Conservation Excellence: Elkhorn Slough Earns National Recognition

One thing that unites us, as a nation is a connection to the land: Americans strongly support conserving local lands they love. Since 1982, the Elkhorn Slough Foundation (ESF) has worked to protect the Elkhorn Slough and its surrounding lands.

In 1997, the Foundation’s Board of Directors made the strategic decision to become a land trust, adopting the mission to conserve and restore Elkhorn Slough and its watershed. This week, ESF earned renewed accreditation through the Land Trust Accreditation Commission (LTAC), as part of a network of over 400 accredited land trusts across America, committed to professional excellence and to maintaining public trust in land conservation.

“Our work as a land trust began in 1997, and since then we have protected more than 4,000 acres, always keeping true to the guiding principles of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission,” said Anne Olsen, Chair of the Elkhorn Slough Foundation Board of Directors. “It’s an honor to be reaccredited by LTAC, and recognized alongside sister land trusts performing critical conservation work throughout North America.”

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation provided extensive documentation and was subject to a comprehensive third-party evaluation prior to achieving this distinction. The Land Trust Accreditation Commission awarded renewed accreditation, signifying its confidence that ESF’s lands will be protected forever. Accredited land trusts now steward almost 20 million acres – the size of Denali, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Everglades, and Yosemite National Parks combined.

“The Elkhorn Slough Foundation doesn’t just protect and conserve the lands of the Elkhorn Slough watershed. Their conservation efforts as a land trust are also essential for improving the health of Monterey Bay’s marine habitats,” said Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium. “ESF is a model land trust and a valued partner. I’m heartened that LTAC has renewed ESF’s accreditation as a land trust, and I look forward to continuing our conservation work together.”

Elkhorn Slough, located in the central Monterey Bay area, features the largest tract of tidal salt marsh south of San Francisco Bay, and encompasses a wide variety of habitats — including oak woodlands, maritime chaparral, sand dunes, coastal prairie, and tidal wetlands — that support incredible biodiversity. Its distinctive ecological communities are among the rarest and most threatened habitats in California.

The estuary is rich with intertidal marshes, mudflats, eelgrass beds, and oyster beds that nourish wildlife including sea lions, harbor seals, and the densest concentration of threatened Southern sea otters on the Pacific coast. In 2018, the Elkhorn Slough was designated a Wetland of International Importance by the Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

ESF is the only nonprofit land trust dedicated to permanently conserving and restoring the Elkhorn Slough and its surrounding lands, and for more than 35 years ESF has promoted community involvement in the slough through award-winning education, volunteer, and research programs.

“It is exciting to recognize the Elkhorn Slough Foundation’s continued commitment to national standards by renewing this national mark of distinction,” said Tammara Van Ryn, executive director of the Land Trust Accreditation Commission. “Donors and partners can trust the more than 400 accredited land trusts across the country are united behind strong standards and have demonstrated sound finances, ethical conduct, responsible governance, and lasting stewardship.”

The Elkhorn Slough Foundation (ESF) is a community-supported non-profit land trust whose mission is to conserve and restore the Elkhorn Slough and its watershed. ESF protects 4,000 acres of rare habitat including oak woodlands, maritime chaparral, and wetlands. Since 1982, ESF has been the non-profit partner of the Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve. More information available at elkhornslough.org.

The Land Trust Accreditation Commission, established in 2006 as an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance, is governed by a volunteer board of diverse land conservation and nonprofit management experts. For more, visit www.landtrustaccreditation.org.

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Founded in 1982, the Land Trust Alliance is a national land conservation organization that works to save the places people need and love by strengthening land conservation across America. The Alliance represents 1,000 member land trusts supported by more than 200,000 volunteers and 4.6 million members nationwide. The Alliance is based in Washington, D.C., and operates several regional offices. Connect with us online at www.landtrustalliance.org.