Illuminate Conservation was created because of the impact a mural had on me.

I grew up in Santa Barbara and I was incredibly fortunate to have the Pacific Ocean and The Santa Ynez Mountains close by. The intimate connection that I have had with nature for my entire life has instilled a great reverence for the world outside.

During my final semester of college for my Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies, I was looking for a local environmental issue to research for my capstone project. In my research I came across a mural of a man holding a huge steelhead in the Santa Ynez River, in Lompoc. I had never seen or heard of any native fish in the Santa Ynez River and this piece of art drove me to get to the bottom of where the fish went and why I had never heard of them.

As I became more informed about the issues that were facing the Southern Califrornia Steelhead I thought about what I could do to help. These fish are in danger of extinction within 25-50 years and are an indicator of the health of our watersheds. I wanted to get involved, but I wasn’t sure how.

I had very little financial means to give, but I had an art studio and an incredibly talented artist as a father. I decided to enlist the expertise of my dad and together we painted the “Bygone” series, focused on the Southern California Steelhead.

I reached out to organizations that I thought would benefit from proceeds from these paintings and help to advance the movement to save the Southern Steelhead. We were able to partner with California Trout and sell two of the paintings from the series. The success of the “Bygone” series has inspired us to continue to use art to help other species and ecosystems. The mural that I saw in Lompoc inspired me to learn more about the Southern California Steelhead.

We hope that the art we create will inspire you to want to get involved in the preservation of ecosystems and species, so that future generations can see them thrive.

- Nathan Irwin

Executive Director