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Explore the AreaThe Mount Hamilton area is home to a magnificent variety of animals, including tule elk, steelhead trout, red-legged frogs, bobcats, mountain lions and the endangered Bay checkerspot butterfly. In spring, native wildflowers blanket its sunny meadows and streamsides. Come explore!
Celebrating 50 Years in the Golden State2009 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. |
Flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco you can’t help noticing a huge expanse of mountains creating a natural divide, an oasis between the urban sprawl of Silicon Valley and the ever-expanding cities in the Central Valley. This is The Nature Conservancy’s Mount Hamilton project.
Teaming with partners since 1998, we’ve been creating an extraordinary natural and recreational haven with enormous benefits for people and wildlife in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Working strategically and patiently, we have partnered with a diverse group. We’ve brought together public and private landowners; city, county and state agencies; and other organizations to connect, like the pieces in a jigsaw puzzle, public and privately held lands — connecting parks, working ranches and other open spaces into a contiguous protected landscape.
Source of Fresh Water
Not only is Mount Hamilton beautiful and accessible to millions of Californians, it’s also rich in iconic California wildlife and the habitats that support them, and us.
Protecting its watersheds is vital to preserving the water supply of the San Francisco Bay Area, as they serve the San Francisco, East Bay and South Bay water districts. The streamside forests, shrublands, grasslands, woodlands and wetlands all play an important role in keeping water flowing and clean.
Our work on the Mount Hamilton project assures that as the Central Valley and Silicon Valley continue to grow, our valuable water will be protected and wildlife will thrive.
Respite from Climate Change
Straddling six counties, the Mount Hamilton project is a pivotal region in a larger state-wide strategy focused on linking a long stretch of protected areas from the southern Sierras to the Cascades. The Conservancy’s science team is at work at Mount Hamilton studying how to ensure that its natural communities and resources can adapt to the effects of climate change.
We know that connected natural areas provide plants and animals the room to thrive and the space to adapt to climate change when their current habitats get too hot or dry or their food sources move.
More Than 300,000 Acres Conserved
We’ve managed to protect more than 110,000 critical acres amidst some of California’s most rapidly developing cities. These efforts have expanded and connected the parks and other protected lands in the area. Well over 300,000 acres in the Mt. Hamilton range are now conserved, including the University of California’s new ecological research site, Blue Oak Ranch Reserve.
A key addition was made to the project in 2007, when the Hewlett and Packard families donated an easement on their historic 28,359-acre San Felipe Ranch, stretching along the western side of the Mount Hamilton project. In 2009 we added 800 additional acres connecting a Department of Fish and Game reserve with Henry Coe State Park.
As participants in the Santa Clara Valley Conservation Plan, a 50-year blueprint for conserving the area’s endangered species and natural communities, we’re deeply involved with the land-use planning and policy making for the region.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Ian Shive (sunset on San Felipe Ranch, Mount Hamilton, California); Photo © Ian Shive (San Felipe Ranch, Mount Hamilton, California).
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