The Desert and Mountain Conservation Authority is a new entity created in July 2006 through a Joint Powers Authority Agreement between the Antelope Valley Resource Conservation District (AVRCD) and the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy (SMMC).

The rapid growth of residential and commercial growth in the northern portion of Los Angeles County (and in surrounding areas within the AVRCD) has driven increasing loss and fragmentation of habitat, resulting in degradation of the area's natural biodiversity. This creates an urgent need for proactive efforts to identify, acquire, and manage areas that will preserve open space and the natural resources of the region.

The D&MCA has been established to identify, acquire and manage open space lands within the boundaries of the two founding agencies for long term conservation benefits. It provides a capability to cooperate with local government and developers in creating an offsite mitigation program to offset open space loss and improve habitat for species such as burrowing owls, desert tortoise, alkali mariposa lilies, Joshua-juniper woodlands, and so forth.