2008 will be a year to remember. Across the state we were active in more projects than ever before. The benefits of our work — from fighting global warming to protecting freshwater resources that quench the thirst of millions of Californians — are felt by many. And increasingly the approaches we pioneer so successfully in California are being applied around the world.

Because of dedicated people like you — members, partners and staff — The Nature Conservancy is finding innovative solutions to our most pressing environmental challenges and creating a world where nature and people thrive.

Scroll down for just a few of our 2008 accomplishments and learn about how we are building wildlife corridors for nature to adapt and thrive, exporting innovative conservation around the world and sustaining healthy natural and human communities.

This year we’ve protected more than 50,000 acres and connected hundreds of miles of wildlife corridors across California. With increasing pressures from development, wildfire and habitat shifts caused by global climate change, wildlife must be able to move safely to new habitats in order to adapt to their altered environments. Here are some highlights:

• Built the 4,000-acre Ramona Grasslands Preserve in San Diego County.


• Created a 70-mile wildlife corridor to the east of Silicon Valley by completing a 23,000-acre conservation easement on San Felipe Ranch.


• Expanded protected areas in Monterey County through an easement on the 4,300-acre Dorrance Ranch — supporting sustainable ranching and the local economy.


• Protected one of North America’s most vital wildlife corridors northeast of Los Angeles through a 10,000-acre conservation easement on Parker Ranch.


• Collaborated to restore rivers for wildlife, including salmon, in the Lower Klamath Basin.


• Protected critical wintering grounds, including the Cosumnes River Preserve, for migratory birds along the Pacific Flyway.


• Launched an initiative with our neighbors in Mexico on the California Borderlands project to protect natural habitats that stretch from southern California to Baja California.

Californians are pioneers by nature, and the Conservancy’s work here builds on this cultural predisposition. We’ve successfully tested new conservation techniques and approaches, and more and more these are being applied far beyond our borders. Here are just a few highlights:

• Brought the Santa Cruz Island fox back from the brink of extinction and conducted extensive island restoration. Now our program serves as a model for island restoration from Hawaii to New Zealand.


• Protect California’s highly threatened Mediterranean habitat and adapt our strategies to employ them with similar ecosystems from Chile to Australia to South Africa to the Mediterranean Basin.


• Collaborated with partners from the Conservancy’s new Mongolia Program to discuss grassland management on the Carrizo Plain.


• Led the effort to protect more than 200 square miles off California’s coast while improving and sharing our strategies to better manage marine resources. Fishery managers around the world are looking to our work as a model that benefits both people and the environment.

We’ve long known that setting aside the best wild areas alone isn’t enough to create a sustainable planet. Our vision is to secure the protection of both natural and human communities that are so deeply connected. Here are some highlights:

• Launched the Northern Sierra Partnership to protect the Sierras, the source for water for more than 65 percent of Californians.


• Reached a major milestone in restoring a 100-mile stretch along the Sacramento River, which supplies 35 percent of all water used by Californians — including Central Valley farmers, who grow one-quarter of all produce consumed in the United States.


• Promoted sustainable forestry to help fight global warming. In the Garcia River Forest in Mendocino County, we are producing lumber and jobs, fighting global climate change and protecting endangered coho salmon.


• Guided CalPERS (the California Public Employee Retirement System) to begin investing more than $2 billion in environmentally friendly timber projects.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Ian Shive (Parker Ranch); Photo © John Birchard (Garcia River Forest); Photo © Ian Shive (Parker Ranch); Photo © Mark Godfrey/TNC (Mongolian partners at the Carrizo Plain); Photo © Ian Shive (Deer Creek).