Program vision
The Land Program seeks to ensure that land stewardship organizations are well positioned to protect and manage California’s public and private lands.
Program Overview
California’s iconic landscapes are recognized for their regional, statewide, and national significance. They also provide important ecosystem services, educational opportunities, recreational and health benefits, and cultural experiences. Unfortunately, these public and private lands are under extreme pressure due to climate change, population growth, and constrained budgets. By improving park management and strengthening land stewardship practices, the Foundation hopes to ensure that public and private lands support a productive, vibrant, and sustainable California, despite these growing challenges.
Grantmaking objectives
Public Lands. Develop innovative approaches to issues that challenge the immediate and long-term viability of California’s parks.
Private Lands. Strengthen the land trust community in order to protect California’s landscapes over the long term.
Highlighted grants
Public Lands. California’s state parks make up the largest and most diverse state system in the nation. However, the state budget crisis is causing staff shortages, programming cuts, deterioration in park quality, and ultimately park closures. The California State Parks Foundation (CSPF) is a statewide independent nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, enhancing and advocating for California’s magnificent state parks. In 2009, as a response to the California State budget crisis, the Foundation provided seed funding for CSPF’s Park Observation Program (POP), a pilot, web-based monitoring program that allows trained volunteers to report repair and maintenance needs. This innovative use of technology will help mitigate the California State Park funding and closure crisis.
Private Lands. Land trusts play a fundamental role in the conservation of California’s natural habitats, open spaces, and working landscapes. However, the land trust movement, and the resources it protects, are likely to face challenges — namely climate change and population growth — over the coming decades. The Land Trust Alliance supports land trusts in California and across the nation, many of which have few staff or are all-volunteer, by providing training, research, and accreditation opportunities. In addition to building the capacity of individual land trusts, the Alliance serves as the national voice for private land conservation and the land trust sector. In 2011, the Foundation provided a grant to the Alliance to develop resources to help land trusts prevent and prepare for legal challenges. This conservation defense strategy includes the creation of a nonprofit insurance service to help land trusts defend their conserved lands from legal challenge. By helping land trusts withstand protracted litigation, the Alliance aims to establish strong legal precedent so that California’s private lands are protected over the long term.
Staff
- Tina Batt, Program Officer
- Kay Barthold, Senior Grants Manager