Santa Monica Mountains Fund

Santa Monica Mountains Fund, a tax-exempt nonprofit based in Westlake Village, California, delivers environmental education, trail maintenance, habitat restoration, and cultural resource stewardship services to the National Park Service as a federal grant recipient. The organization operates exclusively as a prime grant recipient (98% of recent awards); it has no federal contract footprint and carries one sub-award under a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant.

The organization's entire customer base is the Department of the Interior, concentrated in National Park Service programs at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. The Pacific West Region accounts for 35 awards, the National Office for 10 awards, and the broader NPS for 11 awards, totaling 56 of 57 recent prime awards. Funding flows through cooperative agreements under five primary NPS grant programs: the Youth and Veteran Organizations Conservation Activities program (CFDA 15.931), the Natural Resource Stewardship program (CFDA 15.944), the Conservation, Protection, Outreach, and Education program (CFDA 15.954), and the Cultural Resources Management program (CFDA 15.946). Representative recent work includes a $1.043 million cooperative agreement for post-fire invasive plant control and ecological restoration (awarded January 2, 2025, completion September 30, 2026 under CFDA 15.944); a $361,952 cooperative agreement providing 11 paid youth internships for trail maintenance and habitat restoration (awarded August 19, 2025, completion December 31, 2027 under CFDA 15.931); a $180,000 cooperative agreement for trail maintenance and restoration with emphasis on wildfire risk reduction (awarded February 2, 2026, completion February 1, 2027 under CFDA 15.931); and a $165,000 cooperative agreement for trails crew equipment operator services and trail work (awarded February 6, 2026, completion February 15, 2028 under CFDA 15.954).

Activity has remained modest, ranging from 3 to 8 awards annually across the last five years, with 8 awards in 2025 and 2 through early 2026. Combined dollars obligated across all awards total $12.5 million. Eleven awards carrying ultimate completion dates in the next twenty-four months face recompete exposure. The organization's sub-award footprint is minimal: one sub-award under the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation addressing monarch habitat enhancement at the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.

Santa Monica Mountains Fund's capability portfolio centers on direct park stewardship: youth employment and internship programs for conservation corps and trail crews; invasive plant surveys, control, and habitat restoration across multiple fire burn scars (Woolsey Fire, Palisades Fire); native plant propagation, seed collection, and revegetation; trail maintenance, repair, and public safety work; cultural resource and archeological support during construction activities; environmental education and interpretation programming serving approximately 10,000 K-12 students annually; and volunteer coordination and recruitment. The organization operates exclusively within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area boundary and at approved partner locations in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.