Conserved for
Acres:
2,727
Founded in 1932, Midland School is a college preparatory boarding and day school on a property with a rich cultural and environmental history. The mission of Midland is to teach the value of a lifetime of learning, self-reliance, simplicity, responsibility to community and the environment, and love for the outdoors. In this vein, Midland School generously shares its natural and cultural resources with the community, hosting scientific, educational, and recreational activities along with a sizable trail network visitors can access with a permit.
The modest campus sits on a magnificent 2,860-acre property bordered by the Sedgwick Reserve, the Los Padres National Forest, and ranchland. Once known as Soxtonokmu, the largest Chumash village in the Santa Ynez Valley, the school was founded during the Great Depression. Rising from Alamo Pintado Creek to Grass Mountain and Lookout Peak in the San Rafael Mountains, the land provides wildlife habitat for black bear, mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, and many raptors. While in decline throughout central California, Midland supports a rich Valley oak woodland where teachers and students have an active reforestation program in addition to 130 acres of undisturbed Blue oak woodland, and features one of North America’s rarest annuals, Santa Barbara Jewelflower.
The future of this land, with its rare and unique plant communities and its location adjacent to the Sedgwick Reserve and Figueroa Mountain, has been secured by a conservation easement by the national Trust for Public Land and held by the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County.
Visiting Midland School
For more information about visiting Midland and to obtain a trail use permit, contact them directly at (805)-688-5114 or via their website.
