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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).
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.
โMost of that money he gave away is in the rear view mirror,โ explains David Myers, Executive Director of TWC. โBut 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 โthe gift that keeps giving.โโ
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, youโll never have to pay on TWC land.
โWe 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. โOnce you have to pay to visit nature, youโve 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.
โWe work with a lot of kids from the city, and often their schools donโt have funding for field trips,โ says Elba Mora, Outdoor Education Manager at TWCs flagship Oak Glen Preserve. โSo some of them have never interacted with nature or the wild before.โ
โSometimes theyโre really scared stepping off the school bus,โ says Melissa Dabulamanzi, Outdoor Education Director at 93,000-acre Wind Wolves in Kern County. โBut by the end of the day, when their shoes are all muddy and theyโve met all these different insects and reptiles, they donโt 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. โOur students are some of our best ambassadors,โ she says with a laugh.
Itโs 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. โMy experience was mostly clinical before I started working here,โ she explains. โBut 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. โWeโre 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 heโs the Preserve Manager at Wind Wolves. โHeโs just 26 years old!โ enthuses Myers. โThat 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. โPart of our land stewardship is about actively promoting and managing an extremely sensitive archaeological site,โ explains Peppel. โAnd part of it is about restoration and actively promoting biodiversity. Weโre 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. โThey canโt survive in grasslands, but a lot of our lower elevations are covered with invasive Mediterranean grass,โ says Peppel. โSo we allow targeted grazing, aiming for an environment where shrubs can thrive.โ
Grazing might not seem compatible with restoration and preservation, but TWC isnโt afraid to take controversial stands in land management. โA lot of land trusts wonโt jump into the political ring because they donโt want to alienate donors,โ Myers says. โBut weโre 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. โBig groups like the National Resource Defense Council gave in and said โWeโre going to have to sacrifice some of the land we fought to hard to save.โโ Myers sighs. โBut our position was the EPA identified eight million acres of land that had already been disturbed. Thatโs the place to put those projects. Donโt turn our national treasure into eyesores.โ
While the Wall Street Journal declared the fight โGreen vs. Green,โ TWC reframed it as โGreen 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 TWCโs 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. โEverything we do is about connectivity,โ explains Myers. โWe want this system of protected land to be as fluid for wildlife movement as water spilled on a map.โ
Even National Monument status doesnโt guarantee protection. โFormer California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas once said โThe coast is never saved, itโs always being saved,โ and thatโs really true for all naturally beautiful places,โ explains Paul Melzer, in charge of TWC Mission Advancement. โThere 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. โI never completed the circuit, but I was able to raise $5,500 for the Wildlands Conservancy,โ he pauses for a long moment. โEvery person needs to find a personal challenge, whether itโs writing a short story or doing a piano recital or running a marathon or bagging a peak,โ he says. โAnd 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. โEvery person has an expansive desert inside, a mysterious ocean inside, an epic mountain hike inside,โ Melzer insists. โIf you get out there and go wild for something more than just yourself, youโre carrying the spirit of that organization or that beneficiary with you. Once you taste that, thereโs no turning back.โ

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