2021-2022

Alex is completing her service year with the Center for Land Based Learning in Woodland, California. There, Alex is focused on education, outreach, and research related to regenerative agriculture and soil stewardship. Alex has a deep passion for interdisciplinary study of our food systems, and her prior research spans diverse topics such as microbial ecology, pesticide advocacy, and the politics of food and agriculture. As a biologist and activist, Alex has experience working with research laboratories, biological field stations, non-profits, and farms across the U.S. and New Zealand. Alex graduated from Pomona College in 2021 with a B.A. in Biology.

Bethany Llewellyn is a Grizzlycorps fellow serving with the Trinity County Resource Conservation District in Weaverville, California, where she will be steering implementation of the 2021-2028 Weaverville Community Forest Strategic Plan. She is excited to work on the front lines of fire resilience in a small community and learn more about modern forestry techniques including prescribed burns and GIS mapping. She is a recent graduate from the University of Puget Sound with dual degrees in Biology and Environmental Policy and is passionate about finding solutions that help both communities and ecosystems thrive and bridging the urban-rural divide in conservation. Prior to Grizzlycorps, she has worked as a crew leader with Northwest Youth Corps and a botany technician with the Institute for Applied Ecology. She has also conducted urban ecology research in Tacoma, Washington, and worked in the field in Chilean Patagonia. In her free time, Bethany loves to backpack, trail run, and cook delicious food!

Cailey recently graduated from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo with a BS in biological sciences. After pursuing botany, ornithology, and climate science, she became interested in food systems and their relationship to climate change. She was involved in the Garden Club at Cal Poly, where she fostered an interest in the interactions between environmental and social justice. She is excited to gain more experience working on various land management projects and exploring Northern California as she spends the next year serving with the McConnell Foundation in Redding. In her free time she can be found rock climbing, backpacking, and bird watching.

Conny Rios Escobar (she/her) is from Los Angeles, CA. She graduated from UC Berkeley in August 2020, majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology – Developmental Genetics with minors in Global Public Health and Chicano Studies. She participated in the Outdoor Educators Institute 2019 program based in Oakland, CA where she first gained outdoors skills and learned leadership skills for supporting youth engagement in the outdoors. During the last year of her undergraduate career, she worked as a research assistant in the UC Berkeley Agroecology Lab where she became introduced to soil health and farm diversification practices. Before becoming the Lost Sierra Partnership GrizzlyCorps Fellow, she spent 2021 in Southeast Alaska participating in the Glacier Bay Year, a place-based experiential educational program. Conny is excited to be working with two partner sites, the Friends of Plumas Wilderness and the Lost Sierra Food Project, to support land conservation efforts and food security practices in Plumas County.

Dana grew up surfing and volunteering at Wild Roots Farm in San Diego, witnessing the direct impacts of agricultural management on coastal ecosystem health. She studied Environmental Science and Forestry at Berkeley, and developed an interest in carbon sequestration through strategic forestry and soil management. During her studies, she served as a volunteer coordinator at the Clark Kerr Garden, and had the unique opportunity to practice agroecology with the Berkeley Student Farms Coalition. After graduation, Dana worked on organic farms and orchards in Santa Cruz in order to gain an understanding of the joys and obstacles of growing food on the central coast. This year, Dana will be working with the Upper-Salinas Las Tablas RCD to carry out wetland restoration and healthy soils projects with farms and vineyards in the San Louis Obispo area.

Dunbar recently graduated with a B.A in political science from American University in Washington, DC. During his summers he worked several farm jobs, gaining an interest in and insights into the nature of agriculture. At university Dunbar learned about the challenges posed by ecological degradation and climate change. He became interested in how to reconcile sustainability and climate change resilience with the economic and nutritional needs met by the agricultural sector. Dunbar will be working with the McConnell Foundation in Redding on sustainable grazing and carbon sequestration projects. After GrizzlyCorps he hopes to pursue a graduate degree and career in sustainable agriculture and environmental policy. Dunbar has had a lifelong desire for public service and is very excited to be serving with AmeriCorps program in his home state. In his free time Dunbar enjoys running, gardening, and playing chess.

Elle grew up in Sacramento, California and developed a love for nature through hiking and birding along the American River with her parents. Elle graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Environmental Management and Protection and minors in Political Science and Indigenous Studies. During her time at Cal Poly, she began to explore farming through her classes and hands-on experiences and took great interest in regenerative agriculture. As one of the founding members of Cal Poly Garden Club, Elle was able to grow much of her own food and enjoys cooking with the wide variety of fruits and vegetables grown. During college, Elle also discovered her passion for activism, mutual aid, and food justice. She is interested in using regenerative agriculture as a way of both healing soil and producing healthy food that can be used to uplift communities. As a fellow for GrizzlyCorps, Elle is working for Farm to Pantry, an organization that gleans fresh, healthy produce to supply to our vulnerable community members who lack access to it. In her free time, Elle enjoys camping and hiking with her dog, Lou.

Emily will be working with Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) to partner with grazing lessees in a multi-perspective response to increasing drought and fire pressure. She is excited to facilitate conversations surrounding grazing management plans and rangeland health monitoring. Before her role as a GrizzlyCorps fellow, Emily graduated from the University of Vermont with a degree in Environmental Studies and Ecological Agriculture. Emily worked as an undergraduate research fellow with the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative and assisted Vermont farmers in soil health monitoring. After her time in Vermont, Emily spent two years farming and ranching in Maine, California, and Senegal. Emily is committed to ensuring reciprocal relationships between ranchers and rangeland monitoring programs. She believes in farmer and rancher representation in land management decisions and recognizing the high value of land steward knowledge. Emily is excited to be a part of SRT’s lessee partnerships, high school age education programs, and overall mission to inspire love for South Central Valley conserved lands.

Eve is serving at EcoFarm in Santa Cruz County, where she will conduct education and outreach work focused on food system transformation through events, workshops, and social media. She is excited to work at the intersection of food justice and regenerative agriculture, emphasizing the importance of resilient food systems grounded in community and justice. Prior to joining GrizzlyCorps, she pursued a master’s degree in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford, where she conducted research on sustainable agricultural practices for Earthwatch Europe and wrote her thesis on how communities in Oxfordshire reclaimed their control over the local food system during the COVID-19 pandemic. She also holds a dual B.A. in Global Studies and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and Sciences Po, Paris. In her free time, Eve loves to read poetry, cook for friends, dance, and go on long hikes. She believes regenerative agri-food systems are some of the most hopeful spaces for the future of food and is thrilled to serve with GrizzlyCorps!

Hannah spent the first third of her professional life in community healthcare. She played a key role in developing & deploying programs that nurture human health in various localities. But as the climate crisis intensifies, her attention is pivoting to the health of our larger ecosystem. Hannah believes we have the power to heal our ailing communities - and fractured economy - through regenerative agriculture. She is excited to connect with our producers, our scientific community, and current & future financial partners. She hopes to be a conduit to ensure we can continue to eat well while drawing down carbon and restoring biodiversity. For the 2021-22 service year, Hannah will join a partnership between the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts and Zero Foodprint to accelerate funding for carbon farm plans across California.

Jasmine Curcio graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with a degree in Environmental Science and Management, specializing in Ecology, Biodiversity, and Conservation. She spent her last year of study abroad at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Following graduation, she interned with the Santa Cruz County Environmental Health department to aid in the fire recovery efforts following the devastating CZU Complex Fires of August 2020. Jasmine grew up in Santa Cruz, California, and is very passionate about the connection between environmental health and human health, creating more sustainable food systems, and building resilience to climate change and wildfires. She will be completing her service year with Cascade Ranch, working on regenerative agriculture and fire recovery planning projects.

As a GrizzlyCorps member, Jenna will be serving the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (RCD) and Carbon Cycle Institute (CCI). As the RCD Climate Communications Associate, Jenna will serve all participating RCDs who use the RCD Project Tracking tool and lead efforts to expand and improve usage of the Project Tracking tool. A bicoastal native of Los Angeles and Atlanta, Jenna graduated from Harvey Mudd College in 2020 with a degree in Mathematical and Computational Biology. With the Gold Ridge RCD, Jenna is excited to apply their computational background to support conservation projects across the state. Before joining GrizzlyCorps, Jenna gained experience as a Corps Member with the American Conservation Experience and worked on a causal discovery research project with Frederick Eberhardt at Caltech as member of the Schmidt Academy. This year, Jenna is looking forward to gaining more field work experience, connecting with conservation professionals, and supporting community-led efforts to adapt to climate change. When not working, Jenna enjoys cooking, reading, crocheting, and exploring with friends.

Since his departure from the military in 2013, he has been dedicating his life to critically analyze the complex social and environmental challenges at the local and global levels. He has been furthering his knowledge by attending community college and transferred to Humboldt State University, where he studied Environmental Studies, Conservation and Ecology, and Environmental Education and Interpretation. He has also spent a majority of his time volunteering with local organizations ranging from forest advocacy and health to allocating funds to the indigenous immigrant population in Humboldt County and working with kids with a range of economic and cultural backgrounds. With a strong passion for community resilience, he will be serving with the El Dorado and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation District, located in Placerville. There he will be working with their organizations to increase their capacity to engage community members and implement projects. He is looking forward to this opportunity and becoming part of the community.

Josh graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, this past June with a degree in Business; Marketing and the intent to use it for the promotion of sustainable practices. Considering the tools of marketing have historically been drivers of extensive social and environmental damage, there was a lot of dissonance surrounding his initial decision to pursue this degree. However, he also believes it is an essential piece of the "sustainability jigsaw puzzle," and must be used effectively to drive behavioral and systemic change. This upcoming year, he will be exercising this philosophy working with Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. He hopes to use the tools of his degree to understand the needs of various stakeholder groups, helping land managers navigate the complicated intersection between people, forest, and fire. He will be working on projects to promote the idea that defensible space is beautiful and to shift forest management paradigms towards long forgotten practices. These excite him far more than any marketing objective he's worked on over the last four years and he hopes to leverage this year of service into a career filled with many more like it. When Josh isn't trying to justify his degree, he is climbing or cooking or hiking or surfing and occasionally playing music poorly. He is absolutely thrilled to be surrounded by the cohort of inspiring individuals listed both above and below.

Katie is excited to join GrizzlyCorps as a Rural Climate Fellow with Mendocino County Conservation District and Fire Safe Mendocino. She graduated from UC Davis in 2020 with her degree in Environmental Science and Management with an emphasis in Ecology, Conservation & Biodiversity. While in school, Katie developed a passion for field work and research, conducting stream surveys throughout California as part of a ground truthing team investigating the California Environmental Flows Framework. Since then, she gained experience engaging stakeholders, restoring wetland & riparian communities, and promoting environmental education in the Carson River Watershed and while working with California State Parks in the Lake Tahoe Basin. Having grown up exploring California’s forests and finding a passion for permaculture while working in her high school’s garden in Oakland, CA, she is delighted to continue to surround herself in the spaces she loves most while help to create more resilient communities.

Born and raised in Chicago, Kathryn is a recent graduate from McGill University in Canada with a B.A. in Geography and minors in Environment and in Islamic Studies. Her coursework focused on physical and social sciences, including GIS/remote sensing, climate change/sustainability, independent research, and field studies, and she is looking forward to applying and expanding her knowledge in these areas through hands-on projects with Tehama County RCD and the community of Red Bluff. Her international and community engagement experience, wilderness tripping background, and love of the outdoors has fueled her desire to live, work and learn in new places, and she is thrilled to combine her personal and professional interests during her service year in California.

Laura Bedoyan received a Bachelor of Arts from Whitman College with a major in Geology-Physics and is currently pursuing a Masters of Science in Computer Science at Cal State University Northridge. She is currently a GrizzlyCorps member placed with the Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources, working on GIS development and data stewardship. Laura is excited to learn more about the best ways in which she can create new technologies to help benefit the natural resources field, especially fire resilience and wildlife.

Leigh serves the East Stanislaus Resource Conservation District (ESRCD) in Modesto, located in the northern San Joaquin Valley of California. Through her watershed coordination role, Leigh seeks to build the capacity of ESRCD to facilitate programs related to soil and water conservation, ecological restoration, and climate beneficial agriculture. In collaboration with community partners, Leigh works to advance groundwater sustainability efforts and biological migratory corridor projects on the main tributaries of the San Joaquin River basin. Leigh is a recent graduate of Appalachian State University with a BS in Biology: Ecology, Evolution and the Environment, as well as a minor in Sustainable Development. In North Carolina, she worked in community gardens, researched novel bioremediation techniques on rural streams and urban waterways, and engaged in grassroots climate advocacy. Originally from New Jersey, Leigh holds a certification in permaculture design and hopes to integrate her interests in seed and soil stewardship, food sovereignty, and bioregional climate adaptation as a GrizzlyCorps Fellow.

Makayla is serving on the Research & Preserve Management team at Pepperwood Preserve in Santa Rosa. She looks forward to using her skills and interests to support the team in its innovative research and land stewardship efforts. Prior to her time with GrizzlyCorps, Makayla obtained a BA in Environmental Studies and Planning from Sonoma State University. She has since held a variety of positions that have expanded her knowledge and interests in everything from ecology to environmental justice. Makayla hopes that her time as a GrizzlyCorps Fellow will benefit Pepperwood Preserve while allowing her to gain further experience into the field of ecology.

Originally from Ohio, Maria Schmitt is a recent Purdue University graduate. This past May she received a bachelors of science in Natural Resources and Environmental Science with a concentration in land resources. During her time at Purdue, Maria was an undergraduate research assistant in the soybean research and extension lab as well as an active member of the Purdue Student Sustainability Council. During her service year she will be working for Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority (MWPA) with the purpose of engaging with stakeholders and increasing community support for the large-scale land management projects occurring in the county. In her free time, Maria loves to backpack and travel whenever possible.

Mason graduated from UC Riverside in 2018 with a Bachelor’s in Political Science, where he realized he wanted to commit his career to tackling issues that will make the world a better place. He realizes that one of the most important issues is climate change. Here in California, the effects of climate change most prominently as devastating wildfires. Prior to GrizzlyCorps, he worked as an advocate for better fire and Forest management policy as the Campaign Organizer for the Sierra Club’s Stop Clearcutting CA Campaign. He also worked hands on in fire mitigation and fuel reduction work as a Corps member for the CA Conservation Corps. He looks forward to continuing this work for Fire Safe Sonoma and Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District. He is excited to learn new things and continue to make change happen as part of this program. In my free time he enjoys hiking, biking, photography, and watching baseball, basketball, and football.

Mikayla Tran (she/her) is excited to be serving with Sustainable Conservation in Modesto, California during the 2021-2022 GrizzlyCorps term. As a fellow, she will assess opportunities for SGMA and CV-SALTS to drive better outcomes in water and sustainable agriculture. Previously, Mikayla received a Bachelor of Science in Society & Environment with a minor in Human Rights from UC Berkeley. Throughout her undergraduate career and into post-grad, Mikayla worked as a fellow with the UC Berkeley Office of Sustainability & Carbon Solutions. Based in the East Bay, Mikayla is passionate about reproductive rights and environmental justice, and she hopes to pursue a legal career in the future.

Mona grew up barefoot along the bayous and barrier islands of Coastal Mississippi as a seventh generation Southerner. Throughout childhood, watching her favorite wetland playgrounds be filled in with red clay and turned into housing developments pushed her to study Environmental Sustainability at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. Her senior thesis investigated the University’s development plans for sustainability issues and culminated in a community awareness campaign. Since graduating from Sewanee in 2016, she has served as a GIS technician for the Tennessee Aquarium Conservation Institute, a habitat restoration technician for the Nooksack Salmon Enhancement Association, and as an outdoor educator in the Ojai Valley. She is a certified Wilderness First Responder and California Naturalist. She has also spent multiple Summers travelling by van or sailboat. Madrona is serving a second year at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center where she will help develop a Carbon Farm Implementation Plan, monitor for habitat health, and support GIS mapping needs for the site. She is also excited to support educational programs for children and adults on topics such as climate change, fire resiliency, and citizen science. She hopes to use her Americorps education award to pursue a master’s degree in GIS for Ecological Restoration.

An ecologist by training and activist at heart, Nicholas Filannino joins the Grizzlycorps this service term working with Wild Farm Alliance in Watsonville, California. He joins Wild Farm Alliance to assist with the implementation of many regenerative agricultural programs including hedgerow planning and building at farms across Monterey County and the surrounding areas. Nicholas recently graduated in 2020 with a degree in Conservation Biology from St. Lawrence University. After graduating from a university nestled between the St. Lawrence River and The Adirondack Mountains in New York, he moved west to Boulder City, Nevada. In Nevada, Nick worked on a number of different projects in varied desert ecosystems including the Joshua Tree Genome Project with the USGS and multiple rare plant surveys with the Desert Research Institute. Nick wants to be part of the movement to create national food systems that work for the people and the environment at the same time. He firmly believes that with the guidance of research based regenerative agricultural practices and the energy of sustained community activism we can create informed public policy to more appropriately use our land. When not working towards revolutionizing our food systems, Nick can be found trying to learn new languages, writing poetry, Olympic weightlifting, or Kayak fishing.

Nicole Eastman is excited to serve with the Trinity County Resource Conservation District as a Watershed Fellow. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio before attending NC State University where she earned a B.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology last May. Nicole developed a strong interest in watershed and forest management as well as environmental justice while working with several nonprofit organizations in North Carolina and Ohio. She looks forward to using her field work and community outreach experience this upcoming year as a GrizzlyCorps member. Nicole hopes to improve forest health, protect water quality, and conserve Trinity County's natural resources through involvement with the Weaverville community.

Pauline is excited to be working with the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains in their community resiliency program. Pauline holds a B.S. in ecology from Evergreen State College in Olympia, WA and a certificate of fine art from Rønnongen Folkehøgskole in Oslo, Norway. She has a background in education, having worked for her family's solar education nonprofit, The Rahus Institute, and taught preschool. Pauline hopes to combine her skills in ecology, education, and art to work in science communication and social justice. She is concerned about the inequalities of climate change and disaster response/ preparedness. With the Samta Monica Mountains RCD she'll be helping people in the urban-wildland interface prepare their homes for fire. In her free time Pauline likes to bike, hike, and play music in community street bands.

In 2019, Rachel graduated from University College London with an M.Sc. in Earth Sciences and Paleoceanography. After deferring a decision for a Ph.D., she decided to volunteer throughout Southern France on permaculture farms. The weight of the global need for clean, sustainable, and equal access to natural systems and her time at the farms culminated in a desire to make a career switch and focus on community, climate, and food conservation. Originally, Rachel grew up in Louisiana; impacted by Hurricane Katrina she wanted to learn more about Earth systems. For her B.Sc. at University of Missouri, she studied Soil, Environmental, and Atmospheric sciences. To gain holistic knowledge on Earth systems she combined her studies with research in Alaska on modeling sea ice melt, permafrost research in Yakutsk, Russia, and work as a USDA soil microbiological technician and atmospheric research assistant at the University of Missouri. Now, she is wanting to support and work with communities impacted by worsening environmental crises and injustices. Rachel will be returning with East Merced Resource Conservation District (EMRCD) to assist farmers and local land-owners on techniques and projects that restore and conserve land. With EMRCD, she will continue creating community projects, implement carbon farm plans, conduct outreach and education, and work on drought resiliency and climate adaptation assignments across Merced and Stanislaus County.

Rose Curley is a 2021-22 GrizzlyCorps fellow, completing her 11-month term of service with Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) in Davis, CA. Rose has joined CAFF’s Ecological Farming team to support their on-farm research efforts, develop educational and extension resources for farmers, and facilitate farmer-to-farmer discussions on regenerative agriculture practices. Rose graduated from UC Berkeley in May 2020 with a degree in Molecular Environmental Biology and Food Systems. As an undergraduate, Rose was an honors research assistant in the Bowles Lab, studying the relationships between soil health and human health in agroecosystems. Rose also worked as a resident assistant for UC Berkeley ResLife and served as an intern at the Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, CA. She was awarded the 2019-20 Bergeron Scholarship through the Cal New Experiences for Research and Diversity in Science program. Rose is from the foothills of the Central Valley of California and enjoys cooking, backpacking, and watercolor painting.

Having spent much of her life on the Central Coast of California, Sabrina (she/her) comes to Redding, CA excited to engage directly with climate work as a GrizzlyCorps fellow. After graduating from UCLA in 2018 with a bachelor's of science in Biology, she worked in various hospital and medical office settings, as well as in the educational field as a literacy instructor and substitute teacher. She then began working at a wholesale nursery in Los Osos, CA, which reconnected her interests to her educational roots in biology. She is excited to deepen her knowledge in regenerative agriculture and responsible land stewardship during this upcoming year of service with Shasta Land Trust. She is working to expand communication and educational efforts, engaging new groups within the community on various climate issues. She is also supporting the Stewardship Team in the field with various aspects of ongoing conservation easement projects. She looks forward to continuing activities she loves including trail running, road biking, learning guitar, and seed collecting.

Shay was born in Utica, NY and studied Biology and Geoscience at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. During Shay's summer research as an undergrad, she studied salamanders in the Finger Lakes National Forest and how land history affects salamander exploratory behavior. She also traveled abroad for a semester to Australia and New Zealand while in undergrad. After undergrad, Shay was also a field intern for The Guppy Project in Trinidad and Tobago where she conducted mesocosm behavioral experiments on guppies. After a couple years of various field jobs, she moved to Illinois to a Master's in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, then spent two years researching salamander migrations and when to prescribe burns without harming amphibians. Shay is excited to explore a new area of the country as a Grizzly Corp fellow with the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District, where she will focus on forest health and wildfire resiliency in Western Shasta County. When Shay is not outside hiking, biking, skiing, or playing soccer, she's reading, eating or watching bad films.

Sukhmony is a recent graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she double majored in English and Integrative Biology. As an undergraduate, she was an editor and staff writer for Berkeley Fiction Review and a research assistant at UC Berkeley School of Public Health’s Center for Environmental Research and Children’s Health. She also served as the Education Coordinator and Board Chair for the Berkeley Student Food Collective, a nonprofit grocery store and education/organizing hub that strives to make fresh, healthy food more accessible for the Berkeley community. She is a current recipient of UC Berkeley’s Judith Lee Stronach Baccalaureate Prize for public service. Sukhmony’s experiences, along with her family’s deep roots in the agricultural sector, both in California and Punjab, India, have inspired her commitment towards creating a more just, equitable food system. She is excited to bring this enthusiasm to the University of California Cooperative Extension Small Farms and Specialty Crops team in Fresno County as a fellow for GrizzlyCorps’ 2021-2022 term of service. Sukhmony will be working directly with small-scale BIPOC farmers to implement regenerative agricultural practices, assist with ongoing research projects assessing soil health and specialty crop production, and expand UCCE’s education and outreach initiatives.

Tara is excited to be working with the Marin Resource Conservation District (MRCD) as a GrizzlyCorp Fellow. In collaboration with its many partners, the MRCD is dedicated to community related riparian restoration, soil health, regenerative agriculture, and more. Tara earned a Bachelor's degree in both Environmental Science and Spanish from Northwestern University. She previously authored a research paper that investigated the relationship between different agricultural techniques and insect diversity as they relate to agricultural health in the Chocó cloud forest region. Tara is a certified Wilderness First Responder and enjoys camping and leading summer trips for kids around the country. She is passionate about the promotion of sustainable agriculture practices, community resiliency in the face of climate change, and Cleveland sports. She hopes to use her Americorps education award to begin post-graduate studies in sustainable agriculture ecology.

Tyler first became interested in agriculture during their time in San Jose as an apprentice apiarist. They earned a joint major in Environmental Studies and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Franklin and Marshall College. Throughout their undergraduate years, they worked various positions in the animal husbandry field, where they discovered the importance of regenerative agricultural practices. After graduating in 2020, they have been working as the market garden manger at a small organic farm in Lompoc, CA, educating WWOOFers and growing diverse organic vegetables. They will be serving the Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District by working with landowners on resource management strategies ranging from soil health to conservation projects.

Joaquin Pastrana recently graduated from UC Merced with a degree in Public Health. During his time there he discovered how deeply connected climate change is to the health of the public, especially in terms of wildfires as his school was forced to close down for more than a week due to extremely unhealthy levels of smoke in the air. Along with this, he also uncovered his passion for protecting the local wildlife after volunteering as a ranch hand where he took care of several animals saved from Farms evacuated due to wildfires. Joaquin will be placed at the Yolo County Resource Conservation District where he will be assisting with the organization in creating a county-wide fire safe council, as well as helping out in the field with vegetation management and GIS mapping. While in this position Joaquin hopes to learn more about forestry in regards to wildfire and prescribed burns, in addition to gaining a more in-depth understanding of GIS and its possible applications. In his free time, Joaquin enjoys camping and hiking, especially near the coast.

Jordan trained in forestry at University of California Berkeley where they found a passion for fire ecology and indigenous stewardship of ecosystems in California and the Western United States. For the next year they will be serving with a Berkeley-based nonprofit, Multinational Exchange for Sustainable Agriculture (MESA). As a GrizzlyCorps fellow their work at MESA includes supporting programs to fund and support underrepresented peoples in farming and food pathways work. Some of these programs include on-farm training in Florida, a year-long beekeeping apprenticeship in Richmond, CA, and a slew of classwork to train people in Agroecology in California and across the country. Jordan took an indirect path to UC Berkeley, being accepted as a re-entry student whose professional career had more relevance to educational work. With this basis they hope to bring a focus on community education and traditional ecological knowledge to their work in ecosystem management and food pathways. What matters to Jordan most is family, friendship, and building relationships in communities; this is part of why they chose to work with MESA and GrizzlyCorps.