At its November 18, 2021 quarterly meeting, the Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved approximately $25 million in grants to help restore and protect fish and wildlife habitat throughout California. Some of the 31 approved projects will benefit fish and wildlife — including some endangered species — while others will provide public access to important natural resources. Several projects will also demonstrate the importance of protecting working landscapes that integrate economic, social and environmental stewardship practices beneficial to the environment, landowners and the local community.

Funding for these projects comes from a combination of sources including the Habitat Conservation Fund and bond measures approved by voters to help preserve and protect California’s natural resources.

Funded projects include:

• A $1.5 million grant to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District for a cooperative project with CAL FIRE to implement forest health and vegetation management activities for fuel reduction and forest resiliency across approximately 353 acres of land owned by the district in the Los Gatos Creek watershed in Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.
• An $841,000 grant to Grassland Resource Conservation District for a cooperative project with Grassland Water District to improve critical water delivery infrastructure and provide improved water delivery capacity to 46,600 acres of managed seasonal wetlands in the Grasslands Ecological Area in the San Joaquin Valley in Merced County.
• A $3.88 million grant to The Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County for a cooperative project with the California Department of Conservation and the California State Coastal Conservancy to acquire a conservation easement over approximately 7,682 acres of Attiyeh Ranch to protect habitat, migration corridors and wildlife connectivity within the Nacimiento River watershed 20 miles northwest of Paso Robles in San Luis Obispo County.
• A $991,000 grant to the Regents of the University of California, Santa Barbara to restore willow-cottonwood riparian woodland, emergent freshwater marsh and patches of riparian and coastal sage scrub on 20 acres in the Cienega Springs Ecological Reserve in Fillmore in Ventura County.
• A $2.8 million grant to the City of Fullerton for a cooperative project with the State Coastal Conservancy, San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, California Department of Parks and Recreation and Land and Water Conservation Fund to acquire approximately 10 acres in the West Coyote Hills to protect open space and habitat in the city of Fullerton in Orange County.
• A $3 million grant to San Diego Association of Governments to restore the Buena Vista Lagoon to an estuarine wetland from the current freshwater marsh to enhance and maintain sensitive habitats and native species, located between the cities of Carlsbad and Oceanside in San Diego County.

For more information about the WCB please visit wcb.ca.gov.