News

Welcome to the holiday edition of our newsletter. As the rains return to The Preserve and snowberries and hollyleaf cherries highlight the subtle beauty of the winter woods, this is a wonderful time for reflection and for looking forward with hope and excitement. 2020 will be our Silver Anniversary, and we are planning on a memorable year ahead. The Conservancy was
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Posted on December 14, 2019December 17, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Sharing the View

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

Posted in Newsletter

Can You Map a Sense of Place?

The oldest recorded map in human history is from 6th Century Babylonia, but we have likely been using mental and depicted maps for much longer. Holding far more information than ‘x marks the spot’, maps have been critical to early civilizations finding and revisiting food sources, explorers sailing around the world, a landowner showing the
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Posted on December 14, 2019December 17, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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The Little Things that Run the World

I can’t believe the day we just had. Emerging from the pond, I reflect on our successful haul: California newts, aquatic garter snakes, vulnerable California red-legged frogs, hundreds of Pacific chorus tadpoles, a gorgeous alligator lizard I snatched from the grass at the water’s edge and too many giant water bugs to keep count. In
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Posted on December 14, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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A Year of Looking After Our Land

The world’s most prominent scientists warn that globally, the ecosystems that provide all the elements needed for the human civilization to thrive are in great peril. For the first time in history, a single species, rather than geological shifts or planetary catastrophes is fueling the world’s sixth mass extinction. But there are hope spots, like
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Posted on December 14, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Wild Preserve

Nature’s Engineers and the Return of the Burrowing Owl The California ground squirrel is a wonderous and critically important component of a healthy grassland. You may not think of them as nature’s engineers, and may even have some other choice names for them! But, in fact, they are essential ecosystem engineers that increase water infiltration
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Posted on December 14, 2019December 17, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Conservation Community

2020 is a celebratory year for the Conservancy – it is our 25th anniversary, a notable milestone. The vision of a unique conservation community is becoming a reality, with Preserve families working in partnership with our small, dedicated land trust to care for 20,000 acres of scenic, storied and ecologically diverse lands. Today, the Conservancy’s
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Posted on December 5, 2019December 14, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Sharing the View

All across The Preserve, people are finding that caring for the land is a wonderful way to deepen their connections to this special place. Whether gathering cattle, pulling weeds, planting trees or installing owl boxes, this ‘high touch’ time spent surrounded by natural beauty nourishes us individually and as a community. Wonderfully, Preserve members and staff
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Posted on October 8, 2019December 14, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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At Home on the Openlands

Traditionally, autumn brings a sense of returning home. Long summer days spent outside shorten, a chill in the air signals winter is not far away, small mammals stockpile food for shorter days ahead and larger mammals find their way to winter habitat. There is a study, within natural sciences, called phenology. It refers to life
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Fire Monks and Fire Chiefs

Standing a few feet back from a wall of 9- foot flames I felt the tip of my nose smart. When the lick of fire began to shift from uncomfortable to unbearable I opened the nozzle of my hose releasing a wide spray of water, what firefighters call ‘fog’, and instantly felt the air cool
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Posted on October 8, 2019 by Santa Lucia Conservancy

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Older posts

The Santa Lucia Preserve Grasslands 2019

Where the Wildlife Wander Photo Highlights from 2018

Dinner Under the Pear Trees

Staying Fire Safe on The Preserve