From the coast to the foothills

With EHL as a leading participant, the 172,000-acre Multiple Species Conservation Program is giving threatened natural lands and wildlife in the southern San Diego region a secure future. A transportation sales tax, spearheaded by EHL, has boosted funding for conservation and management projects. Noteworthy land acquisitions achieved through our advocacy include major expansions of the San Diego National Wildlife Refuge and Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve — which helps save an endangered butterfly — and key components of the Ramona Grasslands.

EHL served on the advisory committee that revolutionized land use in the County's unincorporated area to focus growth in towns and villages and save agricultural and natural lands. We participated in the effort to improve the County's Climate Action Plan and are now working on the adoption of habitat plans for both the North and East County.

With EHL on a key stakeholder committee, the County of Riverside adopted the ambitious Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan to protect more than 150,000 acres of vital wildlife habitat. We now work with landowners and agencies to realize that plan. At the same time, we helped update land use planning guidelines to include compact Community Centers to fight sprawl.

EHL chaired the group that created a Regional Conservation Investment Strategy for western San Bernardino County. We monitor its rare habitats, like inland sand dunes and alluvial floodplains, and protect endangered species from losses due to development. We are currently working with local agencies to restore habitat for the endangered San Bernardino kangaroo rat.

In the Chino Basin, we are partnering with the City of Ontario on a mitigation fund to save wetlands and habitat for the burrowing owl.

EHL helped create the Nature Reserve of Orange County in the Central and Coastal regions. We formed a coalition that worked with a major landowner to set aside thousands of pristine acres of habitat in southern Orange. EHL is currently working with the habitat funds of two transportation agencies to acquire lands that link the Central and Southern preserves. Also, EHL was a member of a coalition that saved San Onofre State Beach from a proposed toll road.

On the Palos Verdes Peninsula, EHL helped create a haven in its remaining natural lands for rare species. We contributed to an ordinance that mandates the protection of Significant Ecological Areas throughout Los Angeles County. EHL also helped put in place policies to stop sprawl from advancing into fire-prone landscapes. In northern Los Angeles County, EHL worked with other groups and the landowner to protect the great majority of Tejon Ranch, making it the keystone in the wildlife corridor between the coast ranges and the Sierra Nevada.

EHL is part of ongoing efforts to better manage California's growth to save nature and create high-quality urban areas. In order to reduce unnecessary loss of wildlife habitat and protect communities, EHL advocates and litigates for scientifically sound fire management practices in our remaining chaparral and coastal sage scrub.