Guide to the San Marcos Foothills Preserve

The San Marcos Foothills Preserve is a County of Santa Barbara open space located in the foothills between Santa Barbara and Goleta.

 
 
 


Encompassing 301 acres the San Marcos Foothills Preserve offers extraordinary views of the Santa Ynez Mountains, Pacific Ocean, and the Channel Islands. The Foothills is the feeding ground for hawks, kestrels, kites, roadrunners, coyotes, bobcats, and hundreds of other animal species. It offers nesting locations for dozens of native bird species, and it provides connecting corridors for wildlife to Los Padres National Forest and Goleta Slough.

The San Marcos Foothills Preserve is part of the County of Santa Barbara Parks Division, and is open to the public for low-impact recreation, including hiking, bird watching and on-leash dog walking. This web site is maintained by Channel Islands Restoration, a non-profit organization, dedicated the the stewardship of the San Marcos Foothills Preserve. Content on these pages change often, so please refresh your browser often to be sure you are seeing recent changes to the site!