Learning the Land Land Trust of Santa Cruz County

In this episode we have the pleasure of speaking to Wildlife Researcher Ahíga Snyder of Pathways for Wildlife. Ahiga and partner Tanya Diamond , a Wildlife Ecologist, founded Pathways for Wildlife to help land trusts, conservation organizations, and transportation agencies identify important wildlife and habitat linkages for land conservation efforts.
Their work involves conducting wildlife connectivity surveys and implementing connectivity designs for wildlife movement within a landscape. These plans include data from field cameras, roadkill surveys, tracking data, GIS habitat suitability modeling, and linkage analyses.
 Pathways for Wildlife partnered with the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, Caltrans District 5, the UC Santa Cruz Puma Project, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to identify the best locations for wildlife crossing structures on Highway 17 in Santa Cruz County. Their research informed the decision to place a wildlife tunnel under the highway at Laurel Curve. The crossing was completed in early 2023 and they are currently using wildlife cameras to monitor wildlife in and around the crossing. 

Their work is fascinating, critical to reestablishing and preserving wildlife connectivity, and full of surprises. 

The badger video as promised:
https://youtu.be/YboYtCOWblg

In today’s episode, we’re diving into one of the Land Trust’s conservation priorities – to protect and manage working lands to address climate change and promote environmental sustainability.

The vibrant working lands of Santa Cruz County face the dual threats of suburban sprawl and a changing climate, which will increase flooding, drought stress, and fire. Actively managing working lands—especially in flood-prone areas or on steep slopes—can have multiple benefits for surrounding areas.  To help us dig into this fascinating topic, we’re talking with Barry Baker, the Land Trust’s Director of Land Protection, about what it means to protect prime farmland and how this work will ultimately contribute to building climate resilience in our region’s forests and rangelands. 

Well, hey there, Land Trust listeners! And welcome to today’s episode of Learning the Land. We’re shaking things up and offering this episode both as a podcast AND video – so if you want to enjoy some fun maps, pictures, and footage that go with today’s discussion, head over to our youtube channel.

In this episode, we’re focusing on the Land Trust’s initiative to protect biodiversity throughout Santa Cruz County -  and specifically, its endangered wildlife protection work. Now, this is not a new focus area for the Land Trust – as you all know! 

We’ve shared a lot about the Land Trust’s completed wildlife crossing under HWY 17 and work to create a second crossing over HWY 101 to connect long-ranging species like the Santa Cruz Mountain Lion to the Gabilian range in the south…But did you know there is a THIRD wildlife crossing in the works to provide safe passage under HWY 1 for one of Santa Cruz’s most critically endangered species? No? Then take a listen to find out more!

The Land Trust recently launched its new Conservation Roadmap, which outlines our county-wide initiatives for the next five years!  The Roadmap is packed with projects that are aimed at addressing Santa Cruz County’s most pressing needs for wildlife, creating access to nature, and mitigating the drastic effects of climate disruption, which has hit our community hard over the last five years. 
In this episode, we interview Land Trust Executive Director, Sarah Newkirk, to learn more about the Land Trust's new focus areas and exciting undertakings (like TWO wildlife crossings!), which will take place from 2023-2028. 

Hey there, Land Trust Listeners! In this extended episode, we join up with Rangeland Scientist Larry Ford, Ph.D. to learn more about the science of the open range - and how grazing can help protect endangered species, create biodiversity, and provide new economic opportunity based in conservation!

 Did you know grasslands are as crucial as forests in sequestering carbon? Or that using site-specific native plants in restoration ensures the success of local wildlife? In this episode, we interview Matt Marshall at Central Coast Wilds to learn about the importance of native plants as well as the critical role Central Coast Wilds plays in ecological restoration efforts throughout the Bay Area.