OVLC was founded in 1987 to provide an alternative to landowners who were being approached by real estate developers. Thanks to that early advocacy, those threats were largely turned away and OVLC began playing a proactive role in preserving the Ojai Valley’s special places.
Today, OVLC has protected nearly a third of the Ventura River and manages about 2,600 acres of open space—providing habitat for animals like mule deer, mountain lion, and our totem species the California quail. This is an area roughly equivalent in size to 2/3 of the City of Ojai. Within this geography, 2,000 acres are open for free public access, 5 times the open space managed in the valley by the City of Ojai and the County of Ventura combined. This underscores the outsized role that OVLC plays in creating and maintaining open space for the public to enjoy.
OVLC maintains 27 miles of trail, guides hundreds of visitors, and hosts tens of thousands of schoolchildren, hikers, equestrians, bikers, and more each year.
Today, new threats from a changing climate threaten the ecology, livability, and character of the Ojai Valley. As the leading conservation organization in the valley, OVLC is turning to nature-based solutions to respond to these threats.
