Our Work
Conservation and Public Benefit
Gaviota Preserves is building the financial support and institutional capacity needed for lasting conservation on the Gaviota Coast. Our initial focus is Rancho Tajiguas Preserve and the long-term future of its watershed, wildlife habitats, working lands, and historic landscape.
Our current work centers on cultivating philanthropic partnerships, raising funds to retire the Preserve’s acquisition debt, and providing the financial support that sustains its operations and stewardship. Gaviota Coast Conservancy owns the property, while Gaviota Preserves is building the funding and institutional capacity needed to secure its long-term future.
The conservation outcomes we seek include healthier native habitats and watersheds, agricultural practices that improve soil health and ecological resilience, and preservation of the landscape’s historic and cultural resources.
Our long-term vision includes appropriately managed opportunities for education, research, and community engagement. These opportunities will be developed as resources, conservation needs, and management arrangements allow.
This work serves present and future generations by helping safeguard an intact coastal landscape and the ecological and cultural values it holds.
RANCHO TAJIGUAS PRESERVE
A living landscape in transition
Acquired by the Gaviota Coast Conservancy for conservation in 2024, Rancho Tajiguas Preserve encompasses 3,272 acres, including the entire Tajiguas Creek watershed, working orchards and ranchlands, exceptional wildlife habitat, and a historic Hacienda.
Once a private retreat and conventional agricultural property, the Preserve is entering a new chapter. Gaviota Preserves is building the philanthropic support and stewardship capacity needed to secure its future—restoring ecological health, advancing regenerative agriculture, caring for the historic landscape, and creating thoughtful opportunities for people to experience and learn from the land.
PARTICIPATE NOW
The Founding Stewardship Fund
Between now and December 31, Gaviota Preserves is seeking $250,000 to support Rancho Tajiguas Preserve through this pivotal period of stewardship and transition. These funds will help sustain ecological restoration, regenerative agriculture, care of the watershed and historic landscape, and the capacity required to manage the Preserve responsibly.
This is a defined immediate objective within a much larger effort to secure Rancho Tajiguas permanently. A gift today is a first act of participation—an opportunity to help cultivate the land, the institution, and the enduring community benefit this extraordinary place can provide.
$250,000
IMMEDIATE STEWARDSHIP GOAL
Through December 31, 2026
A defined first objective within the broader campaign to secure Rancho Tajiguas Preserve for generations to come.