Arroyo Conejo Nature Preserve

Arroyo Conejo Nature Preserve (sometimes shortened to the Arroyo Nature Preserve) is a nature preserve located within the Arroyo Conejo Open Space in northernmost Newbury Park, California. The preserve is often locally referred to as La Branca or the Barranca (Spanish for “the canyon”), and is nicknamed the Grand Canyon of the Conejo Valley. Its stated purpose is “the preservation of the scenic areas, natural habitats, wildlife, archaeological and paleontological sites of the Conejo Valley and surroundings, specifically including the Arroyo Conejo”. It contains 250 acres of land and has been administrated and owned by the Conejo Open Space Conservation Agency (COSCA) since its incorporation in July 1977. La Branca is a narrow ravine or gorge that runs three miles from northern Newbury Park by the Rancho Conejo Playfields and to the sewage treatment plant in Hill Canyon in the Arroyo Conejo Open Space. It contains cliffs on either side as tall as 300 feet in certain places. The preserve is home to large variety of plant- and animal species, including for instance southwestern pond turtles, mountain lions, bobcats, black bears, deer, coyotes, and avifauna such as quails, golden eagles, hawks, owls, and numerous others. It abuts Wildwood Regional Park in Thousand Oaks, CA, as well as Hill Canyon and remaining parts of the Arroyo Conejo Open Space. It contains a perennial stream in the south fork of the Arroyo Conejo, riparian vegetation, steep-sided canyons, oak woodlands, as well as wetlands and creek-beds.

The nature preserve was highlighted in the Conservation Element of the General Plan in 1972 and later identified in the City’s Conejo Canyons Study of 1976 as an area with particularly sensitive and important resources. The president of the Conejo Valley Audubon Society met with representatives from The Nature Conservancy in 1974. One visitor during these meetings mentioned how incredible it was to “find such a primordial setting within the city limits of a Los Angeles bedroom community.” On July 1 of 1976, the Thousand Oaks-based News-Chronicle reported the formation of a Small Wilderness Area Preserves chapter to protect donated Canyon lands. Arroyo Conejo Nature Preserve was incorporated and organized in lieu of the Small Wilderness Group in July 1977. The largest manmade wetland in Ventura County, the Hill Canyon's Wetlands, makes up approximately fifteen acres of the Arroyo Conejo Nature Preserve. Natures Image has helped create this area by removal of non-endemic plant species, as well as the planting of 1,600 native trees, 7,000 emergent marsh plants, 6,000 low herbaceous wetland plants, and 1,200 riparian scrub plants. The area is home to the endemic Southwestern Pond Turtle, as well as large numbers of mallards, coots, herons, and numerous other species of freshwater fish and birds.