"Being a citizen requires responsibility," entrepreneur Jack Dangermond said, "and the people of Santa Barbara — for as long as I can remember — have taken responsibility for their environment. And it’s a pleasure to see." Dangermond and his wife, Laura Dangermond, added their own civic commitment to the community in 2016, when they donated $165 million to the Nature Conservancy to acquire the Bixby Ranch , which then-owner Baupost Group intended to develop.
It was their honeymoon that first brought the Dangermonds to the Gaviota Coast, on a camping trip almost 60 years ago. "We have pleasant personal memories of Santa Barbara," Jack said, adding that they still enjoy coming to town, looking at the architecture, going to restaurants, and seeing the variety of plants growing here.
At Bixby — and nationwide — the Dangermonds have underwritten initiatives to propel conservation in the face of climate change, most recently in conjunction with their computerized mapping company's abilities. CMRA, or Climate Mapping for Resilience and Adaptation, is a collaboration between the Biden-Harris administration and the Dangermonds’ Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) to ensure that the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill will be spent in places that are resilient to climate change. In 2023, they worked with Governor Newsom on CA Nature 30x30 (SB 337), which weights potential conservation areas based on priority, again underpinned by ESRI.