The Eastern Sierra region of California is widely recognized for its awesome mountain and desert vistas, pastoral farms and ranches, thriving fish and wildlife, as well as our expansive public lands and associated recreation opportunities. Eastern Sierra Land Trust works with willing landowners to preserve these vital lands for their scenic, agricultural, natural, recreational, historical, and watershed values using the conservation tools available to regional land trusts.

In January 2009 we were invited to participate in the beta release of the Conservation Registry for California after being awarded a Defenders’ Living Lands Biodiversity Grant. As the only land trust serving the large Eastern Sierra region, this opportunity caught our attention because we work hard to increase awareness of our efforts and our mission both within our local population, as well as to the numerous visitors to our region. The Registry also seemed like a good opportunity to share information with neighboring conservation organizations, potential funders, and public agencies.

Though we have in-house GIS capability that we rely on for the production of most of our maps for our stewardship and lands activities, the Conservation Registry appealed to our organization because it was a simple way to make the jump from ‘static’ maps to online dynamic maps that interested members, partners, and others can explore on their own to learn more about our completed projects and important work. Adding projects to the database was simple using the online forms and checklists, and the result is an attractive and informative web site for each project that is visible to the public.

One of the aspects of the Registry that we are most interested in is the potential for information sharing and collaboration with other organizations or agencies on important conservation work being done in and around our service area on targets such as priority watersheds or particular species of concern. As more projects are added to the Registry we can explore the database spatially using the map interface, or using keywords, to see where our own current and completed projects exist in relation to the work being done by others. Hopefully this will allow us to identify opportunities for potential collaboration while also highlighting areas that may be being overlooked. The more groups that adopt the tool, the more useful it will become.

View Eastern Sierra Land Trust projects in the Registry:

Benton Hot Springs Ranch Conservation Easement
Mono County, California
Actions: conservation easement, control invasive plants

Big Hotsprings Ranch Conservation Easement
Mono County, California
Actions: conservation easement

Yednock Conservation Easement
Mono County, California
Actions: conservation easement

Crowley Hilltop Preserve
Mono County, California
Actions: develop a voluntary conservation plan

Wheeler Ridge Wildlife Migration Corridor
Mono County, California
Actions: conservation easement, education

By Aaron Johnson, Lands Program Coordinator, Eastern Sierra Land Trust

Bruce Taylor, director of Oregon Habitat Joint Venture, received the 2009 Excellence in Conservation Award from the Natural Resource Conservation Service for his fine work with Defenders of Wildlife, the Oregon Habitat Joint Venture, and many partners. He was honored in a ceremony in the rotunda of the Oregon State Capitol on Monday, November 2, 2009. The NRCS Excellence in Conservation Award is the highest award the agency gives to honor those outside the federal government for their work in conservation. The Conservation Registry is very proud to have Bruce as a partner.

Learn more about the Oregon Habitat Joint Venture. Visit our partner site, Pacific Coast Joint Venture.