Investing in Collaborative Landscape Partnerships on Santa Barbara County's Gaviota Coast
LegacyWorks facilitated a diverse group of partners in a six-month planning process to identify mutual goals and opportunities for collaboration in landscape conservation along the Gaviota Coast. The effort, led by local and state representatives from key federal agencies with regional conservation and stewardship responsibilities, aims to develop high-level goals and mutual priorities as part of a competitive process that will eventually lead to establishing a Sentinel Landscape designation for the region surrounding Vandenberg Space Force Base.
Voices of Hope: Building Community Resilience in Lompoc
In the heart of Lompoc, a transformative grassroots initiative rooted in community engagement and collaboration is taking shape. Developed in partnership with Collective Cultures Creating Change (C4) and Resilient Santa Barbara County and supported by LegacyWorks Group, the Self Healing Community (SHC) initiative aims to foster resilience and healing among residents.
Santa Barbara County Community Dashboard
The Santa Barbara County Community Dashboard is a community-led, online platform designed to provide a comprehensive view of key indicators impacting the wellbeing of Santa Barbara County.
Strengthening Community Resilience: Wildfire Risk Reduction and Habitat Restoration in Goleta
As part of ongoing efforts to address wildfire risks and restore ecosystems in Santa Barbara County, LegacyWorks, together with the Cachuma Resource Conservation District (CRCD) and the Community Environmental Council (CEC), is proud to be a coordinating partner of the Wildfire Resilience Collaborative (WRC).
Increasing the Capacity and Collaboration to Conserve the Gaviota Coast
LegacyWorks is excited to partner with the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UCSB for a master’s group project aimed at conserving the Gaviota Coast.
Melissa Fontaine Announcement
We’re thrilled to welcome and introduce you to our newest Santa Barbara Regional Initiative team member - Melissa Fontaine! Melissa brings to LegacyWorks a deep commitment to both the natural world and local community.
Good Fire
In 2017, the Thomas Fire raged through Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. At the time, it was the largest, most devastating wildfire in history; burning more than 285K acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties, destroying over 1,000 buildings, resulting in over $2.2B worth of damages and causing over 100K people to evacuate their homes.
The Heart of Ellwood Mesa
Ellwood Mesa is an important node in a connected mosaic of protected lands in Goleta. It is also one of the most important overwintering sites for the western population of monarch butterflies. Monarch populations are declining globally, and the overwintering population at Ellwood has declined as well, raising alarm bells in the community.
LegacyWorks Santa Barbara Community Resilience Portfolio
Community resilience is our collective capacity to endure, respond and recover from adversity. Resilience allows us to adapt and grow after a disaster, whether a pandemic, flood or wildfire. At LegacyWorks, we work to build community resilience every day as we show up in service of emerging community needs.
Bill Leahy Announcement
LegacyWorks is pleased to announce Bill Leahy as the newest member of our Santa Barbara team. Bill joined LegacyWorks in the Fall of 2022 after living up the coast on the 25,000-acre Jack & Laura Dangermond Preserve, where he served as Deputy Director for several years.
LegacyWorks Santa Barbara 2022 Wildfire Resilience Portfolio
Wildfire affects every person and every sector in our community; the scale and complexity of this problem requires every one of us to take action to advance our region’s resilience. We must learn to adapt and develop new strategies for learning and working together.
Wildfire Resilience Collaborative
Santa Barbara is rich in natural communities that are specifically adapted to its Mediterranean weather patterns. These include coastal scrub, chaparral and foothill woodland plant communities, some of the world's most imperiled ecosystems.
SBC Water Quality Dashboard
Our Santa Barbara team has the great pleasure of living and working in the Santa Barbara region, while also interfacing with our teams working in the northern Rockies and in southern Baja California Sur. While far apart, all the communities we work with are facing the worst drought in the historical record, exacerbating long term challenges around water quality and water supply. Frustratingly, it can be remarkably difficult to get straightforward data on the state of our water.
Our Growing Team!
At LegacyWorks Group we catalyze and facilitate collaborations that meet critical community needs. We’re always on the watch for promising opportunities and for the resources and partners necessary to move them forward. All three are fundamental to the work we do.
Santa Barbara Project Updates
LegacyWorks has played a central role in at least a dozen projects with real impact on the well-being of our communities, ecosystems and working lands. Our Fall Update gathers many of these stories…
Regional Priority Plan
Ten days ago, with the Alisal fire still smoldering and rain in the forecast, I had flashbacks to the Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow. It was a visceral feeling that brought me back to that morning in January of…
Resilience Roundtables Wrap-up
In the summer of 2019, Sharyn Main took the lead on creating a new program at the Community Environmental Council focused on building community climate resilience – a roundtable series bringing together key leaders and climate practitioners responsible for climate change planning and decisions that determine how we respond to the climate crisis.
Congratulations White Buffalo Land Trust on Their Acquisition of Jalama Canyon Ranch
We are thrilled to share the news that our good friends at White Buffalo Land Trust acquired the 1000-acre Jalama Canyon Ranch last week after a successful $6 million capital campaign.
Tracking Variants
The pandemic has arguably become a race between vaccinations and variants, with vaccinations critical to keeping the spread of more contagious and more impactful variants of COVID from driving another spike in case counts here. The dashboard is now tracking both critical elements of what we hope is the final leg of this marathon.
Vaccination data added to Community Dashboard
Three months ago we launched the The Santa Barbara Community Data Dashboard. Since then we have worked closely with the County Public Health Department to refine and adapt the dashboard as the State changed policies and set, then lifted restrictions.