An acorn woodpecker searches for the best storage site. Photo by Chuck Bancroft.

June 30, 2022

By Jamison Watts, Executive Director

We reside in one of just 36 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Known as the California Floristic Province (CA-FP), our biodiversity hotspot stretches from the Pacific coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains and covers over 70% of California as well as parts of Oregon, Nevada, and Baja California in Mexico.

Biodiversity hotspots are areas with both high species richness and serious conservation concerns. To qualify, a given region must have at least 1,500 species of endemic plants (found nowhere else on Earth) and have 30% or less of its primary native habitats remaining. While these regions make up just 2.3% of our planet’s land surface, they are home to a whopping 44% of the world’s plants and 35% of terrestrial wildlife. That is why it is so important to be good neighbors, and not just to our fellow humans.

The mission of the Santa Lucia Conservancy is to steward and protect the unique natural and aesthetic resources of the Santa Lucia Preserve while promoting human communities that are environmentally and ecologically sustainable. That starts with successfully coexisting with the abundant wildlife just beyond our door.

You can take steps today to live in harmony with your wild neighbors by transitioning away from using rodenticides (dangerous poisons to control rodents) to Integrated Pest Management (IPM), learning about the wildlife in your neighborhood by consulting field guides and guidance from local conservation organizations like SLC, and cultivating habitats through native gardening.

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