Community-centered conservation is central to our mission. Through open dialogue, collaboration, and equitable decision-making with our surrounding communities and Tribal partners, we ensure that MDLT’s conservation efforts respect cultural knowledge, reflect shared values, and address local priorities. We strive to build trusted partnerships that help us protect the California desert and all the native flora and fauna who call this place home.
Examples of activities we carry out in community conservation programs are:
Offering programs to Indigenous communities such as traditional gathering access and protection of cultural heritage sites.
Working with local communities to monitor habitat and wildlife health.
Establishing community-based conservation areas and programs.
Education and outreach about environmental and policy issues.
Sharing local ecological knowledge about plants and animals.
Conservation is a community effort.
In Caliente Creek, mountain ranges merge with the desert floor as rolling hills of blue oak (Quercus douglasii) and gray pine (Pinus sabiniana) share soil with desert sagebrush scrub. MDLT acquired these 1,440 acres of ecological transition zone in 2022 in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land. Since then, working directly with on-the-ground land stewards, MDLT developed a land management plan that goes beyond the traditional models of stewardship. With the help of local volunteers, MDLT has initiated a plan that incorporates community input and participation. Community members themselves are the stewards of the land at the Caliente Creek Preserve.
The Mojave Desert Land Trust acknowledges that the land where our headquarters is located is the ancestral and unceded territory of the Maara’yam, commonly referred to as the Serrano people. We honor their presence and recognize their contributions since time immemorial as the first stewards of this land. We also acknowledge that the Cahuilla and Chemehuevi peoples, as well as European settlers, intersected in these spaces. Our histories and stories are intertwined in this space, and by sharing them in culturally appropriate ways, we hope to honor and celebrate our Indigenous neighbors and partners.
We also acknowledge that the land that we help to preserve is the ancestral land of many tribal communities. We recognize that Native Americans continue to practice traditional lifeways on their sacred ancestral lands throughout the California desert. We would like to acknowledge all the Indigenous peoples who have preceded us in preserving the natural, scenic, and cultural resources of these lands.