U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Awards RCA Nearly $9 Million
Western Riverside County’s 146 MSHCP-protected native and animal species have a reason to celebrate thanks to a $8.9 million federal grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The RCA was awarded the competitive grant funds to help boost land acquisition efforts...
Digital Mapping Technology Helps RCA Visualize Land Conservation Efforts
Implementing one of the largest conservation plans in the nation is no easy feat. As the agency overseeing the implementation of the MSHCP, the RCA bears many responsibilities to ensure the assembly of a 500,000-acre reserve. From land acquisition and management to...
California Wildlife Conservation Board Approves Funding 20 Acres for MSHCP Reserve
The MSHCP Conservation Area will continue to grow thanks to a recently approved state grant by the California Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB). On August 24, the WCB approved RCA’s funding request to acquire a critical parcel of land for the MSHCP reserve. The Barth...
Species Spotlight: The Bald Eagle, More Than a Symbol
For most of the 20th century, the bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) lived under a perpetual threat of extinction. Habitat destruction, illegal shooting, and insecticides had decimated the bald eagle population in the 1900s. In 1940, the United States enacted The...
The Rare Munz’s Mariposa Lily Gets the Spotlight
It is hard to share the spotlight with a close relative, but this month we are giving all our attention to the unique and rare Munz’s mariposa lily (Calochortus palmeri var. munzii), a close relative of Palmer’s mariposa lily. Named after Philip Munz, a local botanist...
The Lands That Form the MSHCP
In the two decades since the RCA was created to implement one of the nation’s largest and most ambitious conservation plans – the Western Riverside County Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan (MSHCP) – nearly 84% of the 500,000-acre reserve system has been...