Friends Group · Santa Barbara, CA
Los Padres ForestWatch
Has led opposition to oil drilling in the Los Padres region for two decades and is fighting the plan to reopen 400,000 acres to leasing
Founded 2004
Stand · Find your defenders
Who’s defending Los Padres?
5 groups have it in their care
National forest in California, 1.75M acres, managed by the U.S. Forest Service, designated in 1936.
The defenders
The groups doing the most work here
5 groups are on the record for Los Padres, each tied to it by a source our editors read, in the order they carry the weight. The other one is likely to care: a guess from mission and footprint, with no source tying it to this fight. Give directly; nothing routes through us.
Leading the fight
On the ground
Legal · Tucson, AZ
Center for Biological Diversity
Plaintiff in the 2020 suit that halted new federal oil leasing across the Los Padres region
242 staff + 19 volunteers88¢ to the workFounded 1989
Advocacy · Oakland, CA
Sierra Club
Plaintiff in the litigation that stopped new oil leasing on the Central Coast acreage now targeted again by BLM
10,895 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1892
Also in the fight
Legal · San Francisco, CA
Earthjustice
Filed the 2020 suit for ForestWatch and allied groups that blocked new federal oil leasing in the region
698 staff + 33 volunteers81¢ to the workFounded 1971
Advocacy · Washington, DC
Friends of the Earth
Joined the coalition suit that halted new oil and gas leasing across the Los Padres region
101 staff + 1,000 volunteers84¢ to the workFounded 1969
Likely to care: a guess from mission and footprint, no source ties them to this fight
Friends Group · Santa Cruz, CA
Ventana Wilderness Alliance
Los Padres is written into their mission
11 staff + 40 volunteers65¢ to the workFounded 1998
17 more work nearby but are not tied to Los Padres on the record
On the ground in California
California Wilderness CoalitionThey work only in CaliforniaGrassrootsKlamath Forest AllianceCalifornia is one of the 2 states they work inFriends GroupSierra Forest LegacyThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupRecreational Boaters of CaliforniaThey work only in CaliforniaRecreationSave the Redwoods LeagueThey work only in CaliforniaLand TrustChannel Islands Park FoundationThey work only in CaliforniaFriends Group
More ways in
Lassen AssociationThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupPacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's AssociationsThey work only in CaliforniaCoalitionPoint Reyes National Seashore AssociationThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupPacific Crest Trail AssociationCalifornia is one of the 3 states they work inTrailsTahoe Rim Trail AssociationCalifornia is one of the 2 states they work inTrailsFriends of the Desert MountainsThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupFriends of the InyoThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupGolden Gate National Parks ConservancyThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupRedwood Parks ConservancyThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupSequoia Parks ConservancyThey work only in CaliforniaFriends GroupWestern National Parks AssociationWorking this regionFriends Group
The situation
What’s happening to Los Padres
The wild backbone of California’s Central Coast, home to condors, steelhead, and some of the most biodiverse chaparral on Earth. The Forest Service is proposing the largest vegetation removal project in the forest’s history: 90,700 acres of logging and clearing across six counties, cutting through critical habitat for nine federally listed species. Meanwhile, BLM is advancing a plan to open 850,000 acres of the surrounding region to oil drilling and fracking. And a secretarial memo just opened 80 percent of the forest to expedited commercial logging with weakened environmental review. Three threats converging on one forest.
- 1936Los Padres National Forest established
- 2025BLM advances 850,000-acre oil and gas leasing planLos Padres ForestWatch · December 1, 2025
Emergency logging memo opens 80% of forest
Source: Santa Barbara Independent · April 9, 2025
90,700-acre Wildfire Risk Reduction Project
Source: Los Padres ForestWatch
No public comment window is open on Los Padres right now. A call script is ready on the Public Lands Action Network, and the groups above are how the fight gets funded and argued in the meantime.
In the courts
The cases over this place
The dockets we track that name Los Padres directly. Active first.
Your move
How to stand for Los Padres
GiveGive to Los Padres ForestWatch
Straight to their own donation page. Your dollar never passes through us.
Their donation page ↗SpeakCall your representativesA ready call script on Los Padres, plus any comment window as it opens.
Public Lands Action NetworkFollowWatch the mapEvery threatened place in the country, tracked, with who stands for each.
Threatened Lands MapBuild my lineup around Los Padres: the leading group here opens it, and the other seats fill from this record.
Los Padres has defenders. It needs more.
5 groups on the record, 1 more likely to care. That is who is holding it. Find your way in.