
LAND
PROTECTION
(C) Richard Murphy

The Conservancy targets both large areas that support plant and animal communities and “linkage” areas that help animals (and plants) move from one area to another. Connecting conservation lands is critical to maintaining biological diversity and keeping species from becoming threatened or endangered. Over the past decade the Conservancy has purchased thousands of acres that it now manages for the benefit of nature, in keeping with the Conservancy’s founding and ongoing purpose, the protection of wildlife habitat.
As a non-profit, the Conservancy can only acquire land from willing sellers. Protection must be consistent with the Conservancy’s conservation mission and vision. The Conservancy often acts in partnership with others, including other non-profit conservation partners, government agencies and private entities.
CURRENT ACQUISITION CAMPAIGNS
Please Support Connecting Conservation Corridors, a Missing Lynx Project!
People and wildlife need the same things – places to find food, safe shelter, community to find a mate, and a peaceful life to raise their young.
One of the greatest threats to wildlife survival is habitat fragmentation. Human development fragments wildlife habitats and growing human populations lead to the displacement of animals as well as conflicts with people, livestock, pets, and other dangerous situations (Defenders of Wildlife 2022).
With your help, we can connect, instead of fragment, habitat corridors in North County by saving three key properties so that people and wildlife can coexist. The White Atterbury (San Elijo Hills), Elfin Acres (Elfin Forest) and Kesting (Harmony Grove) properties are for sale. They are all critical wildlife corridor connections.
Donate now and the Conservancy will work to protect these properties before they are lost forever.
Join us in Protecting Seaquest Canyon!
As more land in San Diego County near the coast is developed, the remaining places become more important to wildlife.
In addition to the larger properties identified in the Connecting Conservation Corridors campaign, the Conservancy is interested in protecting smaller wildlife linkages between already protected areas. Natural wildlife linkages are often small drainages (or very small creeks) that, in this watershed, eventually flow to Escondido Creek. Wildlife use these areas as passages to traverse between other wild areas.
One of these corridors is Seaquest Canyon that connects San Diego County Park and Recreation’s Sage Hill Preserve in Elfin Forest with the Conservancy’s LeoMar Preserve near the Bridges in Rancho Santa Fe where the canyon joins Escondido Creek.
We are looking for sellers in Seaquest Canyon that want to help protect this wildlife corridor by selling their property to the Conservancy.
There can be tax benefits to sell or donate to the non-profit Conservancy.
Please contact Executive Director Ann Van Leer at executive@escondidocreek.org for more information.
OUR PRESERVES
Protecting Land We’ve Saved
As of 2025, the Conservancy owns or manages over 3,100 acres of wildlife habitat. The primary management goal for the Conservancy’s land is the preservation of wildlife habitat so that threatened and endangered species will always have a refuge in North San Diego County and common species will have a better chance of remaining common.
Some of the Conservancy’s preserves are open to the general public for responsible use during daylight hours. Use is limited to daylight hours to stay consistent with the Conservancy’s purpose to protect land for wildlife. Many wildlife species are nocturnal and require the evenings to hunt in order to survive, both for themselves and their young. Dusk and dawn are especially important times for wildlife and thus when humans should not be present in wildlands. Even open preserves can be closed by the Conservancy to protect public safety (such as during red flag fire prevention) and, for example, if herbicide treatment is underway. Conservancy supporters understand the need to put wildlife first and respect preserve rules.
While Conservancy lands may not be open 24/7, the Conservancy has many volunteer opportunities where you can visit our lands and aid in their restoration and protection. Additionally, the Conservancy leads free hikes to many of our preserves, including those not open to general public use.









CHALLENGES
to Restoring the Land
Every piece of land has a story to tell, about the natural world and the impacts of humans on the landscape. When the Conservancy purchases or takes management responsibility for a piece of conservation land, first it tries to understand its story. Because the Escondido Creek watershed is part of southern California, the larger story of southern California, and the impacts humans have had on it, plays a key part in understanding each site.
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During the process of buying a property, the Conservancy team begins to uncover the story of the site. What plants and animals live there? Is the site healthy or will it need restoration due to human impacts? Are there historical and cultural aspects that must be understood and protected? How can endangered, threatened and sensitive species be enhanced on the site such that they can thrive?​ As we learn more about a property, we develop a strategy to protect it. Our professional land managers, in association with trained volunteer land stewards and other volunteers, implement the strategy in monthly and weekly visits.
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Land restoration is a long game. The good news is, after the Conservancy has acquired a property, it is no longer threatened by development and the Conservancy can usually take time to secure the funds needed, through grants and donations, to restore human-caused damage.
WATER
Monitoring Quality for People & Wildlife
Without clean and free flowing water in the creek and its tributaries, the Escondido Creek watershed will never fulfill its potential to support the natural diversity of species that make our region unique.
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Beginning in September, 2011, the Conservancy began conducting routine water quality monitoring at four sites along the Escondido Creek. The purpose of the Water Quality Monitoring Program is to establish a baseline that will be used to evaluate the condition and overall health of Escondido Creek on an ongoing basis, as well as to identify short- and long-term trends.
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Many of these water quality parameters have improved since monitoring began, but there is still much more work to be done. The natural creek (as opposed to the concrete flood control channel in downtown Escondido) acts as a biofilter, removing pollutants from the creek as it progresses toward the ocean. One of the Conservancy’s long-term goals is to re-naturalize this concrete channel in order to provide greater benefits to both people and wildlife.
