Our Supporters Never Went Dormant

Though challenging, 2020 revealed the strength, fortitude, and powerful impact our nature-loving community has when we all band together to support a common goal. Our little nonprofit was able to adapt, and even thrive, in the worst of circumstances. Despite the odds, our work, with its positive impact on the environment, continued throughout the year. Albeit as a socially-distanced, remote, and virtual community, we met the challenges and truly learned the beauty of making lemonade out of lemons – or, to use a wilderness analogy, the thrill of making lemon tea out of bitter lemonadeberries.

Still, many of our programs shut down, causing delays in habitat restoration projects and postponements in volunteer activities, guided hikes, and school fieldtrips. Along with the rest of the world, we were left scrambling, re-thinking, and re-orienting to a new reality. Program services and grant-funded restoration projects were on hold, and so was the majority of our funding. There we were, staring down the double-barrel disaster that was 2020, picturing the losses and instability we were surely going to face.

That is, until our community, our friends, our fellow canyon lovers, and our partners showed up like never before. Within a matter of days after the first shutdown, we received an onslaught of supportive emails, calls, and letters from our volunteers, donors, and grant funders, all looking to help us weather the downturn and keep protecting and preserving the canyons and habitats we all love. This entire year was filled with unprecedented support and involvement from our community, and we couldn’t be more grateful.

 

Thanks to your support and donations, our 2020 accomplishments include:

  • Planting more than3,200 native plants
  • Spreading 350 pounds of seed
  • Removing Countless invasive species that threatened our open space
  • Clocking more than 2,600 volunteer hours (pre-COVID and safely during COVID)
  • Introducing more than 2,100 children to the wilderness trails (pre-COVID-19)