Conservation Program
Stanford Conservation Program
A part of Stanford University's Land, Buildings, and Real Estate
Our team’s mission is to protect and bolster biodiversity in and around Stanford in order to inspire value for local stewardship in our community for this and future generations. To achieve that mission, we guide the University in meeting its goals and requirements to conserve biodiversity, steward protected species and the lands they occupy, we encourage learning about the natural world around us.
Stanford University land is located on the southeastern flank of the San Francisco Peninsula, at the base of the Santa Cruz Mountains, and is part of two watersheds that empty into the San Francisco Bay – the San Francisquito Creek and Matadero Creek watersheds. Although it is surrounded by suburban development and houses a thriving academic community, Stanford lands also support high levels of native biodiversity including multiple species of conservation concern and the ecosystems upon which they rely.
We recognize that Stanford sits on the ancestral land of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe. This land was and continues to be of great importance to the Ohlone people. Consistent with our values of community and inclusion, we have a responsibility to acknowledge, honor and make visible the university’s relationship to Native peoples.
— Stanford Land Acknowledgement
Volunteer With Us!
We rely on volunteers to help with invasive plant management, native plantings, and educational outreach. Click here to learn more about our seasonal volunteering activities and how to join our volunteer list.
Lands We Steward: Lagunita and Stanford's Tiger Salamander Conservation Easement
Explore the life cycle of California Tiger Salamanders on Stanford campus and how we work in a suburban environment to conserve this threatened species. In this tour you can access areas like Lake Lagunita and the Dish through a series of photospheres—360° immersive photographs—and listen to our team members discuss their work at each location.
Site news
Read featured news items written by members of our program.
Join us for a BioBlitz at Lagunita on 4/18/2026!
Are you curious about what lives in Lagunita? Have you wanted to become more familiar with the abundance of life just in our backyard here on campus? Want celebrate Earth Week with some exploration of the Lagunita basin? Want to learn about more about the Conservation Program's or SEEDS' (Strategies for Ecology Education, Diversity, and Sustainability) work?
If you answered yes to any of the above, we invite you to participate in A BioBlitz at Lagunita on Saturday, April 18th hosted by the Stanford Conservation Program and Stanford’s chapter of SEEDS!
A BioBlitz is a short period of biological surveying in a particular area, in which our volunteers will descend into the Lagunita basin and record as many species as we can! We’ll look through binoculars, under logs, and dip net in the water to see what plants, animals, and invertebrates we can find and identify to the species level. Join us for a morning of exploration in observance of Earth Week!
This event will take place from 9am to 12pm on Saturday, April 18th, and we will meet at the Lagunita BBQ pit. Come with your friends, wear sturdy shoes, bring water, and let's explore Lagunita!
Please reach out to John Lowndes (kisaq@stanford.edu) with any questions.