$60K Awarded to Students Focused on Protecting Southern California’s Signature River

Please click here for more information on 2022 Utom Scholarship/Fellowship Awards.


The Utom Conservation Fund was established with settlement money from litigation to protect the Utom River (Santa Clara River in Ventura County, California) on behalf of plaintiffs Wishtoyo Chumash Foundation, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, California Native Plant Society, and the Center for Biological Diversity.  The Utom River is the wild heart of Southern California. Its watershed — the largest in the area to remain in a fairly untamed state — is also one of the region’s best, last wild places.