The Wildlands Conservancy
The Wildlands Conservancy is a nonprofit land trust founded in 1995 that has protected more than of land through acquisition and transfer. It manages 24 nature preserves totaling over in California, Oregon, and Utah, visited by over 1.5 million people annually and offering free outdoor education programs for more than 60,000 youth each year. The conservancy has also played a role in the creation of three national monuments and promotes large-scale conservation by linking its preserves with adjacent public lands.
History
The California Desert Protection Act of 1994 established two national parks, one national preserve, and 69 wilderness areas. However, private inholdings persisted within these newly designated public lands. The Wildlands Conservancy was founded in 1995 by investor David Gelbaum and conservationist David Myers to help protect such lands and provide free public access to nature preserves.By 1996 the conservancy had become involved in federal efforts to acquire private lands within the newly created Mojave National Preserve, as the largest landholder, Catellus Development Corp., threatened mineral exploration after a government funding impasse. News coverage that year identified Myers and the conservancy as working with the Bureau of Land Management to help broker an alternative purchase arrangement.
From 1998 to 2003, The Wildlands Conservancy partnered with the Bureau of Land Management and California State Coastal Conservancy in a landmark public–private effort to acquire more than 500,000 acres of desert inholdings from Catellus, reconnecting habitat between Joshua Tree National Park, Mojave National Preserve, and the Mojave Trails region. The transactions, financed through a combination of private donations and federal appropriations, were described in contemporaneous reports as the largest nonprofit land purchase in California history.
From 1995 to 2000, the conservancy also established a set of preserves in Southern California, including the San Bernardino Mountains and desert canyons. It acquired a historic trout hatchery and rehabilitated the area in 2005, resulting in the creation of the Whitewater Preserve, which provided access to the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
Starting in 2005, The Wildlands Conservancy expanded its efforts into Northern California, preserving land along the Eel River and the Sonoma Coast.
President Obama designated three national monuments in 2016: Sand to Snow National Monument, Mojave Trails National Monument, and Castle Mountains National Monument. The Sand to Snow National Monument encompassed the Whitewater Preserve and Mission Creek Preserve, and substantial land previously acquired and transferred by the conservancy contributed to the Mojave Trails National Monument.
In 2021, the conservancy acquired the 26,600-acre Eel River Canyon Preserve, which includes 18 miles of river frontage.
In 2022, the conservancy expanded its initiatives beyond California's borders, venturing into Oregon for the first time. In 2023, it further extended its mission to Utah through the acquisition of land at the boundary of Bears Ears National Monument.
In 2023, the conservancy acquired the 12,400-acre Rana Creek Preserve in Carmel Valley and partnered with the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County for co-stewardship. The following year, a portion of the property was transferred to the tribe, marking one of California’s first state-supported tribal land returns.
In California, the conservancy expanded acquisitions and restoration projects in the 2020s; some were supported by state conservation programs associated with the 30x30 conservation initiative, while others were privately funded by the conservancy.
Holdings
The Wildlands Conservancy owns and manages 24 nature preserves across three states, totaling over 200,000 acres. In addition, it has transferred more than 500,000 acres to public agencies.Representative landscapes
The preserves encompass a wide range of landscapes, including coasts, mountains and valleys, deserts, rivers, and canyons.World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ecoregions
The Wildlands Conservancy’s preserves span 11 World Wildlife Fund (WWF) ecoregions in California, Oregon, and Utah.| WWF ecoregion | Preserves |
| California Central Valley grasslands | Wind Wolves |
| California coastal sage and chaparral | Santa Margarita River Trail; Mariposa |
| California interior chaparral and woodlands | Rana Creek |
| California montane chaparral and woodlands | Oak Glen; Galena Peak Wilderness; Bearpaw; Bluff Lake; Wind Wolves |
| Colorado Plateau shrublands | Speaking Springs |
| Great Basin shrub steppe | West Walker River; Two Rivers |
| Klamath–Siskiyou forests | Beaver Valley Headwaters; Eel River Canyon; Emerald Waters; Spyrock |
| Mojave Desert | Pioneertown Mountains |
| Northern California coastal forests | Seawood Cape; Sounding Seas Dunes; Eel River Estuary; Jenner Headlands; Estero Americano Coast |
| Snake–Columbia shrub steppe | Enchanted Rocks |
| Sonoran Desert | Whitewater; Mission Creek |
The preserve system includes lands associated with several major western rivers, including the Eel River, Scott River, Russian River, John Day River, and Santa Margarita River.
Audubon Important Bird Areas
Four preserves within the system lie inside regions designated as Important Bird Areas by the Audubon. These include Wind Wolves Preserve within the San Emigdio Mountains IBA, Santa Margarita River Trail Preserve within the Camp Pendleton IBA, Bearpaw Reserve within the Santa Ana River – Upper IBA, and West Walker River Preserve within the Topaz Lake IBA.Geographic context
While the preserve system spans multiple states, some regions contain a higher concentration of protected lands. These regional groupings reflect shared geographic settings rather than administrative boundaries. This regional view provides an additional way of understanding how preserves relate to one another geographically.Conservation
Conservation campaigns
The Wildlands Conservancy’s largest conservation initiative was the California Desert Land Acquisition Project, a seven-year public–private campaign to purchase and donate more than 587,000 acres of former railroad and utility lands in the Mojave Desert. At the time, billboards advertising former railroad parcels for sale stood within view of Mojave National Preserve boundaries, underscoring the urgency of the acquisition effort. Beginning in 1998, the conservancy negotiated discounted sales with Catellus Development Corporation, the real-estate successor to the Southern Pacific Railroad, and raised more than $45 million in private donations to match federal Land and Water Conservation Fund appropriations. The transactions, completed between 1999 and 2004, were described as the largest nonprofit land acquisition ever donated to the American people.At the project's completion, more than 85,000 acres were added to the Mojave National Preserve, 20,000 acres to Joshua Tree National Park, and over 210,000 acres to Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas, reconnecting habitat corridors across a 50-mile swath of desert between Barstow and Needles. Maps produced by the conservancy and later analyses by the Desert Sun illustrate the checkerboard of former railroad lands consolidated into public ownership.
The desert acquisition established the foundation for later federal designations, including Mojave Trails National Monument and Sand to Snow National Monument, which together protect more than 1.6 million acres of adjoining public lands.
Independent coverage at the time of the monument designations noted that much of the Mojave Trails landscape had been acquired years earlier by The Wildlands Conservancy and transferred to federal ownership for conservation.
In Humboldt County, the conservancy launched the Eel River Emerald Necklace, an initiative to protect a series of preserves located a day’s rafting apart along the lower Eel River valley.
In Southern California, The Wildlands Conservancy also participated in the regional "Save the Saints" initiative, a cooperative effort among multiple land trusts to protect private inholdings and habitat corridors linking the San Bernardino, San Gabriel, San Jacinto, and Santa Ana Mountains within the National Forest system.
In 1998, The Wildlands Conservancy launched a “Santa Ana River Renaissance” to revive plans for a 110-mile trail from the San Bernardino Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.
In 2006, the three-county Santa Ana River Trail and Parkway Policy Advisory Committee was established, with The Wildlands Conservancy serving as a voting member.
Through this partnership, state bond measures provided more than $60 million for corridor acquisitions and trail planning.
The conservancy also joined community and environmental groups in opposing the proposed Green Path North transmission project, a plan by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to construct an 85-mile power corridor through the eastern Mojave and San Bernardino Mountains. The utility withdrew the project in 2010 following widespread local and conservation opposition.
Restoration
The Wildlands Conservancy restores land and wildlife across its preserve system, from large ecosystem projects to small habitat and species recovery efforts. Work generally seeks to return altered landscapes and disrupted ecological communities to more natural conditions—restoring streamflows, wetlands, native vegetation, and supporting the return of keystone species through rewilding.Major projects include the Eel River Estuary Preserve, where partners are reconnecting tidal sloughs and wetlands for salmon and shorebirds; the Santa Margarita River Trail Preserve, where a new bridge will replace a low-water causeway to restore fish passage for southern steelhead and reduce flood closures; and the Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve, where in-stream restoration maintains flows for trout and other aquatic species during summer low water. At Whitewater Preserve, the former trout-farm property was converted to a public nature area through removal of old facilities and planting of native trees and shrubs.
The conservancy has also supported species reintroduction as part of its broader restoration philosophy. At Wind Wolves Preserve, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife reintroduced tule elk beginning in 1998, with 88 animals released by 2005. The population has since grown naturally to become one of the largest in California, monitored through annual volunteer surveys.
Smaller restoration efforts are widespread: cactus and grassland recovery at Wind Wolves Preserve, pond and wetland work at Estero Americano Coast Preserve, and oak-woodland and riparian planting at Rana Creek Preserve. Partners include the California State Coastal Conservancy, California Trout, and the Wildlife Conservation Board.
The conservancy also manages recovery after natural disasters. Following the 2020 Water Fire, Whitewater Preserve repaired facilities and replanted native species; the 2023 Tropical Storm Hilary floods damaged Mission Creek and Whitewater corridors, prompting trail and access repairs. At Oak Glen Preserve, an experimental oak woodland tests pest- and drought-resistant species, while Pioneertown Mountains Preserve continues to recover from the 2006 Sawtooth Complex Fire.
Connectivity
The Wildlands Conservancy’s preserves contribute to regional wildlife corridor planning. The South Coast Missing Linkages study identifies several linkages that include or adjoin conservancy-owned properties, including Wind Wolves Preserve, Pioneertown Mountains Preserve, Mission Creek Preserve, and Oak Glen Preserve.In 2000, the conservancy contributed to the protection of the Coal Canyon Wildlife Corridor, a project that established a permanent linkage between Chino Hills State Park and the Santa Ana Mountains, connecting with the Cleveland National Forest. The effort, supported by state and nonprofit partners, provides safe passage for mountain lions and other wildlife across one of Southern California’s most urbanized regions.
In the Eastern Sierra, Two Rivers Preserve lies at Sonora Junction within a mule deer migration corridor documented by county transportation studies. In 2024–2025, Caltrans carried out construction of two wildlife crossings under U.S. 395 at Sonora Junction to reduce vehicle collisions and maintain movement across the corridor, work that involved temporary highway closures in September 2024.
Education and public access
Education is a core part of The Wildlands Conservancy’s mission to connect people with nature. Through its free outdoor education programs, the conservancy introduces thousands of students each year to diverse natural ecosystems, with field lessons that emphasize ecology, habitat stewardship, and direct experience in the outdoors.Major education centers are located at Wind Wolves Preserve, Oak Glen Preserve, Whitewater Preserve, and Mission Creek Preserve, which maintain full-time education staff and facilities such as restrooms, ramadas, and outdoor meeting areas for school field trips and community programs. Other preserves offer public programs such as guided hikes, volunteer projects, and collaborative activities with nearby schools and community groups that extend the same outreach goals on a smaller scale.
The conservancy describes itself as operating under a "Visitorship" rather than a membership model and maintains all preserves free of charge as part of its mission to connect people with nature.
A 2021 Island Press volume on rewilding California farmlands includes a chapter by Wildlands Conservancy educators describing the role of community and school programs in habitat restoration.
Works
- "Carmel Valley's Newest Preserve and Kern County's Tule Elk". OpenRoad. Episode 92. NBC Bay Area. April 7, 2024. . Retrieved May 5, 2024. OpenRoad had editorial control; The Wildlands Conservancy funded the episode.
- Jack Thompson . Inside the California Desert's Newest National Monuments. Rancho Mirage Library & Observatory. .
- Stefan Van Norden . "Episode 98: The Wildlands Conservancy – Behold the Beauty". Nature Revisited. Noorden Productions. Interview with Executive Director Frazier Haney. .
- The Wildlands Conservancy. Behold the Beauty. The Wildlands Conservancy. .
- The Wildlands Conservancy. Behold the Beauty. The Wildlands Conservancy. ISBN.