-10 during the 2009 nesting season on Santa Cruz Island.

  • Santa Cruz Island

    1978: Santa Cruz Island

    After three decades of tireless work, Santa Cruz Island has emerged as a model for successful island restoration and innovative conservation that can be implemented by other island projects around the world.

  • Cosumnes watershed in the Delta

    The Delta: A Water Source for Most Californians

    The Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta is an ecosystem on the verge of collapse. Learn about the Delta and what we're doing to protect it.

  • Marin Headlands

    1972: Marin Headlands

    In 1972 The Nature Conservancy stepped in to protect the beautiful rolling hills and pristine shoreline of the Marin Headlands from development.

  • Cheung Ranch

    Saving the Vital Wetlands of Santa Cruz County

    Just in the nick of time, The Nature Conservancy and its partners saved the 95-acre Cheung Ranch — a critical wetland habitat in California's central coast.

  • Andrew Molera State Park

    1965: Andrew Molera State Park

    The Molera family’s beautiful Rancho del Sur property in the heart of Big Sur was protected through the efforts of the Molera family and the Conservancy in 1965. Today it is part of the state park system for all Californians to enjoy.

  • fossilized jawbone discovered on Santa Cruz Island

    Prehistoric Fossil Found on Santa Cruz Island

    What was originally thought to be a mammoth tusk turned out to be a significantly older find — a whale jawbone dating as far back as 10-25 million years ago.

  • marsh in the Delta

    Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta

    Read a Q&A about why the Delta is important and what we need to do to protect it.

  • Angelo Coast Range Reserve

    1959: Angelo Coast Range Reserve

    In 1959 the Conservancy acquired its first property in California: 3,100 acres of pristine old-growth Douglas-fir forest in Mendocino County.

  • San Felipe Ranch

    Celebrating 50 Years in the Golden State

    2009 marks the Conservancy’s 50th anniversary protecting California. In these 50 years, we’ve safeguarded hundreds of parcels of land and waterways and millions of acres of ocean — natural habitats essential to the survival of all species, including us.

  • Carrizo Plain

    Winged Migration above the Magnificent Carrizo Plain

    Take a trek to the Carrizo Plain for spectacular winter birding in a dramatic landscape. And if you can’t make the drive, take a tour through our slideshow!

  • Parker Ranch

    California's 2008 Year in Review

    In 2008, The Nature Conservancy in California had an extremely successful year thanks to our generous supporters and partners. Learn what you’ve helped to protect.

  • Galt school children collect acorns on the Cosumnes River Preserve

    The Littlest Conservationists

    Galt school children are lending a hand to nature by gathering acorns at the Cosumnes River Preserve.

  • Conservancy scientist snorkeling in Pardaloe Cree

    Salmon Thrive on Conservancy Restoration

    Conservancy ecologist Jennifer Carah spotted juvenile endangered coho salmon in the Pardaloe Creek of the Garcia River watershed — the first sighting here and a significant distance upstream from where the salmon have previously been seen.

  • Sandhill cranes on the Cosumnes River Preserve

    The Cranes Have Returned

    The magnificent sandhill cranes are back! More than 7,000 cranes have already returned to the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, many of them to land that has been preserved by the Conservancy.

  • fishing on the Sacramento River

    From a Small Seed to a Mighty Forest

    Since 1988, The Nature Conservancy has planted more than one million seedlings and is nearing its goal of restoring a continuous 100-mile stretch of vital riparian habitat to flood-prone lands along the Sacramento River between Red Bluff and Colusa.

  • giant kangaroo rat close-up

    Counting Rats from Space

    The Nature Conservancy is working with UC Berkeley researchers and its partners at the Carrizo Plain National Monument to count and map giant kangaroo rat populations using satellite remote sensing data.

  • Oyster fishing boats float on calm waters in San Quintin Bay off the Baja Peninsula, Mexico

    America's Mediterranean: Las Californias

    California harbors most of the continent’s Mediterranean habitat. Known as Las Californias, the area reaches from the southernmost tip of Oregon to northern Baja California, and is one of the most desirable places to live on Earth — but not just for people.

  • Governor Schwarzenegger with Rebecca Morgan, the Morgan Family Foundation, and Alex Mas, TNC

    Governor Schwarzenegger Lauds Conservancy Partnership

    Citing the effectiveness of the Northern Sierra Partnership, of which the Conservancy is a founding member, the governor stressed the importance of public-private partnerships to protect the northern Sierra, one of California’s most critical water resources.

  • Sonoran Desert

    Surviving Summer in the Sonoran Desert

    Day after day of 110 degree temperatures. Heat radiates up from the sand by early morning. To the human eye, there appears to be no shade, no haven from the sun’s brutal rays. How does anything survive out here?

  • Ramona Grasslands

    Preserving California's Grasslands

    The Nature Conservancy has accomplished its goal of protecting at least 4,000 acres of the Ramona Grasslands, one of southern California’s last remaining stretches of native grasslands.

  • Mongolian herder talks with California rancher Bob Blanchard about protecting grasslands

    Cowboys and Nomads: A California-Mongolia Grassland Exchange

    Mongolian park ranger Amar Purev and six other Mongolians visit California and Arizona in search of strategies that will help them better protect Toson Hulstai Nature Reserve.

Nature pictures (top to bottom): Photos © Ian Shive (San Felipe Ranch, Mt. Hamilton, California); © Bridget Besaw (Fishing boats set sail at Morro Bay, California); © Alan Schmierer (Carrizo Plain National Monument); © Kathleen Goldstein (Morro Bay harbor, California); © Ian Shive (hiker at the Coachella Valley Preserve); © Ian Shive (salmon make a run upstream to their spawning grounds); © Institute for Wildlife Studies (Santa Cruz Island bald eagle in flight); © Bridget Besaw (salmon); © Institute for Wildlife Studies (Santa Cruz Island bald eagles); © Grant Johnson (Sacramento River); © Kevin Crooks (mountain lion); © Institute for Wildlife Studies (Santa Cruz Island bald eagles); © Stephen Francis Photography (Santa Cruz Island); © Karen Gregg Elliott/TNC (Cosumnes River watershed area); © Ian Shive (Marin Headlands); © Stephen Slade/Land Trust of Santa Cruz County (Cheung Ranch); © Mark Godfrey/TNC (Andrew Molera State Park); © Lotus Vermeer/TNC (fossilized jawbone discovered on Santa Cruz Island); © Harold E. Malde (Delta watershed); © Ian Shive (Angelo Coast Range Reserve); © Ian Shive (San Felipe Ranch); © Mark Godfrey/TNC (Otgonbaatar Tsog, a Mongolian herder, talks with rancher Bob Blanchard); © Alan Schmierer (Carrizo Plain National Monument); © Ian Shive (Parker Ranch); © Sandi Matsumoto/TNC (Galt school children collect acorns on the Cosumnes River Preserve); © Jonathan Warmerdam/North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (Conservancy scientist snorkeling in Pardaloe Creek); © Ramona Swenson/TNC (sandhill cranes); © Grant Johnson (fishing on a slough adjacent to the main channel of the Sacramento River); © Alison Cleary (giant kangaroo rat close-up); © Richard Herrmann (Oyster fishing boats float on calm waters in San Quintin Bay, Mexico); © Anne Chadwick (Governor Schwarzenegger with Rebecca Morgan, the Morgan Family Foundation, and Alex Mas, The Nature Conservancy); © Esther Rubin (Sonoran Desert); © Macduff Everton (San Diego backcountry); © Mark Godfrey/TNC (Mongolian herder talks with California rancher Bob Blanchard about protecting grasslands).