Who We Are

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As a local land trust, Greenspace is committed to ensuring the environmental and cultural well-being of Cambria and San Luis Obispo County’s beautiful North Coast for residents, visitors and future generations. We have three primary tasks: land preservation, environmental education, and resource and ecosystem advocacy.

Greenspace acquires ecologically important land by purchases or gifts and we restore and protect it as preserves and pocket parks. We provide education about the North Coast area’s environmental resources, history and challenges through a monthly newsletter, our annual Speakers Series, guided walks, a quarterly newspaper column, forest and creek workshops and special events. We also advocate publicly for the health of our natural resources and protection of local native plant and wildlife habitats. 

Mary Webb, President

Nancy Anderson, Vice-President

Dewayne Lee, Treasurer

John Zinke, Secretary

Wayne Attoe, Past President

David Bidwell

Ann Cichowski

Amanda Darling

Christine Heinrichs

Ellen Leigh

Arthur Van Rhyn

Bob Fountain

Karen Dean

Constance Higdon Gannon, Executive Director

Connie joined Greenspace as Executive Director in 2014, with nearly 30 years’ experience in the world of non-profits and higher education. She holds a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin, and taught cultural studies at Prescott College in Arizona, the University of California, Santa Cruz, College of Santa Fe and the Institute of American Indian Art. Connie lived for several years in northern New Mexico, where she was project director for the Hispanic Arts Council of Taos. She moved to Cambria in 2001 and served as director of the grants program at Cuesta College.  

Connie’s involvement in environmental issues in California began in her childhood on her family’s ranch in San Diego County. The ranch’s pastures, bean fields and organic orange orchard were lost to development because there was no local land trust at the time. She is committed to preserving California’s remaining rural and wild land heritage. When she is not at the Greenspace office, she is hiking the local trails and venturing up into the Big Sur. Connie is an avid gardener and has published both prose and poetry. 

Richard Hawley, Property Manager

Rick was Greenspace’s founding executive director, retiring from that role in 2014. Rick served as a founding member of the statewide Pitch Canker Task Force,  which included scientists and public policy experts from universities, agencies and the private sector, in addition to being a past member of the California Oak Mortality Task Force.  He helped organize the fight against pitch canker and sudden oak death (SOD) and their devastating effects in California. 

He was a founding board member of the San Luis Obispo Fire Safe Council and the Cambria Forest Committee. He also served on the boards of the Planning and Conservation League and the Land Ethic Action Foundation and has been a member of the San Luis Obispo County Water Resources Advisory Council. Rick has a background in construction and project management. He supervised fish passage restoration projects in Santa Rosa Creek and restoration of the Greenspace Creekside Reserve’s historic Chinese Temple. Rick also organized numerous neighborhood fundraising campaigns to purchase and permanently protect over 15 properties in Cambria.