The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a national, non-profit organization of scientists, lawyers and environmental specialists dedicated to protecting public health and the environment. NRDC was instrumental in defending pristine gray whale habitat during the five-year global campaign to stop the Mitsubishi Industrial Salt Project in Laguna San Ignacio. NRDC continues to support conservation and sustainable development projects in the communities surrounding Laguna San Ignacio. NRDC has led the effort to block the U.S. Navy’s global deployment of a new high intensity submarine detection system Low Frequency Active Sonar that has devastating impacts on marine mammals. Staff includes:

• Joel Reynolds. Marine Mammal Protection and Southern California Ecosystem projects Director and Urban Program co-director. As head of NRDC’s Coastal Ecosystem and Marine Mammal Protection projects, he has spearheaded NRDC’s efforts to obtain or preserve legal protection for wildlife and its habitat in California and Baja California, including the Pacific gray whale and the coastal California gnatcatcher. He co-directed NRDC’s successful five-year campaign against Mitsubishi Corporation’s plan to industrialize the World Heritage Site at Laguna San Ignacio.
• S. Jacob Scherr. Internation Program Director and BioGems Initiative Coordinator. A senior attorney in NRDC's Washington D.C. office, Jacob was a leader with Joel Reynolds in the successful campaign to stop the construction of a massive saltworks project at Laguna San Ignacio. During the course of his career at NRDC since the mid-1970s, Jacob has worked on a broad range of international environmental issues around the world. He has a particular interest in strengthening the capacity of communities in Latin America to protect the natural ecosystems upon which they depend.