The Santa Lucia Preserve is situated within one of the world’s great ‘biodiversity hotspots,’ globally recognized as a place of exceptional ecological value. At the intersection of coastal and inland climate gradients, The Preserve is a mosaic of habitats: maritime chaparral and coastal scrub, oak woodlands and coast redwood forests, [...]
Read MoreOur vision for fire and fuels management on The Preserve is one that harmoniously balances the protection of life, property, and biodiversity with long-term ecosystem resilience. Our proactive wildfire resilience strategy includes shaded fuel breaks, prescribed burns, conservation grazing, invasive plant removal, a Preserve-wide fuel management plan, and lot-specific fuel [...]
Read MoreWith a place-based, experiential learning approach, our free Environmental Education Program connects students with nature and promotes ecological literacy, environmental stewardship, and social-emotional learning with field trips that integrate science, natural history, and art. Age-appropriate classes are consistent with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and take an ecosystem-level approach to understanding subjects [...]
Read MoreThe Santa Lucia Preserve was founded upon a bold and unique private land conservation model. Over 90% of the 20,000-acre Santa Lucia Preserve is permanently protected and managed by the Conservancy to maintain ecological values. The remaining 10% is zoned for residential development, supporting a vibrant community of people who [...]
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CCPBA participants work on mop-up at the 2022 Dairy Field Prescribed Burn. Photo by Alix Soliman. LAST UPDATED 5/30/2023 at 8:00 p.m. In collaboration with the Santa Lucia Conservancy, the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association (CCPBA) will be conducting a prescribed burn on The Preserve June 7 or 8 as part of the first California Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (Cal-TREX) […]
By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator Children recite “leaves of three, let it be,” but that’s not always specific enough, especially for those most susceptible to poison oak (Toxicodendron diversilobum). Since poison oak is a deciduous plant, it doesn’t always have leaves. As the seasons change, you’ll find both barren sticks and shiny new sprouts in various hues. The […]
Featured Image: The rare Pacific Grove clover (Trifolium polyodon). Photo by Alix Soliman. By Andrew Evans, Conservation Grazing Associate Clovers are the underdogs of wildflower world. Standing shorter than your hiking boots, often with small flowers, many wildflower lovers miss the stellar diversity of native clovers in California. The Preserve has 13 closely related native species, nine of which are […]
April 26, 2023 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator We’re thrilled to announce that the California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC) awarded the Santa Lucia Conservancy a $752,510 grant, funded through the California Department of Conservation’s Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program, to implement trainings that increase the region’s wildfire workforce, decrease fuels in high-risk transition areas, and support community […]
April 21, 2023 Please join us in welcoming new staff members to the SLC team! Breanna Rodgers, Restoration Manager Breanna leads restoration efforts on The Preserve, assists with biological monitoring, and manages fuel reduction and prescribed fire projects. Breanna earned her B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from UC Santa Cruz, where she led forest ecology research crews to inventory […]
March 29, 2023 By Andrew Evans, Conservation Grazing Associate Having received more than 54 inches of rainfall on The Preserve so far this water year (from October 2022 to September 2023), we’ll be seeing an abundance and diversity of wildflowers not frequently seen on The Preserve. The seeds of drought-adapted native wildflowers have laid dormant in the soil, waiting for […]
. March 14, 2023 By Alix Soliman, Communications & Outreach Coordinator The California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) is a critically endangered species that can be spotted soaring in the skies above with outstretched “fingers” in Pinnacles National Park and along the cliffs of Big Sur on California’s Central Coast. In 1982, there were just 21 condors left in the wild, limited […]