California Office

The staff in the California office of Defenders of Wildlife works to protect California’s diverse wildlife and the many unique ecosystems through public education, governmental affairs, legal work, habitat conservation planning, private land stewardship and outreach. Their work spans from the Salton Sea in the south to the Klamath Basin in the north and from California’s scenic coastal waters in the west to the rugged Sierra Nevada in the east. Additional offices are located in Moss Landing and Joshua Tree, CA.

Defenders California staff works with a wide array of agencies, interest groups and individuals, including: the state legislature; California Congressional members; local governments; local, state and federal agencies; agricultural and ranching organizations; scientists; local, state and national conservation organizations; hunting and fishing organizations; academic institutions, activists and Defenders of Wildlife members. (Lea esta informacion en Espanol.)

Key Programs:

The Salton Sea:  The Salton Sea, an essential part of the Pacific flyway and home to 70% of California’s bird species, is dying. Defenders is working with the state to restore the Salton Sea through a collaborative restoration planning effort.

The California Desert: The California desert contains 25 million acres of fragile ecological resources, including the threatened desert tortoise and Mohave ground squirrel. Defenders works with conservation organizations, scientists, local officials and public land managers to implement on-the-ground conservation, develop an economic analysis of the benefits of desert conservation and educate the public and local officials.

Learn more about the economic values of our ecologically and culturally rich California desert lands in the report, Economic Oasis: Revealing the True Value of the Mojave Desert.

The Central Valley: The 28 million acre Central Valley stretches through the heart of California and contains many of California’s last remaining vernal pools, wetlands and grasslands. Defenders is working with the State Water Resources Control Board to increase wetland protection, collaborating with farmers and ranchers to fund private lands stewardship and defending vernal pool grasslands from suburban sprawl.

Expanding Regional Conservation Planning: In 2001, Defenders of Wildlife passed state legislation rewriting the Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) Act to ensure conservation through regional planning. Defenders is working to promote the use of NCCPs and is participating in ongoing conservation planning efforts in Solano County, Placer County, Imperial County and the Bay-Delta.

Habitat & Highways Campaign:  More than 167,000 miles of roads keep Californians moving, but stop wildlife dead in their tracks. Defenders is working with state and local authorities to incorporate conservation into transportation and community planning, including the creation of a statewide map identifying key wildlife corridors and linkages for protection.

Promoting Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation: Rapid growth and resource destruction is threatening California wildlife and the places in which they live. Defenders is working closely with the California Department of Fish and Game to implement the California Wildlife Action Plan that will serve as a blueprint for future wildlife conservation efforts.

Conserving California’s Unique Wildlife: The following are just two highlights of Defenders’ wildlife work. Defenders is working to protect and restore sea otters by increasing protection through state and federal agencies, raising research funds and cleaning up Central Coast marine waters. Defenders is also working to protect the endangered California condor from key threats, including proposed oil exploration in the Los Padres National Forest and the use of lead ammunition.

Building a strong constituency for wildlife:   Defenders works to build local support for critical national, state and local wildlife and conservation issues. By reaching out to Defenders members and supporters in California and reaching out to new individuals, groups and businesses this office is working to develop educated, trained and active constituencies who support and are involved with Defenders mission and work. Through community activism, education, media outreach and working with elected officials, the California office works to provide a strong and influential voice for Californians supporting wildlife protections.

Key Accomplishments:

• Issued a publication, "Economic Oasis: Revealing the True Value of the Mojave Desert," a 31-page, full-color, user-friendly report detailing the economic value of conserved desert lands and wildlife to a variety of stakeholders from the military to tourism operators. This report and the related public education campaign in the California Desert region expands Defenders' desert conservation education and advocacy efforts towards local decision-makers and politicians. The report is based on a comprehensive and in-depth study, "Economic Benefits of the Mojave Desert," conducted by Defenders' Conservation Economics Program (2008).
• Successfully worked with conservation organizations to create a network of state Marine Protected Areas along the Central Coast of California. This network of reserves is critical to protecting California’s declining marine fish and wildlife populations (2007).
• Created a new partnership with the California Cattlemen’s Association to protect private ranchlands in the Central Valley. The California Rangeland Conservation Coalition is working to promote conservation easements and habitat enhancement projects on threatened annual grasslands. This effort will benefit many declining species including the San Joaquin kit fox (2006).
• Defeated an eminent domain/regulatory takings ballot initiative (Proposition 90) that would have severely limited regulations protecting California’s land, water and wildlife (2006).
• Worked to pass three important land and water conservation bonds, generating more than $10 billion in new funding (2002, 2004, and 2006).
• Enacted a new state law improving the operation of the Fish and Game Commission, creating greater fiscal accountability for the Department of Fish and Game, and increasing fees to provide for more than 30 new biologists (2006).
• Instrumental in increasing the Department of Fish and Game’s budget by $80 million (2006).
• Enacted a new state law increasing protections of the California sea otter and created a new state tax check-off to fund sea otter and water quality research and law enforcement (2006).
• In partnership with a number of conservation organizations, Defenders convinced Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to become the first western Republican governor to request full protection of all of California’s 4.4 million acres of national forest roadless area (2006).
• Successfully urged creation of a multi-year, multi-stakeholder restoration planning process for the Salton Sea (2003).
• Convinced state to enact a regulation closing a portion of California’s coastline to gill and trammel nets. These regulations will protect sea otters and other marine wildlife from drowning in these nets (2002). Assisted in successfully defending this regulation in California Superior Court (2003).
• Wrote and passed state legislation strengthening California’s regional conservation planning law, the Natural Community Conservation Act (2001).
• Through presentations, meet-ups, citizen advocacy trainings and other events and activities, Defenders has built a network of California citizen activists who communicate with their elected officials, work with their local media and organize in their communities to support and strengthen Defenders work in the state. (Ongoing)