Kern River Conservancy was founded in the summer of 2013 when Los Angeles resident, Gary Ananian decided it was time for someone to stand up and care for the Kern River. After spending many summer adventures with his friends on the Kern, Gary grew impatient and frustrated with all the trash and vandalism that was impacting the river. After several discussions with his close friends and the Forest Service, Kern River Conservancy was born.

Gary’s background was hospitality management in Hollywood’s bar and nightclub industry. Gary had absolutely no education or experience in environmental conservation, but he had the skills to communicate with anyone and his social media experience was strong from promoting nightclubs and events in Hollywood.

We’re not gonna lie, in the first four years of our organization’s life, things didn’t look too promising. Donations and volunteers were difficult to find as no one knew who Kern River Conservancy was or who was this guy named Gary from Los Angeles trying to protect the Kern River. Finally in 2018 things changed for the best. After attending Americas largest river conservation conference in Lake Tahoe, River Rally, we came back with a new vision and how we planned on doing business. In just one summer, our volunteer force grew from a few dozen to over 600. Our fundraising efforts went from Gary spending his personal savings to money flooding in from donors, sponsors and grants.

The Kern River Conservancy just hit prime time with over 40,000 social media followers from all over the world. Our tiny grassroots group was on the map as a major player in river conservation.