Founded in 1998, the Ventana Wilderness Alliance (VWA) is a California nonprofit corporation with IRS 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. It is dedicated to protecting the wildlands of California's northern Santa Lucia mountain range. VWA is composed of people from all walks of life who share a love of Wilderness and a goal to ensure it remains wild in perpetuity.

I must confess, before I started my job 10 months ago, my impression of the Ventana Wilderness Alliance was of an org with a very strong track record for doing important work — but I also assumed it was a rather sleepy nonprofit. Boy, was I wrong! The VWA is a veritable beehive of activity, much more complex than I ever imagined, with many moving parts that were not evident to me before assuming my role.

I recently put pen to paper to try and make sense of how all those parts fit together as a whole: We work to ensure a thriving Ventana and Silver Peak Wilderness today, tomorrow, and forever, with robust and resilient forests and pristine watersheds protected and respected, benefiting both wildlife and people like you who value and appreciate the importance of accessible Wilderness for our children and their children.