Nature gives us hope and sustains us through the hardest of times.
On days when the news makes the world feel bleak, our local wild lands can be a powerful refuge.
Imagine a not-so-distant future when an expanded Mount Diablo State Park is connected to the rest of a more substantially protected Diablo Range.
Wildlife moves safely up and down the more-than-200-mile range through protected habitat corridors and interconnected parks. A child visiting Mount Diablo for the first time looks up in awe as California condors glide overhead and watches herds of tule elk grazing on distant hills.
It is a natural wonderland that has existed for millennia, but one that now thrives and endures because we cared enough to protect it.
Conserving these lands enriches our lives and safeguards the ecosystems that sustain countless species and the ecological processes vital to our own long-term well-being.
We are living in a pivotal moment when our choices will shape the future of these lands. It is an extraordinary time to work together to protect Mount Diablo and the broader Diablo Range that it is part of.
Thanks to your support, this vision is already becoming reality, and we have exciting news to share.
Earlier this year, you helped break a decades-long logjam. After going unchanged for nearly 20 years, Mount Diablo State Park is about to officially expand!
A new state law (SB 630), which we helped pass, removed long-standing barriers to acquiring land adjacent to existing state parks.
This is a huge breakthrough, and California State Parks has wasted no time making its first acquisitions. This spring, we will be celebrating the long-awaited addition of the 101-acre CEMEX property to Mount Diablo State Park—a true victory.
This breathtaking property borders Mitchell Canyon, one of Mount Diablo’s renowned birding hotspots, and includes a section of the popular Black Point Trail.
Once this special place is permanently protected, we will all be able to visit and enjoy this new treasure within the state park for generations to come.
Black Point
But that’s not all!
More progress is on the way. Several biologically rich and critically important properties are already in the queue for transfer to Mount Diablo State Park.
On the mountain’s southeastern side lies Curry Canyon Ranch, a highly biodiverse landscape protected by Save Mount Diablo since 2013.
Thanks to a recent $2.15 million grant from the California Wildlife Conservation Board and other government partners, a 160-acre portion of the ranch will be conveyed to the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy for eventual transfer to Mount Diablo State Park.
The conservancy will also receive a perpetual conservation easement on another 155 acres of the ranch.
Curry Canyon Ranch
We will have more good news to share as we move forward, but please remember—conservation victories like these require perseverance and teamwork—something only made possible because of the sustained investment of supporters like you who give so generously of their time, wisdom, and resources.
Mount Diablo is not an island—it is part of something much larger!
If this ecological and cultural treasure is to thrive, we must protect the entire Diablo Range.
Spanning more than 4 million acres and over five times the size of Yosemite National Park, the range is a rare refuge for California’s biodiversity and a vital wildlife corridor. Yet only about 27 percent of it is currently protected.
With your help, we are working to make the Diablo Range California’s next great conservation story.
Last fall, Save Mount Diablo and its partners helped pass a Diablo Range Resolution in the California State Assembly recognizing the range as a statewide conservation priority.
In the coming months, it goes before the California State Senate, where we expect broad support.
We also co-hosted the first-ever Diablo Range Convening last June, bringing together 150 stakeholders from across the region.
This growing coalition includes local tribal representatives, landowners, land trusts, ranchers, recreationists, local politicians, state and federal agency representatives, scientists, lobbyists, writers, photographers, and more . . . all with a shared goal of protecting the Diablo Range.
In a few weeks we will gather again for the second Diablo Range Convening to expand our capacity and advance conservation strategies across the range.
Why do we care about the Diablo Range so much?
It is a spectacular biodiversity refuge and home to endangered species such as the San Joaquin kit fox and California condor—species that once lived in the Mount Diablo area but largely disappeared because of habitat fragmentation and other impacts.
The range offers a foundation for their future recovery.
Hidden in plain sight in the backyard of nearly 10 million people, the Diablo Range contains vast landscapes like the Panoche region and Del Puerto Canyon, places with remarkable wildlife habitat now threatened by housing expansion, water storage projects, and energy development.
Del Puerto Canyon
Since expanding our work across the range, we have been actively addressing these threats.
Recent victories include helping stop the Pacheco dam and reservoir expansion to protect a critical wildlife corridor and defending the last remaining open space between Dublin and Livermore from warehouse development.
We need your support to continue winning.
Del Puerto Canyon, for example, is a remarkable biodiversity hotspot and home to an astonishing number of rare plants and animal species. Yet it is now the focus of a proposed dam and reservoir project that could permanently damage the canyon.
Projects like these underscore why we are working so hard to expand our efforts to protect the Diablo Range in concert with our growing coalition of partners, which includes you. It is a critical but exciting time for all of us.
Panoche Valley
Now, let’s return to that vision of the future.
Imagine that it’s spring and you’re out exploring one of the newly protected areas in the Diablo Range. The hills have undergone a transformation, awash in the deep rich greens of new grass and blanketed in a rainbow of blooming wildflowers.
Bright orange California poppies bloom alongside vibrant purple lupines, red larkspurs, and multi-colored mariposa lilies—just a few among the hundreds of species that may appear in a single season. It is a truly unforgettable experience.
Now imagine knowing that this extraordinary landscape is part of a larger story—one in which the natural majesty of the Diablo Range is known, cherished, and protected for generations to come. You are an important part of that story.
We invite you to become a champion of the Diablo Range and find your place in the unfolding story.
Make a gift today. Join an outing. Volunteer in the field. Tell a friend and share your love of this special place.
You help make Save Mount Diablo strong and successful.
Together we are a community of committed, resourceful, and passionate people who believe in creating a legacy of protection for the Diablo Range that will endure long into the future.
Thank you for joining us. Together we can accomplish amazing things in the Diablo Range.
Photos by Scott Hein, Emily Sherwood, Cooper Ogden, and Haley Sutton
