Our Mission
To preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature.
The Preserve System
Our growing preserve system safeguards forests, deserts, mountains, rivers, and coastlines through permanent land conservation and active stewardship.
Conservation Projects
Beyond our preserves, we lead and support conservation initiatives that protect connected landscapes, wildlife corridors, rivers, and public lands.
Land Acquisition Projects
Explore our current land acquisition projects and learn how you can help conserve land for future generations.
Rewilding Nature
Across the West, rivers have been dammed and diverted, wildlife corridors severed, and native species pushed to the brink. Explore our work to restore wildness and ecological balance.
Visit a Preserve
Our preserve system welcomes more than 1.5 million visitors each year to protected forests, deserts, mountains, rivers, wetlands, and coastlines across California and Utah, with preserves and programs open to the public free of charge.
Community Programs & Events
From guided hikes to photography workshops to summer activities for kids, The Wildlands Conservancy's free community programs & events offer something for everyone.
School Field Trips
Free field-trip programs give students hands-on outdoor learning experiences that foster curiosity, scientific discovery, and a deeper connection to the natural world.
About The Wildlands Conservancy
About Us
Our Core Principles & Beliefs
Meet Our Team
Our Financials
The financial information provided here is derived from our audited financial statements.
Rana Creek Preserve
With its iconic California oak woodland landscape, a journey through Rana Creek Preserve is like going back in time before highway traffic, strip malls, and power lines marred coastal California.
Wind Wolves Preserve
Wind Wolves Preserve is in an ecologically unique region where the Transverse Ranges, Coast Ranges, Sierra Nevada, western Mojave Desert and San Joaquin Valley influences converge.
Mission Creek Preserve
Located in a transition zone between the Sonoran and Mojave deserts, the 4,760-acre Mission Creek Preserve has a rich species composition with flora and fauna representing both deserts.
Pioneertown Mountains Preserve
The 25,500-acre Pioneertown Mountains Preserve descends from the high piney 7,800-foot ridges into the Pioneertown Valley.
Whitewater Preserve
Whitewater Preserve is 2,246 acres surrounded by the Bureau of Land Management’s San Gorgonio Wilderness and includes the year-round Whitewater River.
Two Rivers Preserve
Two Rivers Preserve is an awe-inspiring landscape within an ancient volcanic caldera full of glacial moraines, river-carved canyons, mountain meadows, and grand vistas of the Sierra Nevada and Sweetwater Mountains.
West Walker River Preserve
Situated in the Antelope Valley farming community, just off highway 395 in the Eastern Serra town of Coleville
Eel River Canyon Preserve
Given its location along the Grand Canyon of the Eel river, where the National Wild and Scenic Eel River carves its way through a deep and wild gorge
Emerald Waters Reserve
The 3,036-acre Emerald Waters Reserve is split between Humboldt and Trinity Counties and fronts on the Eel River for 4.5 miles.
Spyrock Reserve
The 5,832-acre Spyrock Reserve has five miles of frontage on the National Wild and Scenic Eel River in Mendocino County.
Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve
The 6,094-acre Beaver Valley Headwaters Preserve in Siskiyou County protects two-and-a-half miles of the East Fork Scott River, providing habitats for Coho salmon, king salmon, and steelhead trout.
Eel River Estuary Preserve & Sounding Seas Dunes Reserve
The southern estuary of the Eel River in Humboldt County contains a diverse array of habitats and a grand arena of life
Seawood Cape Preserve
Seawood Cape encompasses 128 acres including almost a mile of California’s world famous rugged rocky coastline that is replete with barking sea lions and basking harbor seals.
Bearpaw Reserve
Bearpaw Reserve is 600 acres of steep, spectacular mountains with a seasonal 110-foot waterfall. Vegetation includes incense cedars, ponderosa and coulter pine, chaparral, and oracle oaks.
Bluff Lake Reserve
Located at 7,600 feet, Bluff Lake Reserve has towering pines, a 20-acre lake, a meadow, and majestic outcrops of quartz monzonite.
Galena Peak Wilderness Reserve
In 2018, The Wildlands Conservancy separated the 1,280-acre Galena Ridge from its Oak Glen Preserve, positioning this rugged rocky landscape to be managed like the adjoining San Gorgonio Wilderness.
Oak Glen Preserve
Nestled in a glen, situated at 5,024 feet, in the shadow of 8,700-foot Wilshire Peak, lies The Wildlands Conservancy’s 909-acre Oak Glen Preserve.
Estero Americano Coast Preserve
Acquired by The Wildlands Conservancy in 2015 through a visionary public-private partnership—including the State Coastal Conservancy, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Sonoma Land Trust, and individual donors.
Jenner Headlands Preserve
Jenner Headlands is a spectacular 5,630-acre mosaic of redwood and Douglas-fir forests, oak woodland, chaparral and coastal prairie overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Mariposa Reserve
The 800-acre Mariposa Reserve is a habitat reserve surrounded by the Cleveland National Forest. It represents the best grassland and sycamore savanna in the north end of the forest.
Santa Margarita River Trail Preserve
In 2018, The Wildlands Conservancy acquired five miles of the oak- and sycamore-shaded Santa Margarita River, one of the last free-flowing wild rivers in Southern California and the southernmost range of steelhead trout.
Enchanted Rocks Preserve
Thousand-foot-high cliffs splashed with orange, white, purple, and red tower above the John Day River as it winds through iconic landscapes graced with western junipers, herds of Rocky Mountain elk, and the verdant canyons of its many tributaries.
Speaking Springs Preserve
Cottonwood Wash carves an ancient, 42-mile pathway from the towering Abajo Mountains to the historic San Juan River.
Explore the Preserve System Map
Use our interactive map to plan your next preserve visit.
Donate Online
Our mission: To preserve the beauty and biodiversity of the earth and to provide programs so that children may know the wonder and joy of nature. Together, we can protect the land, heal the wild, and keep nature free for everyone.
Donate
All the Ways to Give
Since 1995, the generosity of The Wildlands Conservancy’s supporters has enabled us to call people back to the beauty, wonder, and inspiration of the natural world through outdoor education and the stewardship of some of California’s most remarkable and important landscapes.
Volunteer
Whether your passion is restoration or outdoor education, or you have a day to spare or a few hours a week, there’s a volunteer opportunity available for you to get involved and make a difference not just at your favorite preserve, but in your community.
Career Opportunities
Looking to join our team? Explore current opportunities with The Wildlands Conservancy.
25k
Students Served
20+
Years of Outdoor Education
10+
Programs in Counties
25k
Students Served
20+
Years of Outdoor Education
10+
Programs in Counties
25k
Students Served
20+
Years of Outdoor Education
10+
Programs in Counties
25k
Students Served
20+
Years of Outdoor Education
10+
Programs in Counties
Program Overview
Discover education experiences designed to help youth explore the wonders of nature and connect with the outdoors through hands-on learning.
GOAL Program
Getting Out And Learning
The program offers curriculum-based, hands-on learning experiences that incorporate concepts of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM). Program activities are designed for a wide range of learning outcomes related to the California Content Standards. The program is held outdoors on the trails and surrounding areas of our preserves.
Depending on the location, groups will be expected to hike/walk 1-2 miles. Programs will operate during all weather conditions including hot and cold temperatures, rain, wind, and snow. In the event of unsafe weather, travel, or trail conditions programs will be subject to cancellation. A reschedule date may not be offered if alternative dates are not available.
Outdoor Discovery Program
Naturalist-Led Field Experiences
A free, naturalist-led field experience for school groups and youth organizations. Students explore the ecology of our preserves through hands-on activities, guided hikes, and inquiry-based STEAM learning aligned to California Content Standards and Next Generation Science Standards.
Programs are held entirely outdoors across multiple preserve locations throughout Southern California and the Central Valley, serving grades K–12.
Make an Impact
Explore the Beauty We Preserve.
educational Programs
Find a Program Near You
At The Wildlands Conservancy’s Desert Preserves — Whitewater, Mission Creek, and Pioneertown Mountains — students wade through riverbeds, turn over rocks, follow animal tracks, and come face to face with some of the most extraordinary biodiversity thriving unique environments on the West. We would love to have your students Behold the Beauty of our preserves and carry what they discover back into the classroom.
Our inquiry-led programs are guided by the Next Generation Science Standards for grades K–12. Students hike 1–1.5 hours through canyon ecology, explore the riverbed, and dig into hands-on activities and games rooted in the hydrology and wildlife of the preserve. Programs run 9 am–1 pm, Tuesday through Thursday, with a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 60 students per day. Groups larger than 60 are welcome to split across multiple days.
Phone:
(760) 325-7222
Email:
desert_education@wildlandsconservancy.org
More than 160,000 students have walked these trails — and the land has something to offer every one of them. At the Oak Glen Preserve, nestled on the edge of the San Bernardino Mountains, students move through an evergreen forest, crouch beside winter ponds alive with migratory ducks, hike beneath a canopy of black oaks, and emerge onto an open chaparral hillside buzzing with life. The return follows a willow-shaded stream onto a boardwalk where butterflies drift through wetlands in bloom. In just two miles, students move through an entire world.
Our free, naturalist-led Outdoor Discovery Program is a five-hour field trip for grades 2–9, built around exploration, hands-on group activities, and the kind of encounters with nature that don’t happen in a classroom. Every child leaves having seen, touched, and discovered something new.
Phone:
(909) 790-3698
Email:
oakglen_education@wildlandsconservancy.org
More than 200,000 students have stepped onto Wind Wolves Preserve since 1998 and every year, hundreds more arrive to discover what it means to truly be in nature. One of Kern County’s premier environmental education facilities, Wind Wolves is a place where wonder is not manufactured but found: in the soil, in the sky, in the living systems that have shaped this land long before any of us arrived.
Our Outdoor Discovery Program connects youth to the natural world and its processes through hands-on, joyful learning rooted in the landscape itself. Field trips run 3.5–4 hours, beginning at 9:30 am, with a half-hour lunch break. Explore our program themes below.
Phone:
(661) 858-1115
Email:
windwolves_education@wildlandsconservancy.org
Our Pillars
The Foundation We Stand On
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We revitalize lands impacted by time and use, restoring balance to ecosystems and creating thriving habitats for native plants and wildlife. Through careful stewardship, we help nature recover its strength and resilience.
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