Programs

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As part of our mission to protect and preserve the coastal monterey pine forests of our region, Greenspace Cambria is committed to reforestation. We work together with the Cambria community to grow seedlings and plant monterey pines each year on our properties. 

Although we are fighting deforestation, we know tree removal is sometimes necessary and we want to help landowners and developers mitigate tree removal locally. Greenspace Cambria helps landowners mitigate tree removal by growing and selling seedlings to re-plant to keep our neighborhood forest healthy. 

 A fundamental function of Greenspace – The Cambria Land Trust is to acquire, restore and protect environmentally important properties that are threatened by overdevelopment or neglect. To date, Greenspace has saved 20 properties, permanently withdrawing them from development. These serve as wild areas, pocket parks, and cultural resources. The largest of these is Strawberry Canyon, a 21-acre wooded area with a walking trail and benches for enjoying the sights and sounds of the forest.  

In 2015, Greenspace launched a new environmental education initiative with Santa Lucia Middle School in Cambria, funded by a generous grant from the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust.  The program, funded again for three years beginning in 2020,  is expanding to include Cambria Grammar School, Coast High, Leffingwell and Cayucos schools. This field learning program was designed to bring students into our local watershed ecosystems—agriculture, creek, forest or beach—to learn about the way in which vital interconnections support healthy organisms in nature.  The program works hand in hand with the Greenspace Nature Club program.

Since 2003, Greenspace staff and volunteers have been monitoring the water quality and condition of our local creeks. With funding from the Morrissey Family Foundation, we purchased state of the art YSI water monitoring equipment with probes for salinity, oxygenation, ORP, pH and other factors in order to get basic monthly readings from sites on Santa Rosa and San Simeon Creeks. These readings enable us to determine the basic condition of the creeks and whether conditions are hospitable to steelhead fish and their young fry. 

In addition to Greenspace Cambria's programs focusing on reforestation, land conservation and environmental education and freshwater monitoring, we advocate on behalf of our local communities, environmental projects & more. 

Click the link below to learn more about Learn more about our involvement in local environmental projects and about the awesome communities and environmental groups we have the privilege to work with.