Find us this Saturday along the Central Coast as we celebrate at Earth Day in SLO, Santa Ynez, and Ventura! 🌎
Learn about issues that are impacting our public lands, discover how you can help protect our region's wildlife, and explore the wild wonders that make Los Padres so special.
Tweet tweet. 🐦 You're invited to join us for a guided birding experience in San Luis Obispo, where migratory routes and diverse habitats come together in one of the country’s premier birding locations.
🦆 Register: forestwatch.org/event/guided-birding-walk
Part of our Forest Academy series.
Building fire-resilient homes is the future. 🔥 If you’re an architect, designer, contractor, or builder, these upcoming certification courses focus on smarter materials and design choices to better protect communities from wildfire.
🔥 Learn more and register at sbfiresafecouncil.org/events
More roads = more wildfires. Nearly 2/3 of human-caused fires start along roads, and roadside grasses ignite up to 6x more easily.
The Roadless Rule helps prevent new roads—and protects water, wildlife, and forests.
A critical comment period is coming. Stay ready.
This Wednesday, April 8, the Planning Commission will consider banning new oil drilling in Santa Barbara County.
This step protects our air, water, health, and climate—but only if the community shows up.
📣 Speak out in support
📍 Betteravia Gov Center, Santa Maria
⏰ 9 AM
Supporting public lands never tasted this good. 🤤 This April, Bettina has selected ForestWatch as their nonprofit partner, donating $1 from every charity pizza—a delicious Sugar Snap Pea pie—to support our work protecting Central California’s public lands!
🤌🏽 Buon appetito!
The admin’s desperate quest to drill next to homes, schools and open spaces knows no bounds, but today justice prevailed. 🌿A court upheld CA’s 3,200-ft buffer law while also protecting areas in and around Los Padres National Forest.
👉 Read more: https://ow.ly/j57g50YByJY
Mark your calendars for The Wilderness Table on Sunday, June 7! 🍽️ Join us at Larner Vineyard to enjoy an exquisite meal, savor local wines, and connect with others who share a passion for protecting our wild places.
🌿 More details coming soon!
Pick your own Ojai Pixies for a good cause! 🍊 Join us for a sweet day at a family-owned orchard—fill a bag for $20 and take home what you pick (bags provided).
🍋 Lemonade, 🌿 time outdoors, 💛 family fun
No registration—just show up and enjoy!
Skip the airport (and TSA lines)—your next adventure starts here! 🍇 Grab a Wine for Wilderness passport for $75 and enjoy tastings at 24 Central Coast wineries, each paired with a nearby hike.
🍷 Valid all of 2026. 100% supports protecting local wild lands.
👉 forestwatch.org/passport
Get a front row seat to the wild at our first-ever Raptor Experience on May 17! 🦅 Join us in Upper Ojai for live falconry, up-close encounters with a Harris’ Hawk, and a chance to fly a bird. 🌿 Lunch included. Limited spots.
👉 Reserve: forestwatch.org/event/raptor-experience
Rattlesnake season is here! 🐍 With warmer weather bringing more people to trails and watering holes, stay alert and know what to do in the rare but dangerous event of a bite.
Often misunderstood, rattlesnakes rarely strike unprovoked.
📷: Ronald Williams
Coyotes thrive from wilderness to urban parks—mates for life, raising pups together. 🐺 Once heavily hunted on the Central Coast, they endured and still thrive today without protections in CA.
🌿 Learn more + join our webinar April 7: https://ow.ly/b3vu50YxJuS
On this day in 1968, the San Rafael Wilderness was protected. 🌲 A citizen-led effort to preserve lands “beyond civilization” helped safeguard nearly 200,000 acres. Public input mattered then—and it still does today.
🌿 Read more: https://ow.ly/ngpi50Yx608
📷: Bryant Baker
What happens next matters. A final decision is expected this summer.
🔗 Learn more and explore the areas at risk at forestwatch.org/stop-oil
The proposal relies on an environmental analysis that is nearly 15 years old and completely disregards impacts to public health, wildlife, critical water sources, rec lands, and California state law.
A federal plan to expand oil drilling across the Central Coast is moving forward, despite widespread opposition from communities, organizations, and state leaders.
Spring is here! 🌼 Snow has melted, wildflowers are bursting into vibrant blooms, and new opportunities are emerging to explore and protect the places we love.
👉 Sign up today and be the first to learn about upcoming events and volunteer opportunities: forestwatch.org/enews
📷: Chuck Graham
Every year, Outdoor Connections heads to Mount Pinos—but this trip was extra special. ❄️ Snowball fights, snow angels, and giant snowballs filled the day as families from Oxnard experienced snow for the first time. A day of wonder, laughter, and connection. 🌲
❄️ Read more: https://ow.ly/frQv50YvAoq
Coyotes play a vital role in healthy ecosystems—but they’re often misunderstood. 🐺
Join us for a free webinar with @projectcoyote.bsky.social to learn practical tips for living alongside coyotes and why they matter to our landscapes.
👉 Register: https://ow.ly/4SXZ50YpPTM
📷 Karin Saucedo
From rare coastal blues to migrating monarchs, Los Padres is home to some seriously special butterflies. 🦋 Meet the endangered Smith’s blue, San Emigdio blue, the iconic monarch, and California’s state insect, the California dogface. Protecting native plants and habitat helps them thrive. 🌿
Public lands are under threat. 🚨 Steve Pearce—a long-time opponent of public lands protections and oil & gas ally—has been nominated to lead the Bureau of Land Management. The Senate will vote soon.
📣 Tell your Senators to reject his nomination: conservationlands.org/oppose-pearce-nomination
Bold women have helped shape the conservation movement—from pioneering scientists to trailblazing hikers and public lands leaders. 🌿
This Women’s History Month, we’re celebrating a few who paved the way.
📚 Find their books at our store:
store.forestwatch.org/collections/women-the-outdoors
Old-growth forests aren’t defined by age alone—they’re ecosystems shaped by time. 🌲 In Los Padres, only about 18–19k acres of old growth remain out of 1.75 million. Once lost, they can’t be replaced—protecting them protects the forest’s future.
📷: Bryant Baker
This weekend we hiked with @cfrog.vc and community members to highlight a federal proposal that could open 850,000 acres to oil and gas drilling—including lands near schools, parks, and Ventura’s beloved Harmon Canyon.
👉 Comment by March 13: forestwatch.org/stop-oil
The BLM is about to hand over nearly 400,000 acres across the Central Coast and Southern California to oil drilling and fracking—near parks, schools, and communities.
📣 Submit a public comment before March 13.
👉 forestwatch.org/stop-oil
The BLM is about to hand over nearly 400,000 acres across the Central Coast and Southern California to oil drilling and fracking—near parks, schools, and communities.
📣 Submit a public comment before March 13.
👉 forestwatch.org/stop-oil
134 years ago, the foundation for protecting Los Padres began. 🌲In 1898, President McKinley established the Pine Mountain and Zaca Lake Forest Reserve—later becoming Los Padres National Forest.
👉 forestwatch.org/learn-explore/history
📷: Bryant Baker
Thank you, Congresswoman Julia Brownley for earning a 100% on the 2025 LCV – League of Conservation Voters 🌎 National Environmental Scorecard. She was also the only rep whose district includes Los Padres National Forest to vote NO on FOFA. Grateful for her leadership protecting our public lands. 🌿
Join us for an education + advocacy hike to learn what’s at stake as a federal proposal could open up 850,000 acres of Central California to oil and gas drilling and fracking—including lands near schools, parks, and Ventura’s beloved Harmon Canyon.
RSVP: https://ow.ly/5qAs50Ynlhk
