The job I am privileged to hold takes me routinely to some of the most beautiful coastal places in our state: Point Saint George, redwood forests, the Monterey Peninsula, Morro Bay, the Laguna Coast Wilderness, and everywhere in between, all the way south to the Border Highlands. When it is time for recreation, however, I frequently head for the top of the watershed: the mountains.

I have loved mountains ever since I started backpacking as a boy in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia. Moving to the West Coast in 1983 afforded me the opportunity to meet what Westerners smugly call “real mountains”--the Rockies and the Sierra. For the past 24 years I have backpacked at least once a year in our mountains, and skied almost every winter.

This has been a great winter for skiing, though it had a slow start. I managed to fit three trips into my usually hectic schedule. Moving back and forth between coastal regions and the Sierra Nevada, I have been reflecting on what the two landscapes have in common. Together, they define California: the coast is our western (land) boundary, and the Sierra effectively isolates us from all the country to our east. And of course the mountains are the top of the coastal watershed. Both the coast and the mountains are geologically active, riven with faults and prone to earthquakes. As the shoreline keeps eroding, mountain ranges are growing, forced up by the same tectonic forces that impel wise Californians to stock a week’s worth of food somewhere in their homes. The two regions also share the trio of California’s other big natural disasters: fire, flood, and mudslide.

Conservationists are aware of further common problems: invasive species, an overabundance of endangered species, and land use conflicts among varied recreational groups. Extractive industries like timber and mining operate in both coastal and mountain regions and have a long list of complicated issues associated with them. And then there is development. The very same forces that catalyzed a citizens movement that led to the “Save Our Coast” voter initiative of 1972 and the California Coastal Act of 1976 are now at large in the Sierra Nevada and its foothills.

I was reminded of this on my latest and probably last ski trip of the season. (Never say never!) When we arrived at our rented cabin in the Serene Lakes development in Soda Springs, we found that the landlord had left for us, along with the usual emergency numbers and instructions for operating the woodstove, a flyer entitled “Save Donner Summit” (see www.savedonnersummit.org). It stated that Royal Gorge, where I have been cross-country skiing for years, together with 3,000 nearby acres, had been purchased by a development group that was planning to build a resort complex with two hotels, several ski lifts and runs, two artificial lakes, 600 “share ownership” condominiums, and hundreds of home sites.

I was on vacation. I did not want to hear about this. But the thought that the place where I learned to cross-country ski might be developed gave me pause. Sure, there might be need to accommodate more skiers in the mountains. Heck, I was staying in a four-bedroom cabin with three other families in a development that was probably opposed by the locals when built. But when is enough enough? Serene Lakes is a simple grid of mostly rustic-looking cabins, with a lodge on a lake at one end and the Royal Gorge cross-country ski area at the other. Royal Gorge itself is mostly open space, with trails in the woods. Everything else is National Forest.

Fortunately, the Sierra Nevada, like the coast, now has its own conservancy. Legislation sponsored by Assemblymen John Laird and Tim Leslie establishing the Sierra Nevada Conservancy was signed into law in 2004 by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and began operating the following year. Like the Coastal Conservancy, but unlike the seven other State conservancies in California, it has a broad geographical mandate. It can work along the entire extent of the Sierra Nevada from Oregon to Kern County. Its mission statement, which you can read at http://sierranevada.ca.gov, declares: “The Sierra Nevada Conservancy initiates, encourages, and supports efforts that improve the environmental, economic and social well-being of the Sierra Nevada Region, its communities and the citizens of California.”

Unlike the Coastal Conservancy, which benefits from the existence of the Coastal Act and the Coastal Commission, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy has no specifically regional regulatory agency to back it up and strengthen its hand. It can do a great deal, however, to sort out conflicts and find appropriate ways to protect our natural heritage while also, perhaps, accommodating some of the growing pressures for development for a variety of conflicting uses. Regardless of what the future brings, we are all better off having a conservancy focused on the mountains that define us as a state, provide us with water, and give us endless opportunities for recreation and reflection. Anytime my friends at the Sierra Nevada Conservancy want to come and catch some rays at the beach, I’ll be happy to show them around.

Sam Schuchat is the executive officer of the Coastal Conservancy.