By Melissa Baffa
Executive Director, Ventura Land Trust
A remarkable new chapter begins along the Ventura River.
The Ventura Land Trust acquired Crooked Palm Preserve, a 101.5-acre property that represents both an extraordinary conservation opportunity and a significant restoration challenge.
For more than a century, this land was privately owned and used for farming and industry, including an agricultural fertilizer plant, an oil refinery, and an above-ground storage tank farm.
Following several waves of remediation beginning in the late 1980s, the property is now under the care of Ventura Land Trust, which is working toward a long-term vision to transform this heavily impacted landscape into an ecologically rich nature preserve.
Despite its industrial past, Crooked Palm is already home to important natural resources. The preserve protects nearly a mile of the Ventura River, including its confluence with Cañada Larga Creek, one of the largest tributaries in the Ventura River watershed.
Mature riparian woodland, perennial surface water, riparian scrub, coastal sage scrub, and riverine habitats provide habitat for a diversity of wildlife, including the southwestern pond turtle, two-striped garter snake, and federally endangered least Bell’s vireo.
At the same time, restoring Crooked Palm will take time. The property contains deteriorating industrial buildings and infrastructure, extensive stands of invasive plants such as arundo and castor bean, and other challenges associated with its history. Ventura Land Trust estimates that transforming the property into a thriving natural area could take approximately a decade.
The first steps are already underway. VLT is seeking funding for ecological surveys that will establish a biological baseline and help us better understand and protect the preserve’s natural resources. A comprehensive strategic plan will then guide restoration and long-term stewardship.
Perhaps most importantly, Crooked Palm offers an opportunity to imagine what this land can become together. After generations of limited public access to this stretch of the Ventura River, Ventura Land Trust is beginning a community listening and visioning process to help shape the preserve’s future.
Comment on the future of Crooked Palm
What should a future Crooked Palm Preserve provide for the community? What do you value about this place, and what would you like to see here someday? Your ideas will help inform you about the next chapter of this extraordinary property.
Help shape the future of Crooked Palm Preserve by attending the Community Listening Day on Saturday, October 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., to learn more, to RSVP for the Community Listening Day, or to complete the Crooked Palm Community Listening Form here: https://venturalandtrust.org/crookedpalm