Volcan Mountain Foundation

Acquisitions & Land Preservation: For over 35 years, VMF has been preserving land within the 15-mile long Volcan Mountain Range by facilitating strategic acquisitions, and since 2009 by directly acquiring and managing 1,096 acres of key conserved lands. Since 1989, more than 19,000 acres of land have been acquired by conservation agencies and organizations, bringing conserved land within the 52,000 acre range to roughly 42,000 acres. VMF actively monitors land ownership within the range for opportunities and raises funds for, and maintains, a substantial land acquisition fund so that it can move quickly to purchase high-value conservation property as it becomes available from willing sellers. Building and maintaining partnerships with public agencies and conservation organizations that can own, manage and fund conservation lands is an ongoing, instrumental part of VMF's preservation activities as we continue to work to see that all lands within the range are preserved.

Environmental Education & Community Outreach: VMF's Volcan Mountain Nature Center is an inspiring site to experience and learn about the importance of the forests and headwaters of San Diego County. Water from the Volcan Mountain Range feed four of the largest watersheds in San Diego County. For thousands of years, Native Americans have known the importance of Volcan Mountain; calling it Hahachepang--'where the waters come from'. Now school kids, families and adult life-long learners come to the Nature Center to discover and learn about what watersheds are and the importance of keeping them, and their headwaters healthy. Visitors make uplifting nature connections and experience history and culture in ancient conifer and oak forests. By offering motivating experiences and developing critical ecoliteracy VMF is cultivating the future generations of nature-loving conservation stewards that will protect Volcan Mountain and the world's environment.

Stewardship: Habitat Conservation, Monitoring & Natural Resource Management Although the Volcan Mountain Foundation only first became a land owner and manager in 2009, VMF has been partnering with San Diego County Parks & Recreation rangers and staff for over two decades on botanical and rare plant field surveys, habitat restoration projects, and building and maintaining trails. That experience is now brought to bear on the nearly 1,100 acres that VMF owns and manages on Volcan Mountain. VMF staff and volunteers have worked to restore forest health through coordinated conifer replanting efforts after devastating wildfires. We work to ensure ongoing oak forest and headwaters health in the face of invasive pests, like the gold-spotted oak borer, with a multigenerational oak replanting project, and through removal of invasive species, like bull thistle and the Chinese tree of heaven. VMF's volunteer Wildlife Imaging Team monitors and tracks wildlife presence on VMF and adjacent properties in partnership with Volcan Mountain neighbors, regional wildlife biologists, San Diego Natural History Museum and others. In 2023, VMF embarked on a three-year Volcan Mountain Nature Center Montane Forest Resilience Project, largely funded by a Wildlife Conservation Board $1.55m grant.