Programs
In the Ojai Valley, the OVLC manages roughly 2,300 acres of open space. On these lands, the OVLC maintains 27 miles of trail, guides hundreds of visitors, and hosts tens of thousands of school children, hikers, equestrians, and others each year.
Open space protected by the OVLC is preserved in perpetuity for the benefit of the community. Working with willing landowners on a voluntary basis, land is either protected by its acquisition or through a land conservation agreement. Our work falls into three program areas: Restoration, Stewardship, and Acquisition.
Land Protection
OVLC’s land protection program prioritizes acquisition of land and conservation easements in riparian areas, viewshed lands, and agricultural lands—all which contribute to the character and livability of the valley.
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Acquisition provides the most lasting impact for conservation by maintaining land in its natural state. OVLC works with willing landowners in the valley to acquire properties that fit our conservation priority profile.
Donations of land can offer significant tax benefits to landowners, but in certain instances, funding to purchase lands may be available.
Please contact us if you’re interested in discussing options to conserve your land.
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A conservation easement lets a landowner permanently protect their land while maintaining ownership, control, and use of it. The terms of an easement are highly customizable to your present and future goals but generally strive to keep land in its current natural state and binds future owners to the same conditions. Lands can be sold or handed down to the next generation. Most conservation easement properties do not allow public access.
The IRS offers generous tax benefits for donations of easements; a conservation easement may also help avoid estate taxes and lower property taxes. Since each situation is unique, we encourage landowners to contact us to discuss their situation.
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Increasingly, OVLC is looking for ways to preserve the valley’s natural capital—lands that foster resilience and adaptability to the changing climate. For instance, north-facing slopes are modeled to serve as climate refugia in a hotter/drier Ojai Valley. This refinement to OVLC’s acquisition strategy refers to the lands and waters that sustain all life in the Ojai Valley. Similarly, both California’s governor and the president have announced goals of permanently protecting 30% of the land base by the year 2030. These goals reflect the fact that natural habitat buffers climate extremes and protects the ecosystem services on which all life depends. Thus, permanent protection of land is perhaps the smartest and most cost-effective response to climate change. It is clear in the Ojai Valley that OVLC’s preserves also make for a more livable valley by providing easy and abundant access to nature.
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OVLC is targeting lands that are specifically suited to provide habitat resilience and ecosystem services to respond to our shifting climate. These priorities match those of the state funding agencies with potential to help OVLC acquire significant acreage. For instance, OVLC experts developed a climate adaptation model to inform the prioritization of lands that may serve as climate refugia for native species of plants and animals whose ranges will very likely shift with increased heat and drought stress. We are applying this model using other ecosystem services to further guide our acquisition strategy. For example, lands with high groundwater recharge potential should be a high priority. Or, land in the wildland-urban interface that could provide a buffer for wildfire or that might need proactive fuel and habitat management. Clearly, lands that provide habitat for the rarest wildlife species in the valley will continue to be a priority (riparian areas and north-facing slopes in particular).
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If you are interested in protecting your part of Ojai forever, there are numerous options and it is best to consult with your legal or tax advisor to understand what may work best in your situation.
In general, land is sold or given to OVLC in its entirety (known as “fee simple”) or a conservation easement is placed on the land to ensure that the scenic and natural spaces remain that way. All properties must be appraised so a fair market value can be determined. A partial or complete donation of the land can offer tax deductions to lower your income taxes for multiple years while also reducing capital gains taxes or property taxes.
Ventura County also allows for conservation subdivision which allows landowners to create a separate parcel for donation or sale to a conservation organization through an expedited process that avoids standard subdivision requirements. This option may allow a landowner to reduce property taxes and estate taxes or even provide opportunities for a land purchaser to acquire a property with the ability to later sell a portion to OVLC.
Contact OVLC through the link below to learn more about the conservation options that may apply to your land.
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Please contact the Executive Director (executivedirector@ovlc.org or (805) 649-6852 x 1) if you have a property that you would like to have considered for preservation in perpetuity.
Restoration
In officially adding “restore” to our mission, OVLC is affirming our proactive approach to climate resilience. Our restoration program restores OVLC lands and riparian zones to enhance biodiversity. In addition, OVLC is expanding our reach to work with private landowners on strategic projects that will serve the whole community. In this way, we broaden our focus in our restoration work and target projects that enhance ecosystem services.
The restoration program has grown immensely in recent years, building upon two decades of experience, two hallmark projects including restoration of wetland habitat at the Ojai Meadows Preserve and orchard removal followed by oak woodland restoration at the Ventura River Preserve. OVLC also works to restore critical riparian habitats by removing giant reed or Arundo (Arundo donax) and other invasive riparian species from OVLC preserves along the Ventura River and in partnership with landowners on San Antonio Creek. This range and depth of experience is critical as OVLC works to lead conservation efforts in the Ventura River Watershed and the greater Ojai Valley area.
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Every year OVLC plants hundreds of oak trees. These oak trees help the Ojai Valley become resilient to a changing climate. The oaks we plant today start off small and fragile, but with time they will become majestic towering oaks that define Ojai’s landscapes.
Restoring our lands back to oak woodlands has a myriad of benefits for our community and ecosystem, starting with Ojai’s iconic scenery.
Scenic Beauty: Oak woodlands and savannas make up the iconic scenery of the landscape in the Ojai Valley.
Try to imagine Ojai without any oaks: Wills Canyon in the Ventura River Preserve would not be the same magical place without oaks lining the trails, and we have all sought shade below the canopy of a gorgeous oak in the hot summer months.
Storing Carbon: Trees sequester carbon better than any other technology in the world. Oak trees remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and release oxygen in return. This carbon is locked up in a tree’s roots, trunk, and branches, and effectively removed from the atmosphere for up to two hundred years!
Water: Oaks play an important role in protecting Ojai’s watersheds and water supply. The oak canopy slows the rain, decreases erosion of the soil, and improves the quality of the water in creeks, streams, and rivers. This slowing of the water flow, along with the extensive network of root channels which allow rainfall to penetrate Ojai’s hard clay soils, help recharge our groundwater supply. Oaks are also drought-tolerant and consume less water than non-native tree species.
Wildlife: Oaks provide habitat for thousands of species (flora and fauna) and influence the way the entire ecosystem operates. Hundreds of wildlife species rely on oaks for food and habitat and a diverse variety of native plants thrive in the shade of the canopy.
Fire: Oaks are adapted to fire, and can survive low intensity and infrequent fire events. A mature oak woodland with a closed canopy will even slow fast spreading wildland fire. Sadly, climate change and ignitions from unnatural causes have resulted in increased fire intensity and frequency, and our oaks are struggling to survive.
Climate: Even oak trees, which are adapted to our warm climate, are showing signs of stress from record temperature highs and extended drought. While they are resilient, we are already seeing the migration of native plants to cooler north-facing slopes. The shading and microclimates of a closed canopy oak forest is even more important today.
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Arundo (Arundo donax) is an invasive grass that infests and sometimes dominates the riparian ecosystems of Southern California watersheds, including here in the Ventura River. Arundo removal is a top priority for restoration at OVLC, as it is a noxious weed that can grow as high as 30 feet tall and impairs critical functions of our rivers and creeks.
Outcompetes Native Vegetation: Arundo is an aggressive invasive species that grows in tall, dense stands that displace native vegetation.
Diminishes Habitat Quality: Monoculture stands provide less shade and food for native pollinators and wildlife, compared to healthy riparian areas.
Depletes Water Supplies: Arundo consumes large amounts of groundwater and surface water - estimated as high as 20 acre-feet/acre annually (5x more than native riparian vegetation!).
Increases Erosion and Flood Hazards: Bulk root masses alter river hydrology, leading to increased bank erosion, impaired water quality, and increased downstream flood risks.
Exacerbates Fire Risk: Tall, dense stands are intermixed with dead biomass, which generates explosive fuels loads that facilitate the spread of fire through riparian areas that would naturally function as fuel breaks.
OVLC has over a decade of experience removing Arundo from our preserves and in partnership with private landowners. Arundo removal in isolation is intensive work, takes years, and truly isn’t effective without a broader vision. But complete eradication at the watershed scale requires so much more—planning, funding, mapping, permitting, communicating, strategizing, treating, monitoring, responding, and restoring.
This understanding is what compelled OVLC to launch the Ventura River Watershed Arundo Eradication Project - with the plan to map all the Arundo in the watershed, obtain permits for removal, conduct landowner outreach, implement projects strategically, and deploy an early detection-rapid response program. In 2021, OVLC used drones to survey 36 miles of riparian corridors and identified 69 acres of Arundo remaining in the upper watershed. After the historic floods of January 2023, OVLC surveyed the entire watershed, including the lower six miles of the mainstem from Foster Park to the Pacific Ocean. With Arundo mapped, OVLC is now in the permitting and landowner outreach phase, with plans to kick start implementation across the watershed in 2024.
Explore Our Map of Arundo in the Ventura River Watershed »
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Username: OVLC_guest
Password: Arundo_2021Help Us Identify Arundo
Help OVLC locate Arundo (Arundo donax) in the Ventura River Watershed. Invasive Arundo consumes lots of water, outcompetes native vegetation, contributes to flooding, and poses a severe wildfire hazard. Locating and identifying Arundo will help OVLC in our effort to fully eradicate it from the watershed.
Other names for this noxious invasive: giant reed and elephant grass.
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When it comes to Ojai’s biodiversity and resilience, this is a “just add water” landscape. Unfortunately, one of the most tangible effects of the changing climate is the dramatically heightened variability of rainfall and diminished flows in our creeks and rivers. This places a premium on innovative strategies to enhance water resilience.
Riparian corridors play a crucial role in nurturing the delicate balance that sustains our environment and community. These lush, green areas along waterways serve as vital habitats for diverse wildlife, including endangered species like the southwestern willow flycatcher (Empidonax trailii extimus) and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Beyond their ecological significance, riparian corridors provide us with clean water, acting as natural filters for the creeks flowing through our valley. They also act as a protective shield against fire and flooding. In this interconnected web of life, they offer us peace, opportunities for recreation, and a profound connection to our beloved Ojai Valley.
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Climate change is fueling landscape-scale effects that are fundamentally altering plant communities and damaging ecosystems. While OVLC has done extensive restoration work on our preserves and in riparian areas, we realize that the benefits are limited if we don’t enhance habitat on private lands to build connectivity. It is this understanding that has driven OVLC to pursue an initiative to Rewild Ojai.
OVLC’s new program increases the quantity and diversity of native plants grown in our nursery, initiates a seed conservation program (all plants grown in OVLC’s nursery come from seeds and cuttings collected sustainably from the Ojai Valley to protect and propagate local genotypes), and empowers all landowners to Rewild Ojai.
Stewardship
Our stewardship team works to manage and maintain our preserves, repair trails and infrastructure, all using best management practices.
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Due to an increasing interest in outdoor recreation, OVLC trails are receiving more traffic than ever before. It's crucial for all trail users to respect each other's space, follow trail etiquette, and prioritize safety to ensure an enjoyable experience for everyone.
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OVLC strives to connect people with the land, as we believe that engagement in nature is an important component of building support for our mission. Supporters who understand the value of open spaces and habitat will often help us achieve our goal of protecting and restoring more land in the Ojai Valley.
Trail management guides our efforts to maximize accessibility for all of our users, while also ensuring that we protect the natural resource values that OVLC has been entrusted to preserve.
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The Ventura River and its surrounding ecosystem are valuable natural resources that provide numerous recreational opportunities while supporting a rich biodiversity of native flora and fauna. As users of this land, it is essential for us to understand and appreciate our relationship with the river and the land, and to take on the responsibility of being diligent stewards. By recognizing the value of this ecosystem and actively working towards its preservation, we can ensure its continued beauty and ecological integrity for generations to come.
