Santa Barbara Project Updates
LegacyWorks has played a central role in at least a dozen projects with real impact on the well-being of our communities, ecosystems and working lands. Our Fall Update gathers many of these stories…
Regional Priority Plan
Ten days ago, with the Alisal fire still smoldering and rain in the forecast, I had flashbacks to the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow. It was a visceral feeling that brought me back to that morning in January of…
Water in BCS's Eastern Cape
Three years ago we began a collaboration with the Baja Coastal Institute (BCI) to survey water issues to inform citizen action, improve policy, and prepare youth leaders through the public schools. The result is our recently-released East Cape Citizens’ Water Report.
Resilience Roundtables Wrap-up
In the summer of 2019, Sharyn Main took the lead on creating a new program at the Community Environmental Council focused on building community climate resilience – a roundtable series bringing together key leaders and climate practitioners responsible for climate change planning and decisions that determine how we respond to the climate crisis.
Partnering with Playa Viva
An exciting partnership is developing in Mexico! In late 2020 we began collaborating with Playa Viva, a boutique hotel located south of the Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo coastal resort area. We were invited by its founder, David Leventhal, and are collaborating with its all-female management team. Playa Viva is a founder of and a leader in the Regenerative Travel movement.
Congratulations White Buffalo Land Trust on Their Acquisition of Jalama Canyon Ranch
We are thrilled to share the news that our good friends at White Buffalo Land Trust acquired the 1000-acre Jalama Canyon Ranch last week after a successful $6 million capital campaign.
Tracking Variants
The pandemic has arguably become a race between vaccinations and variants, with vaccinations critical to keeping the spread of more contagious and more impactful variants of COVID from driving another spike in case counts here. The dashboard is now tracking both critical elements of what we hope is the final leg of this marathon.
Vaccination data added to Community Dashboard
Three months ago we launched the The Santa Barbara Community Data Dashboard. Since then we have worked closely with the County Public Health Department to refine and adapt the dashboard as the State changed policies and set, then lifted restrictions.
Clean Air and Clean Energy
The Center for Renewable Energy and Environmental Quality (CERCA), with San Francisco-based ACLIMA’s technology, has the best science-based, citizen-led air quality monitoring and reporting in the state capital of La Paz where most of the state’s power…
Voices JH joins LegacyWorks family
We’re thrilled to announce that Voices JH has joined the LegacyWorks family as a new fiscal sponsorship in the Tetons. When we first learned of Voices JH through the Community Foundation of Jackson Hole…
Honoring Sandy Mason
We write with a heavy heart to tell you that our beloved teammate Sandy Mason passed away on December 26 at his home with his wife Mary. Sandy was a co-founder of LegacyWorks Group, though he always pushed that notion away.
Invasive Species Removal
Healthy, diverse natural ecosystems are vital to all life. But human occupation often brings with it hard-to-control, non-native plant and animal species that can become invasive and detrimental to native species and ecosystems.
Collaborative Community Dashboard
True to our mission to help organizations collaborate on critical challenges that no single agency can tackle on their own, LegacyWorks Santa Barbara facilitated a public-private partnership and launched a countywide COVID-19 Data Dashboard.
Santa Barbara Program Update
We are happy to share our most recent Santa Barbara Program Update summarizing our local work in conservation, resilience and community impact. As you will see, we are advancing collaborations and public private partnerships at the heart of our most pressing challenges:
Cabo Pulmo and the Opportunity to Thrive
For over two decades, almost as long as Cabo Pulmo National Park has existed, I have had the privilege of visiting and working with the community of Cabo Pulmo in Southern Baja California, Mexico, first with international conservation organizations like the World Wildlife Fund, then as a concerned citizen, and now with LegacyWorks Group.
Harnessing Markets to Achieve Conservation
if we only work with landowners who are willing and able to donate value, and on easements and restoration that we can fund via grants and gifts, we are working with a very small percentage of the overall ecosystem. This is where markets come in.
Why Migrations Matter
Whether it’s sandhill cranes congregating in local wetlands before flying to New Mexico or mule deer leaving the mountains to seek winter range in the Red Desert, our wildlife populations rely on a much larger landscape than we previously realized.
The Resilience Cycle
By now many of us have been exposed to the disaster cycle as it unfolds after a disaster strikes. The cycle takes us from the event itself to immediate search and rescue and early risk mitigation and relief work, into a sustained response through the first days and weeks…
Boca Del Alamo Community and Resource Restoration Initiative
In Boca del Álamo, the community has adopted a collaborative and sustainable approach, building on and diverging from the Cabo Pulmo model. While Cabo Pulmo's marine park became a global symbol…
Biodiversity Mapping
The status and distribution of the East Cape's terrestrial biodiversity using all available databases has never been mapped. Two years ago LegacyWorks, Pronatura and members of Cabo Pulmo Vivo Coalition began to assemble the data.