Encompassing the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve, the Linden H. Chandler and George F Canyon Preserves in Rolling Hills Estates, the White Point Nature Preserve, a facility of the LA City Department of Recreation and Parks and habitat restoration on the Defense Fuel Support Point in San Pedro.
The Palos Verdes Nature Preserve (PVNP) area spans some 1,400 acres with over 30 miles of trails through rolling hills, steep canyons and rock outcrops, with significant habitat and spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean and Catalina Island.
Elevations range from approximately sea level along the coastal edges of Vicente Bluffs, Abalone Cove, and Ocean Trails to approximately 1,300 feet above mean sea level at the northern most parcel, Vista del Norte. Owned by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, the Conservancy previously led community efforts to raise funds for the purchase of many of the preserved areas, and now holds conservation easements over the properties as habitat managers according to guidelines outlined in the Natural Community Conservation Planning (NCCP) program of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The NCCP program is a cooperative effort by the State and numerous private and public partners to protect and perpetuate California’s rare biological diversity, while allowing compatible and appropriate economic activity.
The Abalone Cove Ecological Reserve features two beaches (Abalone Cove and Sacred Cove), tide pools, beautiful bluff-top viewing areas, and dramatic crisscrossing trails. The 64-acre Reserve contains a State Ecological Preserve with important natural marine resources and the bottom of the Portuguese Bend landslide area. Two promontories, Portuguese and Inspiration points frame the Sacred Cove with their sea caves, black sand, and rare plants. The adjacent parking area (a fee is charged at the entrance), multiple picnic tables, and restrooms add to the options for public enjoyment of the area.
Location: 5970 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Hours: Open daily from 9am – 4pm
Closed: January 1, Thanksgiving Day, December 24, December 25
This 59-acre reserve contains Agua Amarga and Lunada canyons. Lunada Canyon, once considered prime land for development, was saved through a gift to the Conservancy in 1992 from the E. K. Zuckerman family. Agua Amarga Canyon was acquired by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in 2005. Restoration projects to remove invasive vegetation – often with the help of goats – is creating restored native coastal sage scrub vegetation are making new habitat for the endangered California gnatcatchers and to reintroduce the Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
Location: Two trailheads are located on Posey Way and Rock Park Drive, both accessed from Kings Harbor Drive in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 902755970 Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
This property includes 55 acres of land on the slopes below and around the Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall with impressive coastal views north over Oceanfront Estates. It is the current location of a 27-acre habitat coastal sage scrub restoration project, initiated in 2008.
The trail takes you past Battery Barnes, which was constructed in 1942 to protect the northern approach to the Catalina channel. Two 6-inch diameter coastal artillery guns were placed there, and underground bunkers were built to house soldiers, ammunition, and supplies.
Location: 30940 Hawthorne Boulevard, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Parking: Parking is available at Rancho Palos Verdes City Hall, 30940 Hawthorne Blvd, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
Acquired in 2022, this Reserve is named in honor of Dorothy and Allen Lay. This land provides a critical connection for people and wildlife, offering access from the private Portuguese Bend Community into the Filiorum Reserve trail network and critical habitat connectivity from PV blue butteflies, protected cactus wren and California gnatcatchers.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The 191-acre property acquired December 31, 2009, capped a 21-year effort to preserve 900 contiguous acres of protected open space and create a wildlife corridor by linking the Three Sisters and Portuguese Bend Reserves. The Conservancy and the City of Rancho Palos Verdes brought together $6.5 million in resources from State Coastal Conservancy and more than 700 local donors to complete the acquisition of this essential piece of land.
Parking: Available on city and residential streets
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
With some of the best remaining native wildlife habitat and hiking trails, this 155-acre Reserve is a key component of the Peninsula’s natural environment and a significant part of the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.
Since 2001, the Conservancy, along with community volunteers, have conducted habitat restoration and completed trail improvements throughout the Reserve. The eastern portion contains a former quarry and marked trails that wind around the top of the quarry bowl. Dramatic cliffs are characterized by faults, folds, sedimentary bedding and igneous intrusions with many crystals and fossils, particularly fish scales, in the surface rock. Do not collect fossils or disturb the slopes to expose new rock.
Fossils can be seen at the Point Vicente Interpretive Center.
Location: Ladera Linda Community Center, 32201 Forrestal Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275
Parking: Available at the Ladera Linda Community Center and Forrestal Drive.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
Named in recognition of the Jacqueline M. Glass Family and acquired in 2022, the ocean-facing slope of this Reserve holds the potential for the return of critically threatened and endangered wildlife, and is a priority location for future habitat restoration work.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The permanent protection of this Reserve in 2022 provided critical connectivity for the north-south movement of wildlife from the upper Filiorum Reserve lands down to the protected coastal area of Abalone Cove as well as west-east connectivity from Three Sisters Reserve across Barkentine Canyon to the contiguous Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The City of Rancho Palos Verdes and the Conservancy acquired 61.5 acres of open space containing protected habitat in the Malaga Canyon. The land was formally incorporated into the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve with the approval of the Natural Community Conservation Plan by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in November 2019. Malaga Reserve is located in the Grandview neighborhood near the border with City of Palos Verdes Estates. The land is home to California gnatcatcher habitat and potential habitat for the PV blue butterfly, coastal cactus wren and other rare species. The Malaga Canyon Trail runs through the Reserve where you can view coastal sage scrub, purple sage and in springing blooming colorful Fuchsia.
Location: Trail head entrance at Montemalaga Drive near Basswood.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The 119 acre Ocean Trails Reserve includes preserved land restored with 250,000 local native plants installed as habitat for the federally threatened California gnatcatcher and cactus wren. The Reserve has eight miles of trails with a number of routes that wind through grassland and coastal scrub habitat, providing beautiful ocean views and multiple points of beach access. It is a great place to see migrating species passing through Southern California on their way north in the summer and south in the winter months. Look for interesting local vegetation like Dudleya virens, desert thorn and purple fiddlenecks.
Location: Palos Verdes Drive south adjoining the Trump International Golf Course.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The 399-acre Portuguese Bend Reserve was preserved in 2005 and is the largest of the reserves that make up the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve. As well as providing community-valued recreation, it contains important linkages for wildlife and valuable native habitat for sensitive species.
The Portuguese Bend Reserve consists of rolling hills, five distinct steep canyons and rock outcrops, with coastal sage scrub habitat, a community of intensely fragrant and drought resistant shrubs and flowering plants. Located below and to the east of Del Cerro Park are the areas known as Lemonadeberry Parcel, Eagle’s Nest, the Badlands, and the active landslide and dirt extension of Crenshaw Boulevard. Unique features include a pillow lava outcrop called Ailor Cliff after Conservancy founder Bill Ailor.
An August 2009 wildfire burned approximately 165-acres within the Reserve, affecting both native and non-native vegetation and known nesting sites of the threatened coastal California gnatcatcher and the special status cactus wren. We are actively restoring the habitat and will continue to do so over the next few years through selective weeding, native seed and plant installation, trail repair, and species monitoring to help the burn area recover.
Location: The main entrance to Portuguese Bend Reserve is near Del Cerro Park at the end of Crenshaw Boulevard (nearest cross street is Burrell Lane) in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275.
Parking: Available on the south side of Crenshaw Blvd.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
San Ramon Reserve, 95 acres, was formerly called the “Switchbacks” for the twisting path of Palos Verdes Drive East through this property. Pull-outs on the road provide impressive views toward the harbor and Catalina Island.
Location: San Ramon Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Limited parking at three scenic turnouts along Palos Verdes Drive.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
This 99-acre parcel spread on a rolling hillside has spectacular ocean views and wonderful hiking trails that can be accessed from the end of Ocean Terrace Drive. It is home to several rare wildflower and bird species and the location of a 21-acre habitat restoration project initiated in 2009 using an innovative weed removal project. For three weeks 250 goats removed non-native plants and the previous year’s thatch. The restoration also included the installation of temporary irrigation and the planting of 8,000 coastal sage scrub and grassland plants.
Location: The main entrance is at the end of Ocean Terrace Drive, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Parking is available on city and residential streets.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
The Reserve stretches around the bluffs of Lower Point Vicente (6 acres), the Fishing Access property (9 acres), and the habitat areas within the Oceanfront Estates project (69 acres). The area contains rare coastal bluff scrub habitat and unique geological formations including dramatic hexagonal shaped columns of rock formed from black basalt. Trail reconstruction and native plant restoration activities are supported by a California Coastal Conservancy grant with the goal to reduce sedimentation along the state coastline. Monitoring of the Reserve resulted in the discovery of exciting and unexpected colonies of the endangered El Segundo blue butterfly.
Location: The trailheads for Vicente Bluffs Reserve are located off Palos Verdes Drive South, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA 90275. Use Pelican Cove parking area.
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
This 14-acre Reserve is located above Indian Peak Drive, on the slopes overlooking the Peninsula Center area from Vista del Norte and Indian Peak Loop trails.This 59-acre reserve contains Agua Amarga and Lunada canyons. Lunada Canyon, once considered prime land for development, was saved through a gift to the Conservancy in 1992 from the E. K. Zuckerman family. Agua Amarga Canyon was acquired by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in 2005. Restoration projects to remove invasive vegetation – often with the help of goats – is creating restored native coastal sage scrub vegetation are making new habitat for the endangered California gnatcatchers and to reintroduce the Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
Location: Indian Peak Road near the Crenshaw Boulevard intersection, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90275
Hours: Open one hour before sunrise to one hour after sunset
This 28.5-acre property is a critical part of the natural environment in Rolling Hills Estates. Intensive habitat restoration efforts have added native wildflowers and shrubs to the hillsides. Trails traverse the preserve’s slopes and grasslands through coastal sage scrub and riparian habitats. The Preserve is home to a number of special native wildflowers, including the common fiddleneck, Western tansy mustard, and longleaf bush lupine. It now provides valuable native habitat capable of supporting native birds and insects, including habitat favored by the endangered Palos Verdes blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis).
Location:
The nearest cross streets are Palos Verdes Drive North and Dapplegray Lane in Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274.
Parking:
Parking is located next to the Rolling Hills Little League Field or at the end of Buckskin Lane.
Located on 51 acres, the Preserve features a nature trail and stream that passes through one of the most pristine and beautiful canyons on the Peninsula. The Preserve is the site of the only mainland exposure of the Peninsula’s Catalina schist bedrock. An intermittent stream is a magnet for insects, birds and mammals. Interpretive signage and plenty of benches to rest and experience willow-riparian and coastal sage scrub habitats. A spectacular view of the Los Angeles basin awards those who make it to the top either by foot or horseback.
The George F Canyon Nature Center is currently closed for reconstruction throughout 2025. Please enjoy monthly guided nature walks the 1st Saturday of each month at 10:30 am or enjoy walking the trail dawn until dusk daily. The center is owned by the City of Rolling Hills Estates and operated by the Conservancy.
We are pleased to announce the reopening of the Nature Center to the general public starting May 14, 2021. Stop by to learn more about local plants and animals, view live reptiles and learn more about the unique natural history. To ensure safety guests must sign in at the entrance welcome station, wear face masks, and maintain distance between themselves and others. The nature center will be open Fridays 1-4pm, Saturdays & Sundays 10am-3pm.
Location:
27305 Palos Verdes Dr E, Rolling Hills Estates, CA 90274
Parking:
Parking lot next to the Nature Center
The White Point Nature Preserve features 102 acres of restored coastal sage scrub habitat, hiking and handicap accessible trails overlooking the ocean and Catalina Island. The Preserve is now home to the Nature Education Center, which opened in May 2010 and serves as a resource for students, families, and community groups from all over Los Angeles.
The Preserve, located in San Pedro, is owned by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. After the property surrounded by chain link fence sat empty for nearly 20 years, a community effort convinced the City to preserve the land. A 25-year management agreement was granted to the Conservancy in 2001, launching the dramatic restoration of the land by planting native shrubs and grasses, and installing public trails with the help of thousands of volunteers. The Conservancy also helped obtain a grant for the installation of eco-friendly permeable parking and interpretive signage.
The Nature Education Center is housed in a repurposed historic Cold War assembly building. The Center was made possible with the support of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Coastal Conservancy, and the Ibrahim El-Hefni Technical Training Foundation. A grant from Alcoa Foundation funded the creation of the interpretative exhibits and support from Major Family Foundation enabled the creation of four adjacent native plant demonstration gardens.
On November 20, 2011 about 420 feet of earth and roadway of Paseo del Mar and a small portion of the White Point Nature Preserve slid southward toward the ocean below, moving about 53 feet. The City of Los Angeles is evaluating various alternatives. The Conservancy is dedicated to safeguarding the Preserve from a road traversing through the natural lands.
This 59-acre reserve contains Agua Amarga and Lunada canyons. Lunada Canyon, once considered prime land for development, was saved through a gift to the Conservancy in 1992 from the E. K. Zuckerman family. Agua Amarga Canyon was acquired by the City of Rancho Palos Verdes in 2005. Restoration projects to remove invasive vegetation – often with the help of goats – is creating restored native coastal sage scrub vegetation are making new habitat for the endangered California gnatcatchers and to reintroduce the Palos Verdes blue butterfly.
We are pleased to announce the reopening of the Nature Center to the general public. Stop by to learn more about local plants and animals and learn more about the unique natural history of the area. The nature center will be open Saturdays & Sundays 10am-3:30pm.
Location:
1600 W. Paseo del Mar, San Pedro CA 90731
Parking:
Parking lot open dawn to dusk
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