Mitigation lands protected under conservation easement or fee title conveyance often require annual species monitoring by the stewardship entity responsible for its management. By developing these monitoring activities in association with one another and within an experimental framework, managers have an opportunity to leverage monitoring data to explore long-term research objectives that can help improve conservation outcomes and inform management strategies within and beyond its borders. Since 2019, the Center for Natural Lands Management has set about applying this approach to its Panoche Valley Preserve, a 26,420-acre conservation property within the Ciervo-Panoche Natural Area, which has been identified as a core area of habitat for the conservation and recovery of numerous San Joaquin desert species. Here, I will discuss practical insights gleaned from the development of the Preserve’s landscape scale research and monitoring regime and share preliminary findings following the conclusion of its five-year, baseline data collection period.