The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is the largest conservancy in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, and the largest state

conservation Conservation is the preservation or efficient use of resources, or the conservation of various quantities under physical laws. Conservation may also refer to: Environment and natural resources * Nature conservation, the protection and manage ...

effort of its kind in the nation. The California state agency is one of ten state conservancies within the California Natural Resources Agency. The conservancy awards grants to government entities, non-profit organizations, and tribal organizations for economic, recreation, and resource preservation in the greater

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

region. In addition, it offers educational

symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...

s. The Sierra Nevada Conservancy was established by Assembly Bill 2600 in 2004, effective January 1, 2005, and was supported by the Sierra Nevada Alliance. Its creation was spearheaded by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and co-sponsored by Assemblymembers

Tim Leslie Robert Timothy Leslie (born February 4, 1942) is an American politician from California and a member of the Republican Party in United States. Early life and education Born in Ashland, Oregon, Leslie moved to California with his family as a tw ...

and

John Laird John Laird may refer to: * John Laird (American politician) (born 1950), California State Senator * John Laird (footballer) (1935–2016) Australian rules footballer * John Laird (philosopher) (1887–1946), Scottish philosopher * John Laird (sh ...

. In 2006, voters passed

Proposition 84 The California state elections, 2006 took place on November 7, 2006. Necessary primary elections were held on June 6. Among the elections that took place were all the seats of the California's State Assembly, 20 seats of the State Senate, seve ...

, with some of the funding appropriated to the Sierra Nevada Conservancy for safe water supply and quality, flood control, park improvements and natural resource protection. Later voter initiatives, Proposition 1 and Proposition 68, provided additional funding for various conservation efforts. The conservancy's jurisdiction originally covered approximately in the counties of

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

, Amador,

Butte In geomorphology, a butte ( ) is an isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; buttes are smaller landforms than mesas, plateaus, and table (landform), tablelands. The word ''butte'' comes from the French l ...

, Calaveras,

El Dorado El Dorado () is a mythical city of gold supposedly located somewhere in South America. The king of this city was said to be so rich that he would cover himself from head to foot in gold dust – either daily or on certain ceremonial occasions � ...

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, Inyo,

Kern Kern or KERN may refer to: People * Kern (surname), includes a list of people with the name * Kern (soldier), a light infantry unit in Medieval Irish armies Places * Kern, Alaska, a ghost town in Alaska * Kern, Austria, see Sankt Marienkir ...

Lassen Lassen is a Danish language, Danish and Norwegian language, Norwegian patronymic surname meaning "son of Lars" (equivalent of Laurentius), and thus a parallel form of the more common surname Larsen. Notable people with the surname include: * Ander ...

, Madera, Mariposa,

Modoc Modoc may refer to: Ethnic groups *Modoc people, a Native American/First Nations people ** Modoc language ** Modoc Nation, a federally recognized tribe of Modoc * Modoc War, the last armed resistance of the Modoc people in 1873 *The "Modocs", ri ...

Mono Mono may refer to: Biology * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monocyte, a type of leukocyte (white blood cell) * Monodactylidae, members of which are referred to as monos Technology and computing * Mono (audio), single-c ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Tehama, Tulare, Tuolumne, and Yuba. Including 3500 plant species, and 720 animal species, it supports half of California's plants, half of the state's reptile and amphibian species, and two-thirds of the state's bird and mammal species. SB 208, chaptered in 2021, expanded the geographical territory within the conservancy's service area to approximately 27,000,000 acres. As of January 1, 2022, the service area is composed of the mountains and foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, the Mono Basin, Owens Valley, the Modoc Plateau, and parts of the southern Cascade mountain range and the Klamath Mountains. The conservancy has offices in Auburn,

Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

, Mariposa, and Susanville. It is governed by a 13-member board, and there are three non-voting liaison advisers. In November 2005, Jim Branham was appointed as the organisation's first Executive Officer.

References