Thanks to the generous support of our communities, our number of volunteers and donors has exploded in size in recent years.
As our support increases, so is our scope. We recently announced the expansion of our geographic focus to cover the entire Diablo Range.
Group of mostly volunteer naturalists exploring the San Antonio Ecological Reserve in Santa Clara County. Photo by Scott Hein
Our acquisition focus will still be from Corral Hollow north to the Mount Diablo area, but we are now open to land gifts or conservation easements in the whole northern third of the range, with an accompanying expansion of our stewardship programs.
And our advocacy work now covers the entire Diablo Range.
Your support is ensuring that we will continue to protect, defend, and restore more land on Mount Diablo and its sustaining Diablo Range.
Volunteers Come Out in Full Force to Give Back to Nature
Diablo Restoration Team volunteers planting native plants at Save Mount Diablo’s Marsh Creek 7 property. Photo by Haley Sutton
Over the past three years, our volunteers have rapidly increased by hundreds of people!
We are thankful that our volunteer numbers have been growing the last few years; it’s a great endorsement of our work and direction.
Last year, youth from eight schools protected over 300 oak trees near Curry Creek and pulled 840 gallons of pepperweed to prepare for trail building. Together, they dedicated 390 hours to Save Mount Diablo.
Our property stewards contributed 260 hours in monitoring our lands. Our Moonlight on the Mountain volunteers gave 805 hours and Four Days Diablo volunteers, 700 hours to create one-of-a-kind events celebrating Mount Diablo.
Volunteers at our Balcerzak property after filling CASS container with scrap metal. So far, volunteers have helped remove more than 20,000 pounds of scrap metal on the Balcerzak inholding, removing barbed wire fences and greatly improving wildlife habitat in Mount Diablo State Park. Photo by Haley Sutton
One volunteer donated hundreds of hours to create a detailed and groundbreaking map of the Diablo Range. Another volunteer installed wildlife cameras on our properties and then retrieved thousands of photos from them.
Our workdays to remove scrap metal and other trash from the Balcerzak inholding we purchased last August have hosted nearly 100 volunteers alone.
In fiscal year 2021, we had 278 volunteers. In fiscal year 2022, we had 361 volunteers. In fiscal year 2023, we had 604 volunteers. Those 604 volunteers donated 5,075 hours of work to Save Mount Diablo in the 2023 fiscal year.
Our fiscal year 2024 has not yet ended, but we can already tell we will far exceed the 604 volunteers we had last fiscal year.
Our Active Donors Have More Than Doubled
Moonlight on the Mountain attendees. Photo by Alexander Broom
Since 2015, our active donors have increased from 2,250 to 5,150!
For an organization that is more than 50 years old, it is incredible that we have been able to more than double our active donors in less than a decade.
We’re incredibly grateful to all of the new donors who have begun supporting our work in recent years.
It shows us that our work matters enough that thousands of community members are actively supporting what we do.
New and Expanding Programs!
Discover Diablo: On Belay rock climbing event! Photo by Sean Burke
The increased support from our communities has enabled us to create and expand programs that have made a significant positive impact on Mount Diablo in recent years.
We recently hosted our fourth annual Pine Canyon Cleanup, during which more than 100 people contributed more than 400 hours of work in one weekend removing graffiti and invasive plants, and maintaining trails within Mount Diablo State Park.
This cleanup is one of our newer programs; this work is made possible because of the recently increased support from our communities.
A volunteer removes graffiti at Rock City during the our most recent Pine Canyon Cleanup. Photo by Mary Nagle
Save Mount Diablo’s education programs have also continued to expand. For example, our Discover Diablo program has grown to keep up with increasing demand and support. The program has expanded from 24 hikes and outings to 36.
The generous support of our volunteers and donors has made it possible for this program to expand the number and type of events offered.
We’ve recently added new free events such as rock climbing, bilingual hikes, and outdoor meditation excursions to our Discover Diablo roster.
Excursions like this help us connect with diverse groups of people and help them appreciate the nature that we’ve worked so hard to protect in new ways.
