Las Californias Binational Conservation Initiative: A Vision for Habitat Conservation in the Border Region of California and Baja California

Executive Summary

October 2004

Funded by The San Diego Foundation, The International Community Foundation, Resources Legacy Fund Foundation, David & Kathy Welch Fund, and The Nature Conservancy.

Las Californias Binational Conservation Initiative is a shared vision for landscape-scale conservation strategies, sustainable land use planning, and workable long-term management programs in the center of a globally significant hotspot of biodiversity and cultures along the U.S.-México border. Along with our partners─The Nature Conservancy and Pronatura─our goal is to conserve the integrity and biological diversity of the Las Californias region across the coast-mountain-desert gradient and urban-wildland gradient and, in turn, to support sustainable communities. These goals can only be achieved through collaborative efforts between U.S. and Mexican partner organizations.

Over the last 3 years, tangible results of this vision have already been achieved in the conservation of over 1,300 acres in the coastal Otay Mountain/Cottonwood Creek corridor (the Pamali and McAlmond Canyon properties) and over 800 acres in the inland La Posta Linkage (lands on Hauser Mountain and lands adjacent to the U.S. Navy Seals base in Campo). An additional 2,500 acres of land in the Las Californias study area are under option for purchase. To date, over $5.3 million in private, state, and federal funds have been committed in these conservation investments alone, not counting staff time, which was considerable on the parts of participating groups. This vision has also bolstered the efforts of other conservation partners, such as the Otay-Sweetwater National Wildlife Refuge and the East County Multiple Species Conservation Program (MSCP), and has increased the awareness of landowners and elected officials in the border region of the conservation significance of this area. With the help of CBI, the California Biodiversity Council has focused its attention on the border region and is reaching out to Mexican agencies to collaborate on border conservation issues. In addition, CBI and TNC have been meeting with the U.S. Border Patrol to discuss how conservation of border lands can help achieve border security objectives.

In the next phase of Las Californias we will continue implementing our conservation vision through collaborative actions on both sides of the international border. CBI’s role will be to (a) provide science support to our partners, (b) provide science support to the County of San Diego and others for local policy development, (c) collaborate with staff of conservation groups on both sides of the border in achieving shared conservation goals, (d) provide a regional perspective and historical local planning knowledge in evaluating conservation priorities, and (e) serve as a liaison between the scientific and conservation communities and government agencies in influencing public policies for land and water protection on both sides of the border.

• Goal 1 - Work toward creation of a binational park that links Parque Constitución de 1857 in the Sierra Juárez in Baja California with Bureau of Land Management wilderness areas, Cleveland National Forest, and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park wilderness areas in San Diego County.
• Goal 2 - Provide technical support to Mexican partners in conserving large, intact natural areas and working landscapes within Baja California.
• Goal 3 - Conserve large, intact natural areas and working landscapes in the San Diego backcountry.
• Goal 4 - Help shape land use planning policies in San Diego County.
• Goal 5 - Foster scientific research and exploration in the border region.