Endangered Habitats Conservancy (EHC) is EHL’s sister land trust. With funds from the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB), it is securing a large landscape in San Diego’s East County. In 2016 and 2019 it acquired the first set of the “Skyline Preserve” properties, consisting of 658 acres, and in 2025 an additional second piece, consisting of 557 acres was purchased by EHC. Then, this May, a third property, 1,226 acres, was approved for a price of $5.9 million. 

The 2025 and 2026 acquisitions were held by the estate of a single, major landowner. EHC worked cooperatively with the estate to consummate the sales.  

Together, these properties constitute a large blocks of intact habitat that stretches between lands owned by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Bureau of Land Management. It also helps assemble the East County portion of the County’s Multiple Species Conservation Program. The surrounding area is broken up by estate lots, which could also have been the fate of Skyline.  

This most recent third phase of Skyline is scenic, with thousands of oaks, meadows, and a pond and wetland to which we will reintroduce the endangered red-legged frog and the western pond turtle. Its chaparral is home to the Hermes copper butterfly, a very rare animal whose range has been restricted by development and by frequent wildfires. 

The current property was long-used as a ranch. The well-maintained ranch house – with a swimming pool! - will now serve as quarters for researchers and land managers.

We thank the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation for its important support, and WCB for its vision for this region.