The story of the Wildlands Conservancy

Byย Leonieย Sherman

TWC trails are popular destinations for dog lovers, like this visitor to Wind Wolves Preserve (Dan York/TWC).

TWC trails are popular destinations for dog lovers, like this visitor to Wind Wolves Preserve (Dan York/TWC).

Twenty years ago an anonymous investor decided to give away his money. He donated almost a billion dollars to nonprofits, and became one of the largest backers of California conservation in history. He says the money he gave to The Wildlands Conservancy (TWC) is the best investment he ever made.

โ€œMost of that money he gave away is in the rear view mirror,โ€ explains David Myers, Executive Director of TWC. โ€œBut the money he gave to start and support our organization for the first 15 years, that money is in the present tense. He can come visit our preserves and see where his money went. He calls The Wildlands Conservancy โ€˜the gift that keeps giving.โ€™โ€

When he visits one of the 14 preserves protecting more than 150,000 acres of estuaries, mountains, desert, oak woodlands, redwoods and historic agricultural land, he never has to pay โ€“ but neither does anybody else. The Wildlands Conservancy opens all their land to the public, free of charge. Whether you want to camp for a week or hike for a few hours, youโ€™ll never have to pay on TWC land.

โ€œWe really feel that contact with nature makes us more insightful and reflective and in tune with the world. And we think that is an inalienable right,โ€ explains Myers. โ€œOnce you have to pay to visit nature, youโ€™ve been dispossessed of a birthright.โ€

Myers and TWC want to make sure nobody is deprived of that birthright, so in addition to acquiring and protecting land, they are also the largest provider of free outdoor education in the state. Over 50,000 school children and family members visit their preserves and Outdoor Discovery Center every year.

โ€œWe work with a lot of kids from the city, and often their schools donโ€™t have funding for field trips,โ€ says Elba Mora, Outdoor Education Manager at TWCs flagship Oak Glen Preserve. โ€œSo some of them have never interacted with nature or the wild before.โ€

โ€œSometimes theyโ€™re really scared stepping off the school bus,โ€ says Melissa Dabulamanzi, Outdoor Education Director at 93,000-acre Wind Wolves in Kern County. โ€œBut by the end of the day, when their shoes are all muddy and theyโ€™ve met all these different insects and reptiles, they donโ€™t want to leave. Even when their program is only three or four hours long, they leave totally transformed.โ€ And then they want to visit again, and bring family members. โ€œOur students are some of our best ambassadors,โ€ she says with a laugh.

Itโ€™s not just the school children who are transformed by their experience with TWC. Wind Wolves Outdoor Education Coordinator, Linda Vasquez, was headed towards a career as a child psychologist when she accepted a seasonal naturalist position with TWC. โ€œMy experience was mostly clinical before I started working here,โ€ she explains. โ€œBut learning about the plants and animals here really changed my perception of the world and how I treat it. I discovered my calling here.โ€

While hiring at State and National Parks stagnates or decreases, TWC actively recruits. โ€œWeโ€™re one of the few organizations that are hiring young people with biology degrees into a position where they can be idealistic and pursue their dreams,โ€ says Myers.

They explain that for most people a position as a TWC naturalist will be a page or at most a chapter in their lives, but they also provide opportunities for advancement. For example, four years ago, Landon Peppel started as a seasonal naturalist; now heโ€™s the Preserve Manager at Wind Wolves. โ€œHeโ€™s just 26 years old!โ€ enthuses Myers. โ€œThat kid is a force of nature!โ€ Since he became Preserve Manager, visitorship and volunteer hours have quadrupled, partly through innovative programming like night-time Star Parties, but mostly through sheer dedication and energy.

Peppel has a broad vision for the land he care takes. โ€œPart of our land stewardship is about actively promoting and managing an extremely sensitive archaeological site,โ€ explains Peppel. โ€œAnd part of it is about restoration and actively promoting biodiversity. Weโ€™re focused on maintaining complex dynamic landscapes through prescriptive heavy-handed scientific management.โ€

Wind Wolves Preserve stretches from the valley floor, at 500 feet, to 6,000 feet summits. The lowlands are home to kit fox and blunt-nosed lizards, fully protected state and federally endangered species. โ€œThey canโ€™t survive in grasslands, but a lot of our lower elevations are covered with invasive Mediterranean grass,โ€ says Peppel. โ€œSo we allow targeted grazing, aiming for an environment where shrubs can thrive.โ€

Grazing might not seem compatible with restoration and preservation, but TWC isnโ€™t afraid to take controversial stands in land management. โ€œA lot of land trusts wonโ€™t jump into the political ring because they donโ€™t want to alienate donors,โ€ Myers says. โ€œBut weโ€™re always in the ring.โ€

When the Obama administration proposed industrial renewable energy projects on 1.5 million acres of delicate California desert, TWC organized the opposition. โ€œBig groups like the National Resource Defense Council gave in and said โ€˜Weโ€™re going to have to sacrifice some of the land we fought to hard to save.โ€™โ€ Myers sighs. โ€œBut our position was the EPA identified eight million acres of land that had already been disturbed. Thatโ€™s the place to put those projects. Donโ€™t turn our national treasure into eyesores.โ€

While the Wall Street Journal declared the fight โ€œGreen vs. Green,โ€ TWC reframed it as โ€œGreen vs. Greed.โ€ Just six months ago, Obama set aside 1.8 million acres as Mojave Trails National Monument, the second largest terrestrial monument in the country, centered upon TWCโ€™s gift of a half million acres โ€“ the largest land gift in US history.

That land donation connected Mojave National Preserve to Joshua Tree National Park. Other TWC land connects Joshua Tree to San Bernardino National Forest and the San Jacinto Mountains. โ€œEverything we do is about connectivity,โ€ explains Myers. โ€œWe want this system of protected land to be as fluid for wildlife movement as water spilled on a map.โ€

Even National Monument status doesnโ€™t guarantee protection. โ€œFormer California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas once said โ€˜The coast is never saved, itโ€™s always being saved,โ€™ and thatโ€™s really true for all naturally beautiful places,โ€ explains Paul Melzer, in charge of TWC Mission Advancement. โ€œThere are always new challenges to something that is seemingly protected.โ€

Melzer was first exposed to TWC while training for the Barkley ultramarathon in the San Bernardino Mountains. As part of his training regime he dreamed up a challenge to climb 24 peaks in 24 hours. โ€œI never completed the circuit, but I was able to raise $5,500 for the Wildlands Conservancy,โ€ he pauses for a long moment. โ€œEvery person needs to find a personal challenge, whether itโ€™s writing a short story or doing a piano recital or running a marathon or bagging a peak,โ€ he says. โ€œAnd then do that epic on behalf of an organization that inspires you, a group that needs the support.โ€

Melzer believes we each carry that fire, that connection to wilderness. โ€œEvery person has an expansive desert inside, a mysterious ocean inside, an epic mountain hike inside,โ€ Melzer insists. โ€œIf you get out there and go wild for something more than just yourself, youโ€™re carrying the spirit of that organization or that beneficiary with you. Once you taste that, thereโ€™s no turning back.โ€

Whitewater Preserve is a gateway to the newly established Sand to Snow National Monument Jack Thompson/TWC).

Whitewater Preserve is a gateway to the newly established Sand to Snow National Monument Jack Thompson/TWC).

Afton Canyon, part of Mojave Trails National Monument (Jack Thompson/TWC).

Afton Canyon, part of Mojave Trails National Monument (Jack Thompson/TWC).

 Jenner Headlands Preserve (David Clendenen/TWC).

Jenner Headlands Preserve (David Clendenen/TWC).

Each year, more than 50,000 children have an outdoor education experience at TWC preserves (David Clendenen/TWC).

Each year, more than 50,000 children have an outdoor education experience at TWC preserves (David Clendenen/TWC).