California

Ackerson Meadow's unrivaled location and scenic beauty have also attracted the attention of developers. Understanding that the threat of development is real, we are working quickly to protect the land as an addition to Yosemite National Park for millions of visitors to enjoy and for wildlife to thrive.

In 2012, Santa Barbara voters overwhelmingly defeated a plan that could have led to the development of Veronica Meadows, once home to the Veronica Medicinal Springs Water Company. For many years, the oak-dotted land along a creek had been a popular place to stroll or commune with nature—so beautiful that it was a favorite location for local artists to set up their easels.

In Los Angeles County, where 98 percent of coastal wetlands have been filled in and developed, conservationists worked for three decades to protect the last remnant of the historic Ballona Wetlands near the Los Angeles International Airport.

We helped develop  a new third of an acre park on Maywood Avenue. One of California's most densely populated and park-poor cities, Maywood is located on the edge of the Los Angeles River and surrounded by heavy industrial areas.

Located in the city of Hawthorne, Bicentennial Park is a proposed park renovation that will transform unused and run-down tennis courts into a lively neighborhood park.

Once scheduled for sale as nine development parcels, the ranch was purchased by TPL in 2002 for addition to Los Padres National Forest. The project created an 11-mile stretch of permanently protected coastline between the bridge and Andrew Molera State Park.

In April 2010, following a year-long fundraising campaign, The Trust for Public Land protected Cahuenga Peak, the 138 acres behind the world famous Hollywood Sign. 

The Canal neighborhood in San Rafael provides a significant portion of low-income housing in one of the most affluent counties in the United States. Though the neighborhood is diverse, many residents share a common tie to a strong food culture.

The Castle Valley Trailhead is the gateway to a host of many popular outdoor destinations in the northern Sierra, including Castle Valley and Castle Peak, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Sierra Club’s Peter Grubb Hut, Hole in the Ground trail and the Donner Rim Trail. This has made it one of the northern Sierra Nevada’s most popular trailheads and yet until 2016, the land was not just privately owned, but up for sale.

With over 32 miles of bay shoreline, historic petrochemical industry, and a growing population, Richmond is one of the most vulnerable cities to climate change in California.

In 2010, The Trust for Public Land protected more than two miles of Cold Stream, the remarkable Cold Stream Meadow, and nearly three miles of the popular Mount Lola Trail.

It's called "the cornfield" because crops grew there in the 19th century. More recently, this 32-acre property on the edge of LA's downtown and Chinatown was an abandoned railyard slated for a one-million-square-foot industrial development.

Cowell Ranch, the 4,000 acres of oak-studded hills flanking Mount Diablo,a fast-growing region of the state, were earmarked for urban development before TPL completed the $13-million deal to purchase and preserve the land in 2002.

In 2002, TPL protected the 2,500-acre El Capitan Ranch, nearly doubling state park land on California's Gaviota coast.

Ellwood Mesa is a 137-acre coastal bluff near the community of Goleta, north of Santa Barbara. TPL helped protect this property in 2005.

A cascade of flowers and greenery on Telegraph Hill, the garden was created by former resident Grace Marchant in a 30-year labor of love.

In December 2010, TPL was able to pull a bright conservation success story out of the bleak economic downturn, and purchase Bruin Ranch, now known as the Harvego Bear River Preserve, which will eventually underpin a regional wilderness trail and park.

With a generous donation from the Helen Diller Family Foundation, The Trust for Public Land is completely redesigning two existing playgrounds at Civic Center Plaza that are heavily used by children in surrounding neighborhoods where parks and open space are limited.

Ryan Creek is a tributary of the Humboldt Bay, a coastal lagoon on California's rugged North Coast. We are working with Green Diamond Resource Company to preserve 7,550 acres in this area as a community forest outside of Eureka.

In the fall of 2015, The Trust for Public Land purchased the Preserve's 688 acres from the family that has owned the land for most of the 20th century. The newly established Kashia Coastal Preserve restores coastal access to the Kashia, protects important cultural sites, and provides a place to connect present and future generations of the Kashia with their heritage

Liberty Island, on the northwestern fringe of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, is one flooded tract whose flooding has yielded unexpected, and encouraging, results.

The Trust for Public Land is working with City of El Cerrito to purchase the Madera Hillside property and unite the Hillside Natural Area forever.

In the 1960s, the headlands were slated for a 30,000-person housing development. The architects of the deal to conserve this area included three founders of The Trust for Public Land.

Since 1942, Midland School students have enjoyed the open classrooms of the school's fields, forests, and gardens. But in 2006, the school became concerned about encroaching development and reached out to The Trust for Public Land for help.

Mount Eddy is named in honor of Olive Paddock Eddy, who in the 1880s became the first woman to climb this picture-perfect peak. Today, Mt. Eddy is popular with hikers and curious botanists: many endemic species thrive near the creeks and fens, and in midsummer, a range of butterfly species crowd the wildflowers.

To date, TPL has conserved more land in the Sierra Nevada than any other nonprofit organization —more than 145,000 acres including Waddle Ranch in the Martis Valley and parts of the Pacific Crest Trail.

Our Los Angeles Program concentrates on the health and well-being of the region's nearly 10 million residents, working from the mountains to the ocean, and from inner city to wilderness.

Bisected by a meandering section of the Little Truckee River, the
remote, snow-covered Perazzo Meadows property was in imminent danger of
being sold to developers until TPL and its partner, the Truckee Donner
Land Trust, purchased the land in 2009.

Located on a particularly scenic portion of the Northern California coastline, Point Arena is known for its dramatic coastal shelves and bluffs, spring-fed waterfalls.

When a 190-acre golf course along the Carmel River went up for sale, a coalition of local nonprofits and public agencies knew whom to call to save the property from development. The coalition contacted The Trust for Public Land, because it knew we could marshal the resources and expertise needed to act quickly and close the deal.

At more than 3,000 acres, Rancho Monte Alegre the largest remaining undeveloped landscape in the Carpentaria foothills.  

Rocky Graham Park is the only outdoor recreational space in Marin City, the most diverse city in the county. The Trust for Public Land worked with the community to re-design the park, which re-opened in July 2015 with modern amenities.

In 2011, the City of Lawndale purchased a 1.5 acre vacant lot to develop Rudolph Park as a much-needed recreation space for its many residents.

Looming above Donner Lake, just off Interstate 80 in the central Sierra Nevada, Schallenberger Ridge would make a spectacular ski resort in this popular year-round tourist area.

The majestic Sierra Buttes are a dramatic backdrop to the Northern Sierra's "Lakes Basin"  and seemingly pristine landscape that few people realize was once actively mined as part of the Sierra Mother Lode, and has been fragmented into protected and unprotected parcels of property.

Established in 1997, the InterTribal Sinkyone Wilderness preserves a small portion of the original Sinkyone Indian territory on 3,845 acres of redwood forestland along the northern California coast in Mendocino County.

Situated within one of the densest, lowest income, most diverse, and park poor neighborhoods, the Tenderloin Wellness Trail works to prioritize the streets and sidewalks between all Tenderloin parks and playgrounds in order to cultivate a safe, vibrant and beautiful wellness trail. The Tenderloin is home to the densest concentration of children and families, yet the few open spaces that exist are often underutilized, unknown, or disconnected.

The Trust for Public Land, the Pacific Crest Trail Association, and the U.S. Forest Service have teamed up to close the largest gap in public ownership along this world-famous trek—over 16 square miles of forests, alpine lakes, and lush meadows in the remote Trinity Mountains of Northern California.

Located in a popular Sierra Nevada recreation area between Lake Tahoe and North Star ski area, 1,400-acre Waddle Ranch was once slated for the development of 800 homes.

When plans for a housing development fell through, the prospect of giving local children and their parents a safe, welcoming place to meet and play motivated neighbors to step forward and support the creation of a community park in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood.

The 3,000-acre Webber Lake property is a look back in time.  Once a stop along the Henness Pass Road, the original Webber Lake Hotel—built in the 1860s—still stands on the property.