Did You Know ...
An estimated 33 million people or more make recreational visits to the Santa Monica Mountains NRA every year?
That's more than twice the combined number of reported visits to all of California's other National Park units.
-- Most of the visitors come to enjoy the beaches from the Santa Monica Pier to Zuma Beach. The mountains help keep these valuable recreational waters clean.
Thank you for your interest in the Santa Monica Mountains Fund, established in 1988 to support the education and resource protection efforts of the National Park Service and California State Parks in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. While taxpayers' dollars support the agencies' critical core operations, those dollars fall short of the money required to meet public expectations for recreation facilities, wildlife research and resource restoration, education programs and many other key park activities. The Fund works to fill that gap at Santa Monica Mountains NRA, an area that few citizens realize is America's largest urban and heavily visited National Park.
The Santa Monica Mountains Fund is also working to establish endowments that can ensure a continuing source of needed funds into the future. In December 2006, Congress adjourned without providing a new budget for the National Park Service. Although funds were provided under a "continuing resolution," the park was left without the ability to start needed new projects or the ability to cover pay increases ordered by Congress under separate legislation. The Fund hopes to build toward a more stable future that allows park managers to focus on the protection of resources and the enjoyment of visitors, rather than negotiating budget shortfalls. Consequently, 15% of all general, non-specific donations that the Fund collects on behalf of the NPS are dedicated to creating a perpetual endowment for the park.
The Santa Monica Mountains Fund is a locally based nonprofit affiliate of the
National Park Foundation, headquartered in Washington, D.C., and chartered by Congress in 1963 to promote charitable support of America's national parks.
