Ventana Wildlife Society's mission is to conserve native wildlife and their habitats through science, education, and collaboration.
Give a gift that soars! California condors once vanished from the wild—but thanks to nearly 30 years of recovery efforts by Ventana Wildlife Society, over 100 now fly free in central California.
In 2024, we reached a milestone: more chicks were born than condors lost, with nine wild fledglings—the most ever in a single year. Yet this progress is fragile. Lead poisoning from spent ammunition remains the leading cause of death, and it is completely preventable.
Our proven Recovery Actions—Non-Lead Outreach, Nest Monitoring, Captive Releases, Medical Treatment, and GPS Tracking—must continue to keep this progress alive. But we face a critical funding gap: federal support ends this December.
Your year-end gift will help raise $635,000 needed to sustain these efforts. If existing donors give just 25% more and we welcome 150 new supporters, we can meet this goal.
Please join us to keep condors flying free.
Ventana Wildlife Society benefits all of Monterey County through both wildlife conservation and community programs. Our work to recover the California condor—an indicator species—supports the health of local ecosystems, benefiting wildlands, ranchlands, and all people who rely on them.
Beyond wildlife, we directly engage people—especially youth. Our Outdoor Education and Wellness Through Nature programs have served over 14,000 youth to date, with more than 1,700 participating annually. We focus on equitable access, offering free nature-based experiences to historically marginalized communities throughout Monterey County, including East Salinas, the Salinas Valley, and North County. These programs foster environmental awareness, personal growth, and community well-being.
By protecting wildlife and connecting people to nature, we create lasting benefits for the entire region.
By the end of this year, the federal funding that has supported our work will expire—it won’t be renewed. So, we’ve launched the Save the Condors Fund to sustain what matters most: the Recovery Actions we know make a difference. There is no other nonprofit in California positioned to do this work. Ventana Wildlife Society leads non-lead outreach, monitors nests to improve hatching success, and releases captive-bred condors to the wild every year. These efforts are essential to reaching a self-sustaining population. We’re making real progress, but lead poisoning remains a major threat, and we cannot afford to go backward. Every constituent we reach with free non-lead outreach, every nest we monitor, every bird we release—it all matters. Without this work, the consequences could be devastating. If our existing donors give just 25% more and we secure 150 new donors, together, we keep condors flying free.
- Kelly Sorenson, Monterey
