Conservation at Landscape Scale
Jess Morton
Endangered Habitats League and Endangered Habitats Conservancy

The Endangered Habitats League (EHL) and Endangered Habitats Conservancy (EHC) are the most effective land conservation NGOs in Southern California. Yet few people know that either one exists, even though the results of their work benefit millions of people every year. For members of our CNPS chapter, it can be seen in the series of preserves on the south side of the Palos Verdes Peninsula made possible by EHL’s policy work.

Our June speaker, Jess Morton, treasurer for both EHL and EHC, will take us on a tour, historical and visual, to illuminate their work. Sparked by the need to get protection for the California gnatcatcher, what appeared in 1991 to be a simple science-based project has over the last quarter century evolved into a pair of related organizations that are key players in the protection of hundreds of thousands of acres of open space.

Using a tour of EHC’s preserves in San Diego County as a case study, Jess will explain how policy (EHL’s work) and land management (EHC’s work) interact to produce landscape scale conservation that affects us all.

The program will be illustrated by spectacular photos taken by Morton and Evi Meyer, showing the rare plants, wildlife and natural splendors of some of the EHC’s many preserves.