Project Title: Expanding Community Relations and Measuring Impact​

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Goals & Needs

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The mission of the Marin Resource Conservation District (Marin RCD) is to conserve and enhance Marin County’s soil, water, air, vegetation, and wildlife. The Marin RCD is a founding member of the Marin Carbon Project and offers carbon farming programs to plan, design, permit and implement carbon beneficial projects in Marin County.  

 

Our GrizzlyCorps member will join Marin RCD staff and participate in an elaborate partnership network, consisting of colleagues from Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Point Blue Conservation Science: Students and Teachers Restoring a Watershed, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Point Reyes National Seashore working on the greater issues of climate change, resiliency, and mitigation on our agricultural landscapes. Specifically, our GrizzlyCorps member will work with board, staff and partners as we learn and explore the issues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice within our ag-focused partnerships. We expect our GrizzlyCorps member to assist with the following:

•    Making connections to Marin’s agricultural farm worker community by investigating potential new partnership organizations within the Latinx community.
•    Researching and interviewing Marin organizations in their DEIJ work within the ag community and identifying areas of collaboration.
•    Identifying ways in which the Marin RCD might establish new partnerships and strengthen internal programs to benefit a wider community. 
•    Identifying ways to measure impacts within a wider community. 

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Our GrizzlyCorps member will connect with our partners through farm visits and meetings in addition to social media and website messaging established by the previous member. Communications with Marin’s farmers and ranch workers will be key. Furthermore, our GrizzlyCorps member will assist the Marin RCD, consultants, and staff with the development of Marin RCD’s GIS and RCD Project Tracker database to track overall impact within the county. The Marin RCD will be revamping an internal GIS platform with a consultant and refining their public facing project tracking database (https://www.rcdprojects.org/ )This collection of information will be used to identify areas of existing and proposed work in addition to the documentation of natural resource impact. 

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Marin RCD is run by a five-member Board of Directors who are agricultural landowners within the district and is staffed with 6 people: Agroecologist, Conservation Program Manager, Urban Streams Manager, Soil Health Hub Coordinator, Bookkeeper and Executive Director. The Marin RCD’s office is in Point Reyes Station, which is a quaint town adjacent to the Point Reyes National Seashore, one hour northwest of San Francisco. Marin County is the third wealthiest county in the nation which presents cost of living challenges for ranchers, ranch workers and residents. Many folks commute from nearby Sonoma County or work remotely.

 

The agricultural landscape in Marin County consists of small family farms, primarily of livestock and dairy producers, who are marketing to Bay Area customers. Marin’s agricultural producers are quite innovative and are the first in the nation with carbon farm plans. Program availability is directed primarily toward Marin’s agricultural landowners however the Marin RCD is re-evaluating its carbon farming program to understand and explore a wider community audience and impact.

The Marin RCD thrives on partnerships and works well with local, state and federal partners to apply restorative and regenerative practices on farms and ranches. It is through this teamwork that programs such as the Marin Carbon Project was initiated and remains viable today. This partnership works collaboratively daily to enhance carbon sequestration in rangeland, agricultural and forest soils through research, demonstration and implementation in Marin County. This position will be an exciting opportunity to work with core partners who developed this nationally recognized program.

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Project Title: Capacity building with MESA and partner organizations to increase and diffuse resources for socially disadvantaged emerging farmers in the San Francisco Bay Area, California and around the United States in areas that begin with agroecology, farming and food pathways.

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Goals & Needs ​

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Our flagship program, MESA’s Global Exchange offers a rare opportunity for beginning and established farmers from different cultures to spur innovation, champion agricultural heritage, and transform our global food system. Awarded U.S. Department of State training and cultural exchange program designation in 1996,  MESA sponsors training visas for eligible beginning international farm Stewards. MESA and our global partners carefully screen Steward candidates, matching them with U.S. host mentor farms and agricultural organizations for up to 12 months of on-site training and cultural immersion.
 
MESA’s newest Agroecology Food and Farming Pathways (AFFP) program is open for U.S. residents, and proudly features the collaboration of three esteemed California partner organizations. This USDA-supported program is specifically designed for socially disadvantaged beginning farmers and ranchers who live in the U.S. AFFP launched in September 2020 and will support hundreds of socially disadvantaged emerging farmers.  As students move through our program there will be additional opportunities that involve gaining land access, micro-enterprise/ business development, training and mentorship.
 
The Grizzlycorps Fellow will:

• Support the development of resources and tools through direct and indirect program support for program participants.

• Assist with the AFFP program, as well as supporting our global exchange program participants as they navigate resources and opportunities in the United States.

• We are also excited to explore with Fellows their interests to create a mutually beneficial project.

• The work environment will be a balance of office and field work in collaboration with local and US partners.

 
Our programming focuses on knowledge and skill development for resilience in the areas that address regenerative agriculture needs locally and globally.  The growing disconnect our communities have with our food system requires intentional interventions and strategy to address climate change issues facing communities in the United States, but more importantly globally.  Our aim is to provide alternatives to industrial agricultural practices and support communities that are systematically and actively being disconnected from their food system. 
 

Organizational and Community Highlights

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MESA is based in the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA), and is made up of 9 counties with a total population well over 7 million people.   It's hard not to think about California and not think about the abundance of fresh food and diverse global cultures that make up the most diverse cuisines anywhere in the United States.  The SFBA maintains a mediterranean climate and generally experiences  cool summers and rainy winters.  However, given the regional microclimates, the weather can change several times a day and vary greatly between countries (getting cooler as you move toward the Ocean, and much warmer as you go east toward the Sierra Mountains).  There is ample public transit (bus and train), as well as a strong bicycle culture.  Day trips to the ocean, mountains, rivers, wine country, or numerous outdoor recreational activities makes California appealing to those who enjoy nature.
 
MESA’s is an organization with deep roots in the community, with over 12 key partner teammates throughout California, and a few more global partner teammates based in Latin America and East Africa.  MESA’s core team is currently only 4 individuals members, leading direct programming impacting over 80 students and fellow’s monthly.  Given numerous roles everyone in MESA supports, we rely on internal and external professional development opportunities.  Every core teammate has a lot to offer, and this also provides a lot of space to grow and explore established and new skills to explore.  Team and 1:1 meetings are a core component of how we build and maintain culture at MESA.

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Project Title: Forest Health Fire Safe and Resilient Landscape Outreach

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Goals & Needs

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The Sonoma Wildfire Awareness Outreach Coordinator will serve all of Sonoma County in increasing community resilience in the face of increased wildfire risk. The position will housed at the Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (Gold Ridge RCD) and work in partnership with Fire Safe Sonoma and the Sonoma RCD. Gold Ridge and Sonoma RCDs were established in the 1940s to promote soil conservation and have continued as a local leader in environmental conservation for climate adaptation, water quality improvement, wildlife habitat enhancement and agricultural sustainability.

Fire Safe Sonoma is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to increase awareness of wildfire issues in our county and help local residents and firefighting agencies to achieve improved wildfire safety. Formed in 1998, Fire Safe Sonoma has been instrumental in helping to educate residents about wildfire prevention and safety. Fire Safe Sonoma and the RCDs are working together to increase access to information around wildfire awareness. This position & project will build upon and execute :

• help engage and organize communities to be more resilient to wildfires and other adverse effects exacerbated through our changing climate.

• an outreach and coordination plan around wildfire awareness to improve Sonoma County resident’s adaptation to increased wildfire risk in our area.

• perform one on one communication with the community, as well as the staff and boards of Fire Safe Sonoma in partnership with Gold Ridge and Sonoma RCDs.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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The Gold Ridge RCD is located outside of the small towns of Sebastopol and Graton. We have 10 experienced, kind, and thoughtful staff. Our office is in an old farmhouse situated on an orchard and vineyard property down a gravel road. There is not regular public transportation to our office, but many staff enjoy biking to work. A Fellow placed with us will have a great opportunity to network with not only dozens of different community organizations but many professional individuals and community members as well. Sonoma County is beautiful with a great need to improve engagement with under-served populations and innovative land managers.

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Project Title: RCD Climate Communications Associate

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Goals & Needs

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1. Gold Ridge RCD promotes soil conservation and is a local leader in conservation--for climate adaptation, water quality improvement, wildlife habitat enhancement and agricultural sustainability. The Carbon Cycle Institute (CCI) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2013 working at the intersection of climate science and agriculture.

2. The RCD Climate Communications Associate will serve all CA RCDs participating in climate programs and/or utilizing the RCD Project Tracking tool https://www.rcdprojects.org/. The position will be housed at the Gold Ridge RCD office and work in partnership with CCI and RCDs across the state participating in climate mitigation and adaptation initiatives.

   1. The Fellow will assist in managing and expanding use of an innovative, open source project tracking database designed to aggregate the ecosystem service benefits, including climate regulation, associated with the project level work of RCDs and their partners. As of October 2020, the RCD Project Tracker is tracking 291 conservation projects associated with 177 partnering organizations and agencies, capturing a total conservation investment potential of $42,968,230.

   2. In order to accommodate the rapid growth in utilization of the site and to support needed integration with California’s wildfire mitigation and prevention efforts, climate action planning, and carbon accounting at jurisdictional scales, there is a pressing need for additional staff support in formalizing rules and procedures for system use and expansion, including producing webinars on how to use Project Tracker for different types of project, collect ideas for system improvements, support development of a business plan and governance structure, and conduct outreach to agencies, county planning departments, and legislators on the tool, possible applications and systems integration.

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Climate and carbon cycle literacy is still greatly lacking in the general population and among many elected officials and resource agencies tasked with mitigating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the ecological health of California’s natural resources. The same is true for many local and regional food systems supporters and organizers as well as those working in the environmental justice movement.

• The position will work with the Gold Ridge RCD and the Carbon Cycle Institute in the development of communications systems that allow us to better track, document, and share carbon farming activities, initiatives, and successes from around the state.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Gold Ridge RCD is located outside of the small towns of Sebastopol and Graton. While housed with Gold Ridge RCD and CCI the Fellow will be working with RCDs statewide. There are more than 90 RCDs across the state who work together and independently to solve natural resource issues across the state. The Fellow will be working with all interested RCDs in communicating the benefits of their work both through utilization of the RCD Project Tracker and in partnership with CCI in their support for RCDs implementing carbon farm plans. RCDs are nimble, collaborative, innovative hubs of conservation allowing Fellow access to a wide range of supportive stakeholders. Gold Ridge RCD has 12 experienced, kind, and thoughtful staff. Our office is in an old farmhouse situated on an orchard and vineyard property down a gravel road. There is not regular public transportation to our office, but many staff enjoy biking to work. A Fellow placed with us will have a great opportunity to network with not only dozens of different community organizations but many professional individuals and community members as well. Sonoma County is beautiful with a great need to improve engagement with underserved populations and innovative land managers.

 

CCI provides a unique organizational niche among nonprofits by supporting and working with a diverse group of strategic partners, including farmers and ranchers, public agencies, university researchers and students, and mission- aligned organizations and businesses. We are committed to diversity and equity in our workplace and the communities we serve. Our staff of six provides scientific and technical expertise, planning assistance, training and educational services, policy development, and advocacy work on behalf of our mission and partners. Our home office is located in Petaluma, CA. This position can be remote, in person or a combination.

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Project Title: Building Support and Capacity for Wildfire Mitigation in 6 key areas of Marin County

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Goals & Needs

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MWPA was formed in 2020 to implement comprehensive wildfire prevention, mitigation and emergency preparedness activities, in coordination with its 17 local member agencies. There are six key priority areas for wildfire mitigation in Marin (Big Rock Ridge, Terra Linda Divide, Blithedale Ridge, Mount Tamalpais Watershed, Bolinas Ridge, Marin Headlands). These areas represent critical multi-thousand acre corridors between Wildland Urban Interface areas and large undeveloped wildland areas where increasing fire resiliency would achieve significant improvement in the County’s overall wildfire prevention strategy.   

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The Marin County Community Wildfire Prevention Plan and the California Vegetation Treatment Program outline recommendations for mitigation measures.

• Through qualitative research methods such as surveys, interviews and/or focus groups, the Fellow will form an understanding of the main concerns, challenges and desires of stakeholders and community members within each of the 6 identified areas. Concern from the community is expected to include the environmental impacts of vegetation management measures.  This concern will be at the heart of the tension between land management, environmental preservation and fire prevention.

• MWPA will provide the Fellow with contacts for key stakeholders in all 6 areas and provide introductions. The main stakeholders identified to date include: National Park Service, Marin Municipal Water District, North Marin Water District, Marin County Parks and Open Space, California State Parks, large private landowners, OneTam, Marin RCD, Marin Conservation League, Fire Environment Resiliency Networks, Ecologically Sound Practices Partnership, Audubon Society, FireWise communities, FIRESafe Marin and local leaders and community members. 

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The Fellow will identify needs for community education and recommend a path forward for each of the 6 areas that will achieve community support and create greater wildfire resiliency on the ground.  The Grizzly Corps Fellow will help MWPA build a partnership with communities within and adjacent to the 6 areas, and begin the process of building capacity at the local community level for achieving meaningful wildfire prevention and resiliency.  Ideally, upon completion of the outreach and assessment, several of the identified areas will be ready for implementation of key wildfire mitigation projects with broad community support.  These initial areas will serve as “success stories” to be used in areas where community support is not at the level for landscape-level wildfire mitigation projects (greater than 3,000 acres). The main deliverable is a report and presentation to be delivered to the MWPA Board and Operations Committee including data gathered through the outreach process, education needs assessment and recommendations for the 6 areas.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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Marin County's wildlands, natural vegetation, and climate make our neighborhoods beautiful and desirable places to live but also leave residents and visitors vulnerable to wildfire. Marin has significant portions of the County included in moderate, high and very high wildfire severity zones as outlined in CAL FIRE’s fire hazard severity maps. The County learned important lessons starting in 2017 with the North Bay Fires, and the creation of MWPA approved by the voters in March 2020 is the direct result of the devastating fire seasons residents have witnessed and experienced first-hand. 

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At the same time, Marin has a strong tradition of land and environmental preservation. The Fellow can expect to gain significant professional development experience navigating the space between land preservation, fire prevention and ecological practices. As a new agency dedicated to advancing fire prevention through the most advanced technological and environmental practices, MWPA includes 2 full-time staff (the Executive Director and a Planning and Program Manager who will supervise the Fellow) in constant contact with its 17 member agencies (list available on website). MWPA is built upon the existing strong partnerships and solid relationships between fire agencies, local governments, land management agencies and State and Federal partners, and the Fellow can expect a lot of exposure and opportunities to interact with MWPA’s network of stakeholders. The workplace is located within the headquarters of Southern Marin Fire District in Sausalito, a few steps from the Bay. The Fellow’s desk is in an open floorplan, in a casual but respectful atmosphere. The Fellow can be provided a vehicle for work related travel and is expected to work independently, spending time outside the office as necessary, interacting with the relevant project stakeholders and getting to know the land and the community.

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Project Title: Grow-a-Row & Glean Lead, Watershed Management on Private Lands

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Goals & Needs

This GrizzlyCorps member will get to work in food waste & greenhouse gas reduction & food justice with Farm to Pantry. with Farm to Pantry is a gleaning non-profit that was founded in 2008. We rescue produce that would otherwise go wasted and get it to people in need. With the break down of the food distribution system in the pandemic, we gleaned almost 1 million servings of immunity boosting fruits & vegetables (tripling the previous year).

 

The GrizzlyCorps member will help us in:

• expanding our Grow-a-Row program to encourage people plant more food for others in need. We are connecting starts and know how to those with land.

• The member will also lead teams of volunteers on gleans and assist in the tracking of impact numbers to tell the story.

 

Food waste is responsible for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of the food produced in the US goes wasted. We connect this abundance with need. The carbon emissions we saved in 2020 were equal to driving a car 17 times around the world or the work of 225 acres of national forest over a year. Since Farm to Pantry’s first harvest in 2008, our diverse group of volunteers has collected more than 750,000 pounds of fresh produce (the equivalent of over 3 million servings) that would have otherwise gone to waste and delivered it to neighbors in need. We have also organized educational events around healthy cooking and eating and brought them to under-served populations in the community.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

At Farm to Pantry, we are a small team. We work out of our home office and mostly in the field on farms & properties of Sonoma County. We work with over 300 volunteers on over 250 properties. Sonoma County is an amazing place for agriculture. Everything grows here. Working with us takes initiative, problem solving, people engagement, and a value for our mission. We drive all over Sonoma County. Must enjoy physical work outside.

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Project Title: Building ecosystem and community climate and fire resilience through restoration and community engagement

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Goals & Needs

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Pepperwood is a leader in forging solutions to advance the health of Northern California’s land, water and wildlife. The Dwight Center for Conservation Science and the Pepperwood Preserve encompass 3,200 acres northeast of Santa Rosa in the Southern Mayacamas Mountains (Sonoma County). Pepperwood serves as a Sentinel Site, a long-term monitoring framework designed to track changes in climate, water, vegetation, and wildlife. Our network of sensors, cameras, instruments, and research plots takes the pulse of nature and provides real time situational awareness.  Our Research and Preserve Management team hosts visiting scholars and conducts systematic monitoring to track environmental changes and to measure the effectiveness of our land and water management strategies. 

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Pepperwood is seeking a GrizzlyCorps fellow who will work closely with the Research and Preserve Management team to advance our new strategic initiative called “Building Climate and Fire Resilience.”  Specifically, we are seeking assistance in the field to implement and monitor:

• forest restoration activities

• monitor hydrology of springs

• measure live fuel moisture in different vegetation types 

• Seek user feedback on a recently developed tool to assist Sonoma County landowners and residents in planning fuel reduction projects (wildfirefuelmapper.org).  
  
  Field work will include data collection (e.g., climate sensors, wildlife cameras, vegetation, and amphibian/reptiles) in established forest monitoring plots before and after forest thinning and prescribed fire.  Live fuel moisture will be measured by collecting vegetation samples, drying, weighing, and calculating moisture values across the preserve. We are seeking added capacity to engage with community members, and public and private land and water managers to test and improve our new online tool designed to streamline hazard fuel reduction projects.   

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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Sonoma County faces pressing challenges associated with habitat loss and fragmentation, invasive species, degraded water cycles, pollution of air and water, and changing climate and fire patterns. In the last ten years, our region has experienced a historic drought, catastrophic and repeated fires, and wide-spread flooding. After being directly impacted by the Tubbs and Kincade Fires, Pepperwood has emerged as a leader in predicting, preparing and adapting to wildfire. While this has been exceptionally challenging, our organization and community have demonstrated remarkable strength, cohesiveness, and willingness to work together to not just recover, but build long-term social and ecological resilience.

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Pepperwood Preserve sits within the traditional homeland of the Wappo people. We respect and honor past, present, and future generations of Wappo and their continued connection to this land. We are grateful for the opportunity to gather in this beautiful place and give our respect for its first inhabitants.

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Pepperwood’s mission is to inspire conservation through science. We believe that our well-being depends on the health of our natural world. Every day our team studies California’s land, water, and wildlife so we can educate decision makers, our community and the next generation. Given the increase in wildfires, it is critical that we all work together to address risks and build community resilience. As a regional hub, we advance collaborations across disciplines and between scientists, educators, and land managers. We are a conduit of science-based knowledge, tools, and policy solutions. Pepperwood creates and tests strategies that make watersheds and communities more resilient to changing climate and fire regimes.

Pepperwood’s 18 staff are passionate about turning science into action. As an integrated team of researchers, resource managers, educators, and program staff, we value collaboration, co-creation, and inclusivity. Our field station is a dynamic, bustling environment. On any given day, staff will be collecting data, hosting convenings, leading visitors on hikes, and participating in community events. With a broad portfolio of applied science projects and a deep network of collaborators, Pepperwood provides a rich and supportive learning environment. We aim to train, recruit, and retain staff, board members, volunteers, and members that reflect the diversity of the greater regional community. We seek to communicate the value, processes, and products of science in ways that reach the broadest possible audience. Pepperwood is a part of the community and we aim to listen to the broader regional community and reach people where they are.

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Project Title: Building Wild and Resilient Farms in California

 

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Goals & Needs

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Wild Farm Alliance (WFA) is a national nonprofit working to bring nature back to the farm and build a wild and resilient agricultural movement. Our mission is to promote a healthy, viable agriculture that helps to protect and restore wild nature. Our programs are focused on assisting growers with integrating practices that support agricultural production and protect natural resources. For more than 20 years we have worked on education, advocacy and implementation of conservation on farms and ranches. Integral to our work, we’ve helped farmers and ranchers with identifying conservation opportunities and helping them with implementation. Some of the practices we have helped to install on farms include planting hedgerows and riparian plantings, restoring native plants in areas too steep to farm, and creating wildlife corridors with trees and shrubs. All of these projects are now sequestering carbon and helping to make the farms more resilient to climate chaos.

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WFA's GrizzlyCorps member will:

• compile research on practices that promote resilience and biodiversity conservation

• create innovative resources (online and print) for farmers and agricultural professionals on the benefits and opportunities

• assist with WFA's on-the-ground work helping California farmers successfully carry out their funded projects through California Department of Food and Agriculture's Healthy Soils Program

• helping farmers who are interested in installing conservation plantings.

• Projects include planting hedgerows, riparian buffers and other habitat installation projects that increase the farm's capacity to successfully sequester carbon.

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California farmers are experiencing the negative impacts of climate change on-the-ground everyday - unpredictable weather patterns, flooding, drought, and increased invasive species. While farmers and ranchers are adaptable by nature, these additional challenges make it even harder to operate a viable business. Fortunately, biodiversity conservation practices that we promote help to address many issues. These practices can be used not only to improve soil health, sequester carbon and reduce GHG emissions, they also provide a myriad of benefits including water quality protection, erosion control, increased habitat for beneficial birds and insects and improved pollination services. In turn, farmers who implement such practices are not only helping to manage the effects of climate change, but they are also preparing their farms to be more resilient to the unpredictable future.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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Wild Farm Alliance is a small but mighty organization. We have one staff member based in Minneapolis, MN and one in Watsonville, CA. The GrizzlyCorps member will work with both of our staff members while based in Watsonville. We have a flexible work environment and culture, balancing the need for our presence behind a computer and out in the field. Watsonville, CA is a small agricultural town in Santa Cruz County located on the Central Coast. The area is known for growing strawberries, apples, lettuce and a host of other vegetables. Watsonville is home to people of varied ethnic backgrounds and diverse communities, with a large Latinx population.

We do most of our work remotely (work from home) and anticipate that to continue well into the future. Staff is in almost constant communication. We would like to have the GrizzlyCorps member also be a part of this culture and be a remote employee.

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Project Title: Educating on Food System Transformation through Events and Social Media

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Goals & Needs

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The Ecological Farming Association is a 40 year old non-profit organization based in Santa Cruz, California dedicated to promoting ecological agriculture and food systems through education and advocacy. It operates the largest sustainable agriculture event west of the Mississippi, the EcoFarm conference, for more than 1500 farmers and food system professionals. EcoFarm is expanding its communication and educational offerings, as well as emphasizing the connections between regenerative agriculture, climate justice, and equity.

 

The Grizzly Corps fellow will come in at the ground level of these efforts, with three discrete but linked projects. These projects include:

1. engaging on a full year's conference planning cycle, with a task of developing a workshop track on regenerative agriculture and climate change

2. developing and staffing a "Mighty Network" social media site to facilitate networking and community building around topics of regenerative agriculture, food systems, and climate change

3. assessing 20 years of video and audio conference archives for relevance, and developing and implementing a plan to make these available through the Mighty Networks site.
   
   The content showcased at the EcoFarm conference and through its networks focuses on a holistic set of issues related to the unsustainability of our food system and practical solutions. These issues include soil degradation, pesticide poisonings, habitat destruction and wildlife loss, the climate crisis, air pollution and water degradation and overuse, and human health issues related to food insecurity, diet, and environmental degradation. The conference provides both practical on-the-ground solutions as well as policy and activist-oriented content. This project support Grizzly Corps' purpose of building community resilience and reducing carbon emissions through agri-forestry initiatives. While the fellow will not be directly involved in on-the-ground efforts, they will be enhancing EcoFarm's capacity to provide educational offerings from numerous experts to a wide audience in and outside of California

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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EcoFarm's office is located in Soquel, a few miles south of Santa Cruz. It is conveniently located off bus lines and in a bike friendly location. A state park beach is a 15 minute walk away. Santa Cruz is a small, friendly, and progressive college town, located about 45 minutes from San Jose. It is walkable, bikable, and has a diverse array of interesting shops, restaurants, and cafes. Part of our staff works from our office and part work remotely. The organization is small, with a very informal team-oriented culture that kicks into gear around the organizing of its annual conference, held in late January. Because of its size, the fellow would likely have frequent interactions with all staff, and would have more hands-on experience for mentoring than they would in a larger organization. Staff have great flexibility in establishing their schedule, and a high degree of autonomy in completing their work. There is considerable opportunity for the fellow to exercise initiative in the completion of this project. This AmeriCorps position would provide a Grizzly Corps fellow with multiple professional development opportunities. They would be connected to the leading topics, experts, and practitioners in California engaged in regenerative agriculture, climate resilience and equity. They would have an unparalleled opportunity to educate themselves on 20 years of learning on organic agriculture and sustainable food systems. The fellow would also learn very marketable skills in event planning, social media program development and implementation, as well as in non-profit project management.

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Project Title: Assessing opportunities for SGMA and CV-SALTS to drive better outcomes in water and sustainable agriculture.

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Goals & Needs

Sustainable Conservation helps California thrive by uniting people to solve our toughest challenges facing our land, air, and water. Our Water for the Future and Waste Not programs are investing in the health of our future groundwater aquifers by working now to develop and scale solutions for farmers to help ensure our groundwater aquifers will be healthier for future generations.

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The implementation of two game-changing water policy efforts will have long-lasting effects on the future of the environment, agriculture, and community drinking water in California's Central Valley. The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) responds to long-term overdraft of our groundwater aquifers and requires locally-led solutions to manage groundwater sustainably. The Salt and Nitrate Control Programs arising from the Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability (CV-SALTS) initiative responds to salt and nitrate contamination of many aquifers and requires dischargers to work together to improve water quality over time and provide drinking water in the meantime.

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These two efforts are ambitious and complex each in their own right, including through the creation of many different sub-regional entities and plans. The complexity increases with the two efforts being implemented simultaneously, including potential duplication of efforts. Yet there is also a huge opportunity for these efforts to support more equitable water outcomes and to encourage more sustainable agricultural production.

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The GrizzlyCorps fellowship would help Sustainable Conservation identify and pursue opportunities for improved and more equitable regional-scale climate and water outcomes through SGMA and CV-SALTS implementation. The fellow would do this by:

• Attending calls/meetings for a subset of Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) and Nitrate Management Zones (NMZs)

• Reading and analyzing documents prepared by the individual GSAs and NMZs

• Identifying trends across the different GSAs and NMZs, including commonalities and differences in approaches, stakeholders, monitoring and measurement, action plans, etc

• Tapping into the GrizzlyCorps network to understand how other Fellows’ work and their placement site organizations are, or could be, impacted by the GSAs and NMZs

• Bringing findings back to Sustainable Conservation’s program teams and co-developing ideas for deeper engagement to advance our agricultural solutions and/or influence coordination between/among GSAs and NMZ
  
  The fellow would develop a final report summarizing the findings and recommendations above. Providing a big-picture overview of how these efforts are working together in practice – and what improvements could be made – would provide value to the many stakeholders who are experts on specifics but are unclear on the overall trajectory.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

Sustainable Conservation works with California's agricultural sector to help continue and grow the legacy of stewardship of people and lands. Our culture supports a commitment to collaboration, encourages continuous learning, and welcomes diverse perspectives. The team has a variety of professional backgrounds, from government and policy to private business to research science. GrizzlyCorps Members will be working under the mentorship of staff who have many years of experience in the conservation and sustainability space. Working here will help the GrizzlyCorps member develop a better understanding of water, sustainable agriculture, and the operations of a non-profit organization.

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About the community: Modesto is in the heart of the Central Valley and the county seat of Stanislaus County, one of the top five agricultural counties in the state. Located just 1.5 hours west of Yosemite, east of Bay Area, and south to the state capital, Modesto is a great landing place to explore the state. And don't forget the local gems, like the popular indoor rock climbing gym and the Gallo Center for the Arts, a regular venue for national and international shows.

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COVID-19: Due to the pandemic, all staff are currently working from their respective residences. As the situation evolves, the organization will re-evaluate working in the office. We are having on-going conversations to get input from staff on this topic.

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Project Title: Conservation Planning and Outreach for Drought Resilience

 

Goals & Needs

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Merced County has been ground zero for climate adaptation that in 2016 brought The Nature Conservancy here to assess over a two year period  the climate and multiple benefits which may be achieved through land use, management and conservation activities. East Merced RCD has supported education at all levels; including but not limited to teacher workshops, classroom demonstrations and presentations to landowners of importance of resiliency in air, land and water issues.  Some partnerships are with Dept. of Water Resources, Integrated Regional Water Management, University of California Merced, Merced Irrigation District, Valley Land Alliance and the Merced County Farm Bureau.

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The GrizzlyCorps member will assist with conservation planning and implementation of USDA NRCS programs, Carbon Farm Plans, and restoration projects that can help with carbon sequestration and reduction of greenhouse gases.  The position will also have some time dedicated to education and outreach as well as connecting with local colleges and universities on research projects and field trials.

• A focus will be conservation planning for efficient delivery of technical and financial assistance for water conservation and groundwater infiltration related to SGMA.

• A second focus will be outreach and education to the public, especially to farmers, to address climate change resiliency.

 

Organizational & Community Highlights 

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Merced is located in the heart of California and is known as the gateway to Yosemite. As one of the top 5 agricultural counties in the United States, there is a variety of agricultural systems to learn from and have impact on. There is opportunity to see even more research and field trials implemented in the San Joaquin Valley with our newest University of California campus. As part of a small organization, the member will have a significant role in developing and implementing programs. The value of professional development gained from working on a project or program from the ground up is irreplaceable and cannot be found in larger organizations that tend to use a departmental approach. The full spectrum of experiences will include exploring funding opportunities, developing program guidelines for outreach, education, and implementation. There is great satisfaction in knowing that YOU are responsible for influencing change in any organization. But an even bigger impact occurs when that change is benefiting our environment and food system.

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Project Title: For efficient delivery of technical and financial assistance for water conservation and groundwater infiltration

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Goals & Needs

East Stanislaus RCD has recently begun watershed level coordination to begin riparian restoration and other beneficial projects for the San Joaquin watershed. The proposed project will constitute a Phase 1 of treatment with specific landowners identified for participation in the program with the intent that other phases with additional landowners will follow. East Stanislaus has partnered with River Partners, a local conservation-oriented non-profit, for their expertise in site restoration, management and monitoring as well as treatment methods to the proposed programmatic approach.

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As ESRCD builds capacity to work on the watershed level, support staffing is needed to assist in landowner outreach, partnership development, and conservation planning. The position will have time dedicated to securing landowner participation in restoration projects, mapping and planning clean-up and replanting to restore the riparian corridor.

Riparian areas in California support more threatened and endangered species than any other habitat type. Riparian corridors provide migration pathways for birds, fish, and terrestrial species that will be even more important as our climate changes and the precipitation patterns in California further alter the hydrology of our watersheds. The members service will be directly tied to climate adaptation and capacity building at the RCD to offer programs that assist landowners and develop partnerships to increase implementation of riparian restoration projects on our main tributaries.

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Organizational & Community Highlights
Stanislaus County is one of leading agriculture counties in the state and is home to over 20 square miles of water. Stanislaus, Tuolumne and Merced Rivers are three main tributaries in the San Joaquin watershed that provide valued fish habitat for Steelhead Trout and Chinook Salmon. These tributaries feed into the San Joaquin River that is an integral part of the the Delta ecosystem in California. The California Department of Fish & Wildlife have recently completed several successful projects on the Stanislaus River and are working toward more on the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers making this an opportune time to be working on the rivers and participating in positive change. As part of a growing organization, the member will have a significant role in developing and implementing programs. The value of professional development gained from working on a project or program from the ground up is irreplaceable and cannot be found in larger organizations that tend to use a departmental approach. The full spectrum of experiences will include restoration planning, program guidelines and development, outreach and education, and implementation. There is great satisfaction in knowing that YOU are responsible in influencing change in any organization but takes an even bigger impact when that change is benefiting our environment.

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Project Title: Healthy Soils and Forest Health

 

Goals & Needs

The Upper Salinas-Las Tablas Resource Conservation District has served beautiful northern San Luis Obispo County since 1951. We work on a diverse array of projects from creek health to soil health to fire prevention. 

Our GrizzlyCorps member will:

• primarily work on our Healthy Soils project through the California Department of Food and Agriculture. This project involves vermicompost trials on vineyards.

• The other main component of our GrizzlyCorps members service will involve planning, permitting and implementation of fire prevention projects to increase forest health.

 

he US-LT RCD has a one of a kind VermiCompost project at a local vineyard which includes frequent soil and greenhouse gas sampling. They also provide one-on-one technical assistance to farmers and ranchers who are looking to implement soil health practices on their land such as no-till, cover cropping, and compost application. The US-LT RCD believes that agriculture is part of the solution to climate change and that increased soil health is a major component to sequestering carbon.

 

Organizational and Community Highlights

The US-LT RCD staff is comprised of professionals who are dedicated to the notion of thinking globally, acting locally. We believe in the work we do and we believe that we are making a difference in our community. San Luis Obispo County is a special part of California, halfway in between the larger urban areas of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Our district comprises coastal waterways to hot, arid inland valleys and everyone who lives here or who visits here is always charmed by the beautiful landscapes and kind people.

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Agriculture and tourism are two of the most important pieces of our economy. With excellent weather year round, and beautiful scenery, there is ample opportunities for outdoor exploration. Our staff members are all outdoor enthusiasts and on the weekends most of us will be hiking, biking, surfing, rockclimbing, kayaking, or finding other ways to enjoy this very special place we live.

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Project Title: Rangeland Regenerative Agriculture and Education

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Goals & Needs

Sequoia Riverlands Trust manages cattle grazing for endangered species, rangeland and watershed health, and for learning on lands in the Southern Sierra Nevada, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Carrizo Plain. Contributions of service the Member will be providing include rangeland monitoring and experiential learning. The bulk of the project is:

• monitoring rangelands

• communicating with grazing lessees

• sharing the monitoring information with high school students and the SRT's Education Department.

 

The environmental challenge is recognizing a spectrum of rangeland conditions with monitoring then working to correct poor grazing practices or to share the benefits of cattle grazing for soil health or endangered species management. The GrizzlyCorps Member will be practicing Pathways Towards Resiliency with direct experience in Land Use Management and Nature Based Solutions, with a foundation in Regenerative Agriculture and Planned Grazing.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

The Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) office is in Visalia: the “jewel of the San Joaquin valley”, located about 20 miles southwest of the Sierra Nevada foothills, where most of SRT’s nature preserves are found. Visalia lies within the Kaweah River watershed, and at approximately 140,000 residents is the largest city and official seat of Tulare county. In Visalia, the member can live and work in a diverse, growing city with a charming, pedestrian-friendly downtown area, dozens of restaurants of all types, live music, a thriving arts scene, multiple microbreweries, and a minor league baseball team. Fresno Yosemite International Airport is only 45 minutes away when air travel is needed, and the city of Fresno, the 5th most populous city in California, offers amenities befitting a large city. The member will also find exceptional produce at roadside stands and farmer’s markets in the agricultural mecca of California and enjoy easy access to the unrivaled beauty of Sequoia National Park and the largest living tree in the world, as well as the adjacent King’s Canyon National Park and nearby Sequoia National Monument. A number of beaches along the stunningly beautiful central coast of California are less than a two-and-a-half hour drive away, and the tallest living trees in the world, the coast redwoods, only slightly farther in Big Sur and Santa Cruz.

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Project Title: Supporting Small-Scale BIPOC Farmers in Organic and Regenerative Practices

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Goals & Needs

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The UCCE Small Farms and Specialty Crops advisor and program staff assist small-scale and socially disadvantaged farmers to thrive economically through extension support, training, research on specialty crops, and policy communication. Our work supports farmers of a diversity of cultures who operate a wide variety of farming operations, often with limited resources. These include the large population of Hmong, Lao, Mien, and other Southeast Asian refugee farmers in Fresno County, with the specialty Asian vegetable industry valued at about $17.5 million annually. Recently, a group of Hmong farmers have received funding through the Healthy Soils Program to implement practices such as compost application, cover crops, and windbreaks on their already diversified farms. These practices present an exciting opportunity to sequester carbon, build soil microbial diversity, and reduce reliance on synthetic fertilizers, as well as addressing regional environmental issues such as air and water quality. 

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The GrizzlyCorps Member will assist small-scale, socially disadvantaged, and highly diversified farms to integrate practices that improve soil health with current management practices.

The Member will:

• work directly with farmers to identify and implement soil health and conservation practices that address production issues on their farm such as nutrient management, insect pest management, and weed management.

• assisting with small group trainings on topics related to soil health practices such as nonchemical weed management, beneficial insects for pest control, and use of equipment for compost application and cover crop seeding. 

• expanding support for implementation of soil health practices to the African-American Farmers of California on their demonstration farm in Fresno

• assisting with related educational activities for youth development programs connected with demonstration farm.

 

Other duties can include assisting with our project’s response to the COVID-19 crisis and its economic effects on small-scale farms in the San Joaquin Valley, including access to PPE and support with crop buyback programs and accessing new markets, participating in ongoing research projects on specialty crop production, and assisting with efforts to inform policies affecting the farmers we support. 

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The small farms team at UCCE Fresno County consists of the Small Farms and Specialty Crops Advisor and 7-8 full-time and part-time staff. Current projects include assisting small-scale farmers who have received Climate Smart Agriculture funding; research on moringa as a newer specialty crop in the San Joaquin Valley; research on nitrogen fertilizer requirements for specialty vegetable crops; bilingual extension support in Hmong and Spanish; food safety outreach and education for small farms; and marketing support for small farms during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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Fresno offers many of the benefits of a large city, within one of the nation’s most productive agricultural regions and within driving distance of some of California’s most well-known national parks. The local food scene includes restaurants providing a large diversity of cuisines, several farmers markets, and farm stands selling fresh produce, as well as an emerging craft beer scene with local breweries. The Tower District provides theater productions, independent movies, and other arts events. Fresno’s proximity to Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks is a highlight. Backpacking options in the Sierras and recreational opportunities on the central California coast are both accessible in a two-and-a-half-hour drive, and the Kings River, Millerton Lake, and Shaver Lake provide local opportunities for kayaking and boating. While the San Joaquin Valley is known for larger-scale agriculture, 78% of the 6,081 farms in the county were small farms in the 2012 USDA agricultural census. Many of these farms are operated by farmers of color and are highly diversified both in their crops and marketing strategies, selling to farmers markets and niche markets as well as to wholesale produce buyers. 

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The GrizzlyCorps member will gain unique experience by working with small-scale farmers from a diversity of cultures who grow tropical, subtropical, and mainstream specialty crops such as jujubes, guavas, moringa, strawberries, blackberries, sugarcane, ginger, lemongrass, sweet potato, and specialty Asian vegetables. The small farms team strives to provide a collaborative and supportive work environment, with individual team members working both independently and on joint activities. We prioritize cross-cultural relationships with immigrant, refugee and other historically underserved farmers and design our programs to support their farming operations. Bilingual outreach and training for Hmong farmers relies on 26 years of trusted relationships in the Southeast Asian community. We are working remotely during COVID-19 and will evaluate returning to the office when the safety of staff and visitors can be maintained.   

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The Member will have multiple opportunities to gain professional experience through ongoing projects in field research, conservation incentives programs, policy analysis and communication, and marketing and small business development. Partnerships with community-based organizations will provide opportunities for cross-cultural learning and community engagement. The location of this position within the UCANR land grant research and extension system will also provide interaction with UC academics and staff with expertise in a variety of disciplines.

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Project Title: Shasta County Lands Conservation, Stewardship, and Outreach

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Goals & Needs

Since originating in 1998 from a need to safeguard a family ranch threatened by development, the Shasta Land Trust (SLT) has since conserved 23,841 acres. These acres are comprised of agricultural lands, wildlife habitat, riparian corridors, and open spaces, building the foundation of the organizational mission to conserve the beauty, character, and diversity of significant lands in far northern California. Over the past several years, SLT has prioritized multiple projects with a goal of conserving 33,000 additional acres by 2023. With the help of a GrizzlyCorps fellow, SLT will be able to continue to conserve properties at the current pace and increase capacity by furthering the protection of vulnerable lands in our community, which will in turn preserve local food resources, achieve lasting protection of biodiversity, and create a resilient agricultural community in the face of increased pressure of development in rural areas.

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The fellow will work closely with SLT’s stewardship staff, landowners, and project partners in ongoing collaborative planning efforts across the region. Through recently obtained grant funding through the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program from the Department of Conservation, the GrizzlyCorps fellow will assist in empowering landowners to better steward their land by through the use of recommended regenerative and sustainable agricultural practices as well as proper forest management techniques for fire resiliency. To continue to raise awareness about the importance of land conservation in the community, the fellow will enable the land trust to jumpstart educational programs on the Daniell Beaver Banks Preserve, SLT’s newly protected Ambassador Landscape and office location, featuring seven acres of agricultural land and pollinator gardens along the Sacramento River. In addition, the fellow will also represent SLT in various public settings and participate in community engagement, stewardship, and educational activities.

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• Assist in coordinating the completion of conservation easement projects.

• Assist in drafting and reviewing baseline documentation reports and land management plans for protected properties.

• Draft correspondence and reports for landowners, partners, committees, and Board of Directors.

• Conduct site visits and annual monitoring visits.

• Assist in the development of appropriate maps and GIS data for project development and outreach with possible hands-on experience with an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s). 6.) Participate in the communications efforts and community engagement related to SLT’s mission. 7.) Spearhead on-site educational efforts and collaborations regarding environmental, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable land practices.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

Shasta County is geographically diverse, spanning across miles of beautiful oak woodlands, scenic forest land, and several mountain ranges, including a mix of rangeland and cropland, with an abundance of lakes, wild and scenic rivers, historic areas, waterfalls, and lava formations. Redding, the home of the Shasta Land Trust, sits nestled in the upper Sacramento Valley, just south of Shasta Lake and east of Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, and is home to the upper reaches of the Sacramento River and its tributaries. Well known for its salmon and trout fisheries, along with hiking, mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding, camping, boating, and other outdoor recreational activities that are just a short drive away, Redding is the perfect basecamp for the outdoor enthusiast. Shasta Land Trust’s headquarters are situated on seven acres of productive agricultural land and pollinator gardens directly on the Sacramento River, where staff enjoy observing a multitude of waterfowl, quails, turkeys, deer, foxes, and other wildlife right outside their windows, and enjoy taking lunches out on the back deck just above the river. Staff is friendly and professional, and work as a tight knit team to accomplish strategic organizational goals, making sure that every voice is heard. Working for a small non-profit like the Shasta Land Trust will give fellows valuable team building and organization skills, as well as networking opportunities and hands-on experience both in the field and behind a desk.

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Project Title: Forest Health in the Weaverville Community Forest​ & Resilient Headwaters to Trinity Lake

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Goals & Needs

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The Trinity County Resource Conservation District (District) is a not-for-profit, non-regulatory local  government organization that—among many other conservation roles in the community--stewards the  Weaverville Community Forest (WCF) located in Trinity County, California. WCF stewardship is a  collaboration between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Forest Service (USFS),  and the District to manage the forests around Weaverville to benefit the local community, maintain the  viewshed, and create a resilient forest with community input. The WCF is home to many recreational  trails, timberlands, historic resources, and wildlife habitat. 

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The First GrizzlyCorps fellow placed in Weaverville, CA, will assist with the following tasks: 

• Steering the implementation of the 2021-2028 Weaverville Community Forest Strategic Plan, which was  developed under the leadership of a GrizzlyCorps fellow in 2020-2021 through a collaborative,  community-based process. Implementation will likely include assisting with: 

• Prescribed burning in mixed conifer and oak woodland stands, with many related training and  experience opportunities 

• Conducting fieldwork, GIS mapping, etc., for a timber harvest on BLM land and sale of timber  to the local sawmill in Weaverville 

• Conducting fieldwork, GIS mapping, etc., for timber, fire, and/or recreation projects on USFS  land 

• Creating and distributing outreach materials to help local landowners make their properties  more fire resilient, invite community members to WCF events, etc. 

• Coordinating with local trail organizations to organize and/or participate in trail work on local  trails 

• Facilitating WCF Steering Committee and other meetings to gather input and generate Strategic  Plan implementation ideas 

• Many other possible project activities as dictated by the interest of the fellow, possibly including mapping and/or removing invasive weeds, conducting in-stream surveys, planting native trees and  shrubs, nursery management, fuel reduction, staffing community events and educational workshops,  and much more 

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The Trinity Headwaters Project will develop an analysis for the watersheds feeding Trinity Lake and develop restoration projects promoting healthy watersheds and forests. As the California climate follows a hotter and drier trend there are more signs of drought across the landscape. Water storage and watershed resiliency are essential to the small communities in Trinity County and to the State's large water projects. This project will support the initial research and development to enhance the resilience of watersheds and has the potential to develop projects to reduce carbon emissions from high severity wildfires. This project will assess watershed health to develop future projects for stream, wetland, and meadow restoration and guidance for future forest management. The Second GrizzlyCorps Member will:

• work with the Watershed Program Coordinator to complete on the ground surveys of forest health, stream flow and temperature, and more. 

• facilitate community meetings to hear concerns and propose future projects from the communities around Trinity Lake.

• work with the Watershed Program Coordinator to report on the analysis and coordinate with ongoing state-wide initiatives.

• participate and present on findings to the Trinity River Watershed Council and provide watershed education opportunities and outreach for local school children.

• have the opportunity to participate in Trinity River related fisheries, hydrology, and watershed surveys to be exposed to a wide variety of survey techniques.

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Organizational and Community Highlights 

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The Trinity County Resource Conservation District (District) is special district the state of California, with  its headquarters nestled in Weaverville, California, at the foothills of the Trinity Alps Wilderness.  Weaverville, the County seat of Trinity County, is approximately sixty minutes from Redding in Shasta  County and two hours from Arcata along Highway 299. Trinity County has a population of approximately  13,600 people, and most of the land in Trinity County U.S. Forest Service of Bureau of Land Management land. There is an abundance of outdoor recreation activities including access to the Wild and Scenic  Trinity River three large lakes, and many creeks within a 2-20 minute drive. Weaverville has a quaint  historic downtown along Main St with a few art galleries, shops, and restaurants, yet is limited in indoor  activity options. Trinity County is a beautiful, rugged, and mountainous area that would be well suited for anyone with a passion for the outdoors. The County is known for great recreation in the form of hiking, mountain biking, backpacking, hunting, and fishing. Trinity County is home to the Trinity River, Mad River, Van Duzen River, and a small remote section of the Eel River. In a small community there are many organizations in which a GrizzlyCorps Member could get involved with during their spare time from community gardens, search and rescue, volunteer fire departments, trail alliances, and much more. 

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The mission of the District is to assist in protecting, managing, conserving, and restoring the natural  resources of Trinity County through information, education, technical assistance, and project  implementation programs. The District has a very open community with 12 full time employees and 14  seasonal employees. The District is divided into six main programs: education and outreach,  revegetation, road improvement, geographic information systems, forest health, and watershed  management. Program managers work in tandem to accomplish objectives on our multidisciplinary  projects, each program area playing to their strengths to provide quality service to members of the  public and our funding sponsors. 

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The District has a vibrant and diverse community which benefits from fostering diverse ideas and  approaches in the workplace. The District supports initiatives and new ventures which benefit the local  community. A GrizzlyCorps member that would be selected for this location would have the opportunity  to work with each project area to incorporate what each discipline has to offer to benefit the  Weaverville Community Forest. This opportunity will provide opportunities for networking with BLM and  USFS land management officials, one-on-one partnerships with local registered professional foresters,  and local non-profits. A GrizzlyCorps member will walk away with the completion of a diverse set of  forest and fire management tasks, experience in community-based collaborative resource management,  an understanding of how restoration works on the ground in rural communities, and much more. 

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Project Title: Building local and regional capacity for regenerative agricultural practices and forest health.

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Goals & Needs

The McConnell Foundation is a non-profit organization located in Redding, California.  The Foundation serves communities in far northern California including, Shasta, Siskiyou, Tehama, Trinity and Modoc counties and international programs in Nepal and Laos.  It is a broad-based funder, giving in the area of arts & culture, the environment, education community vitality, health care, livable communities, recreation and social services. The Foundation has supported these programs for over 30 years, but in the last several years has increasingly focused on climate adaptation, disaster recovery and development of programs centered on community and ecosystem sustainability.

Members will be assigned to work in the Foundation's land management department working on climate smart agriculture and regenerative ecosystem projects.

• The projects focus on soil health in rangeland and agricultural systems, fire management at a regional level - forest health and hazardous fuel reduction, reforestation – and scientific monitoring, educational outreach and planning with Foundation staff and partner organizations. 

• The work will address sustainable food production, carbon sequestration - soil health and reforestation, wildfire mitigation – prescribed fire, managed grazing, hazard fuel reduction, creation of community defensible space, ecosystem services – water use, filtration and infiltration, habitat restoration, community vitality – open space management, recreation, community outreach and education, local organizational capacity building – inform regional planning and management strategies.

 

Through project implementation and partner collaboration the Members will seek to produce beneficial outcomes in the areas of sustainable food production, climate adaptation and climate mitigation.  With scientific monitoring, data collection and community outreach the Members will share and inform the community on project benefits, successful management strategies and value added collaboration with local agencies and organizations to increase operational capacity to advance regional efforts.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The McConnell Foundation has a business campus, open space properties and agricultural land in and around the city limits of Redding, California.  The area is surrounded by lakes, rivers and mountains embodying the rural character of the region and cultural identity of the people to recreation and the environment.  The Members will spit their time between the Foundation’s business campus and the Foundation’s properties where they will implement projects.  The Foundation’s main campus and open space property is available to the public for meeting space and recreation opportunities creating an environment and business culture of public openness and engagement.  The Foundation has a staff of approximately 45 dedicated to serving our communities through operations and grant giving.  

 

Networking and collaborating with community partners is another big part of the Foundation’s culture and identity.  The Foundation often plays a supporting role in the community often driven by momentum from community groups. However, when the need is present, the Foundation sometimes plays a leading role on emerging issues to build local capacity, such as the case with sustainability and climate impact projects. 

Working with a strong network of community collaborators has developed projects with value added components that serve the community on several fronts – producing wide ranging co-benefits.  A good example of this is where Members will spend most of their time: the Foundation’s agricultural land.  The Foundation partners with local producers, Prather Ranch – a vertically integrated beef producer and Wooten’s Queen Bees – a honey bee breeder, pollinator, and honey producer.  These partnership produce sustainable food products and create value for each partner. The producer benefits by selling sustainable agricultural products from the Foundation’s land and the Foundation benefits from cost effective land management through producer assistance.  Where the Foundation’s property is open to the public, the public benefits form recreational opportunities and access to nature.  These properties also lend themselves well to compatible operations to produce ecosystem and community co-benefits.  On one ranch, at the urban growth boundary of Redding, the Foundation has partnered with the Shasta Land Trust to conserve the property in perpetuity positively influencing regional planning efforts regarding residential sprawl and associated greenhouse gas emissions.  On the conserved property, the Foundation will fund and implement climate smart agricultural practices to sequester carbon and mitigate climate impacts to the community.  Managed grazing, soil health improvements and prescribed fire will store carbon in resilient pools while creating community defensible space, reducing the potential for high intensity wildfire at the population boundary of the community.

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Project Title: Forest Ecosystem Management Education and Planning

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Goals & Needs

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The Western Shasta Resource Conservation District (WSRCD) is a special district of the State of California and is funded entirely by grants and contracts. The District encompasses approximately 1.7 million acres bounded on the east by the watershed divide between eastern and western Shasta County; the north by the Siskiyou County line; the west by the Trinity County line; and the south by the Tehama County line. The WSRCD was formed in 1957. Since then, the RCD has grown from a small volunteer organization to a highly successful conservation district. The mission of the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District is to collaborate with willing landowners, government agencies and other organizations to facilitate the conservation or restoration of western Shasta County’s natural resources.

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Forest health in Shasta County is being threatened by climate change and the need to increase the pace and scale of forest management has never been greater. 

• We would like to increase our organizational capacity to complete more forest health management throughout our district and to educate the public on the importance of forest health in combatting the effects of climate change. 

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After the devasting Carr Fire in 2018 that ravaged our district, we have been helping our community to recover through erosion control and other fire rehabilitation projects, as well as helping to prepare for the next potential wildfire through implementation of fuels reduction projects and the development of community wildfire protection plans--but there is still so much work to be done. 

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Our work to expand our efforts on forest health and wildfire resiliency in western Shasta County will be the focus of the Grizzly Corps Member. We work with a wide array of local, state, and federal forest and fire management partners and we are always seeking ways to consolidate and streamline regional forest and fire management efforts so that we are all working towards the same goal. Our project work includes but is not limited to: 

• riparian land restoration; floodplain restoration; sediment removal from anadromous fish streams; spawning gravel injections; information and outreach; fish screens and fish passage construction; defensible space creation; fuel break construction and maintenance; community wildfire protection plans/strategic fuels reduction plans; county and local fire safe councils; exotic weed removal; and revegetation. 

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Western Shasta RCD office is located in Anderson, which is near the southern border of Shasta County. Just a few hours’ drive north of San Francisco and the greater Bay Area, you are surrounded by three mountain ranges that converge at the top of the Sacramento River Valley. Just a short 10 minute drive from our office is the city of Redding, the hub of true northern California. 

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Redding is centrally located in the heart of the great outdoors, and the opportunity for recreation is vast and varied. Surrounded on three sides by millions of acres of public land including Whiskeytown National Recreation Area, Lassen Volcanic National Park, McArthur Burney Falls Memorial State Park, spectacular Mt. Shasta, and the pristine Trinity Alps, Redding is the perfect base camp for exploring the hotbed of adventure travel in California. Redding is also home to the magnificent Sundial Bridge, the newly renovated Cascade Theatre, Turtle Bay Exploration Park, and the Sacramento River National Recreation Trail.

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The WSRCD currently has twelve full time natural resource specialists that range from forest health practitioners and botanists to biologists and restoration experts. Since 1957, we have implemented hundreds of projects and are currently managing one of the largest fire rehabilitation efforts in the state. We work with a large variety of partners and agencies including: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection; California Department of Fish and Wildlife; California Department of Water Resources; California Conservation Corps; State Water Resources Control Board; Bureau of Land Management; Bureau of Reclamation; US Forest Service; Natural Resource Conservation Service; The McConnell Foundation; Shasta College; Anderson-Cottonwood Irrigation District; Shasta County; City of Redding; City of Anderson; and many other local, state and federal partners. 

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Working for our organization will provide a wealth of knowledge about resource conservation districts, natural resource management, and numerous professional development and networking opportunities for a Grizzly Corp Member. Northern California is a great place to live and work and has many opportunities for someone starting out in fields that are related to forest health and climate resiliency.

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Project Title: Hot Opportunities in Wildfire Mitigation

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Goals & Needs

The Mendocino County Fire Safe Council (MCFSC) is a 501c3 that aims to inform. empower and mobilize resident to survive and thrive in a wildfire prone environment.  We manage numerous on-the-ground fuels management programs ranging from senior defensible space assistance and community chipper fuels reduction days to large roadside and off-road fuel breaks.  We are also the information hub for wildfire mitigation education and community organization in the county.  Mendocino County does not have a county fire authority or centralized coordination of its numerous, mostly volunteer, fire districts.  

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Mendocino County is a high fire risk area with many rural, poorly networked, communities.  The corps member would help address the challenge of gathering information from and delivering best practice information to this complex community to increase their chances of surviving and thriving and also to reduce the damage that they do to the environment as part of that effort. 

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Our Grizzly Corps member would:
    • aid in developing coordinated methods for documenting critical wildfire risk mitigation projects so that needs from throughout the county can be compared and prioritized.  
    • research and deliver recommendations on a wide range of target projects, including
        ◦ best practices in mapping hazards, 
        ◦ fire detection camera deployment, 
        ◦ helping first responders identify hard to find locations, 
        ◦ implementing local emergency communications systems, 
        ◦ developing emergency firefighting water sources, 
        ◦ help develop procedures and educational materials for less environmentally destructive defensible space clearing and more.  

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The GrizzlyCorps member will also work with the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District (MCRCD). The mission of the MCRCD is to conserve, protect, and restore wild and working landscapes to enhance the health of the water, soil, and forests of Mendocino County.

The MCRCD addresses environmental issues for the agricultural community now exacerbated by the effects of climate change. The GrizzlyCorps member will also support the MCRCD in the Soil Health and Agriculture Program including:

• education and outreach around Climate Beneficial Farming, including what practices enhance carbon sequestration and reduced carbon emissions

• outreach and landowner assistance for the California Department of Food and
  Agriculture (CDFA) Healthy Soils Program (HSP) and the State Water Efficiency and
  Enhancement Program (SWEEP)

• Climate Beneficial Agricultural lessons in Fort Bragg and Laytonville schools

• outreach and education around pollinator habitat and monarchs

• general outreach for the MCRCD (social media, website, newsletters, etc)

 

Organizational and Community Highlights

 

The MCRCD and the MCFSC together are a great collaborative team offering a variety of important educational environmental services to Mendocino County and interesting and relevant tasks for a GrizzlyCorp member.  The MCFSC is a small non-profit with one fill-time and one half-time staff and an array of contract project managers who work part time when funding fits their skill sets.  We tackle a wide range of projects from managing fuels reduction grants, implementing community fuels-reduction projects, helping coordinate dozens of affiliated neighborhood associations, assisting in County policy development, and delivering educational material.  Our work place is informal, flexible and relaxed.  We accomplish a lot by working with a lot of community partners, which provides a great opportunity for network building.  

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The MCRCD has 12 employees and a budget of about $3M a year. It is organized into five programs: Water Resources, Soil Health and Agriculture, Forest Health and Resiliency, Land Stewardship, and Operations. The GrizzlyCorp member would support primarily the Soils Program, but will have the opportunity to support all other programs in the organization. Both the MCRCD and MCFSC would benefit from a motivated person who is both collaborative and able to work independently.

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Mendocino County is about 2 hours north of San Francisco, California and has the motto of
“wine, waves, and wilderness”. It is 2.2 million acres with only 85,000 people, a beautiful rural
community that incorporates a wide range of what nature has to offer including the northern
edge of wine county, chaparral and arid inland valleys, expansive oak woodlands, redwood,
and Douglas-fir forests, an entire coastal community with over 90 miles of amazing coastline.
The main industries are timber production, wine, and an agricultural mixture of vineyards,
pears, and cannabis. The population is quirky as the people are as diverse as the landscape
with a backbone of working class and agricultural workers mixing with a colorful blend of
ranchers, historical back-to-the-land settlers, libertarians, and others who follow their own
drumbeat. The county capital, Ukiah, maintains and embraces a small town feel and casual is
the rule.

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Project Title: Fire resiliency and adaptation education: Climate change mitigation and adaptation education; Research to extension continuum: Regenerative agriculture education and research

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Goals & Needs

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The UC Hopland Research & Extension Center is a multi-disciplinary research and education facility in Mendocino County located roughly 2 hours north of UC Berkeley. We are stewards of more than 5,300 acres of oak woodland, grassland, chaparral, and riparian environments.
Our mission is to maintain and enhance ecosystem integrity through applied research, adaptive management, and educational activities, while also supporting working landscapes, with diverse agricultural products and recognized ecosystem services derived from these landscapes. We conduct research projects and educational programs in wildlife ecology and management, animal science, entomology, plant ecology, public health, watershed management, and soil ecology.
The Member will work on various climate change and regenerative agriculture projects including;

• developing and coordinating educational workshops on climate change effects and adaptation, from daylong workshops to multi-day events

• assisting with development and enactment of land management plans including a carbon farm plan, grazing strategies, fencing realignments, field camp development

• coordinating prescribed burn activities

• assisting with various outreach projects to extend UC knowledge and programs into local communities

• assisting with citizen science projects.

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The work will address various environmental challenges including; how north coast communities adapt to climate change effects; how to effectively use prescribed fire to meet multiple land management and ecosystem service goals; how to integrate grazing multiple species into effective regenerative agricultural land management systems.

The above scope of work directly promotes GrizzlyCorps' purpose and goal by getting the Member directly and actively involved in planning, coordinating, and enacting land management tools to build a climate-change resilient operation on 5300 acres of land, by engaging in the work of extending this knowledge into local and regional communities, and by helping feedback into the UC system knowledge of what tools and education local communities need to best adapt to the challenges of climate change.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) is known throughout UC ANR as one of the most beautiful locations within our statewide REC system. The site is over 5300 acres from 600-3000 feet in elevation and with a very diverse mixture of oak woodlands, rangelands, riparian areas, and chaparral. The core of HREC is our headquarters area nestled in a small valley surrounded by oaks and madrones. We have a conference center, dormitory, 7 houses, an office building with lab, sheep barn, warehouses, outbuildings and a full set of workshops (wood, metal, mechanics) to support our working ranch. We have a sheep flock of about 200 animals, 40 miles of dirt roads to access the site, and a diverse fleet of vehicles and equipment of all kinds to serve our needs. We are located about 10 minutes outside of the small town of Hopland which has multiple restaurants and a couple of small stores. The larger towns of Ukiah and Cloverdale are each about 20 minutes away and each have full services including stores, theatres, cultural events, and diverse populations. Housing can be found in any of these towns and we can also offer it onsite.

Our staff of 8 are highly skilled individuals in their respective areas including research, administration, business, livestock, community education, facilities, equipment, agriculture. Alongside our HREC staff we also house staff for two statewide programs, IGIS and California Naturalist, which add to the richness of our offerings and skill sets from which the Member can learn diverse skills. We all get along well with and respect one another, trusting each other to get their work done well and to ask for help when needed. We are a fairly independent group operating on a mixture of regular staff meetings, individual meetings, email, and in person individual check-ins. Work is done in all types of weather and conditions, from 100+ degree days in the summer to frost and rain in the winter.

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Project Title: Regenerative Agriculture; Healthy Soils; Habitat Restoration

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Goals & Needs

 

The mission of the Center For Land-Based Learning (CLBL) is to inspire, educate, and cultivate future generations of farmers, agricultural leaders and natural resource stewards.  We help create and promote opportunities for youth, agriculture, business and the environment. Our work has never been more necessary than now. 

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We envision our Grizzly Corps Fellow as a key component of education and outreach in the areas of regenerative agriculture, healthy soils and habitat restoration.  The Fellow will:

• work closely with our Incubator Farmers, who are leasing land from CLBL, to assist them in building healthy soil and to promote the use of regenerative practices to help grow and maintain a vibrant farm.  

• work closely within our SLEWS (Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship) program in habitat restoration projects, both at our headquarters and other sites.  These restoration projects are key in helping to both rebuild and promote biodiversity by planting native trees and shrubs, which in turn attract pollinators and other beneficial insects, birds and wildlife.  

Finally, we recently moved into a new 40-acre parcel of land, with 25 acres available as farmland.  Given this 'clean slate' it's critical that we (along with our Fellow) monitor the health of the land and collect data on it so that we have a baseline to pull from for future projects.

By helping to promote best practices to our farmers such as cover crops, we are helping to build strong soil and clean air by sequestering carbon and increasing organic matter.  And healthy soil will also lead to better water retention for farmland, which helps to address an ever-growing need of water conservation, especially here in the West.  And our habitat restoration projects will help to create an ecosystem that is full of biodiversity.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

 

The Center For Land-Based Learning is located in the historic town of Woodland, California, about 20 miles northwest of Sacramento.  The capital region is home to many natural and cultural amenities, including 'farm-to-fork' restaurants, the farms that support them, miles of bike paths, and access to other outdoor activities, all in a Mediterranean-type climate.  

Located on a beautiful 40-acre parcel of land, the Center For Land-Based Learning is helping to grow the next generation of farmers, creating workforce development opportunities for high school and college-aged students, and engaging in environmental stewardship.  We are implementing best practices in agroecology throughout our programming, via habitat restoration projects and planting seeds for a long term future.

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Project Title: Ecological Farming Outreach and Assessment

 

Goals & Needs

 

CAFF has been working for over 40 years to build sustainable food and farming systems that benefits family farmers, communities and ecosystems. We have programs in a number of areas including Food Safety, Farm to Market, Policy advocacy and Ecological Farming. The Ecological Farming program area houses two of CAFF's core on-the-ground programs: Climate Smart Farming and Ecological Pest Management.

 

Within Ecological Farming we work with farmers, researchers, and local extension professionals to investigate and promote farming practices that have the capacity to enhance the health of California's agroecosystems. The practices and farming systems we work on increase soil health, biodiversity, mitigation and adaptation to climate change; conserve natural resources like topsoil and water and improve overall on-farm productivity and resilience in the long-term. The GrizzlyCorps member will be joining the Ecological Farming team to work on projects included but not limited to:

• Biointensive no-till production systems,

• cover cropping in perennial crops,

• integrated crop livestock systems

• biologically integrated orchard systems.

 

Each of these projects bringing together on-farm research with the grower's experience to better understand both the science behind regenerative agriculture and the benefits and tradeoffs that affect successful adoption in the long-term. Throughout each project we conduct outreach and engagement with the broader agricultural community to facilitate farmer-to-farmer conversations around these practices, through webinars, in-person field days and the development of educational resources such as case studies, podcasts, videos and our website. Depending on the project, the member may be involved in field work such as

• soil sampling (training will be provided)

• data organization and assessment

• project documentation

• the development of educational resources for farmers based on our project findings and peer-reviewed research.

 

This work will address the dynamic environmental challenges of climate change (extreme heat, drought and flooding), loss of biodiversity and natural resource depletion. The purpose of the Ecological Farming program is to address these challenges through the lens of regenerative agriculture by working directly with farmers to investigate and increase the implementation of these farming practices. We believe this purpose strongly aligns with that of GirzzlyCorps and that the member working on the Ecological Farming program at CAFF will promote the purpose and goal of GrizzlyCorps through engaging with the agricultural community to collaboratively respond to the challenges they face while gaining important experience, training and education.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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CAFF is a values driven organization (CAFF values are ecological stewardship, justice and equity, practical solutions, economic fairness, centering farmers and strong local communities); and the staff are strongly committed to the mission we are serving -- To build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems. While CAFF staff works very hard on our various programs and projects, the culture is one of friendliness and good humor and encourages a healthy work-life balance. People at CAFF are working on things they care about while finding time to connect with others. CAFF encourages creativity in problem solving, collaboration and regular reflection on whether the work is in fact meeting the needs of the community, as such, it's a great place to work on professional development. CAFF is based in Davis and is located at the beautiful TS Glide Ranch, about 5 miles out of town. Davis is surround by agriculture and is also a university town (UC Davis), which makes for an engaging community, especially for folks interested in ag. Davis is also very close (about 14 miles) to Sacramento, which is America's Farm to Fork capital.

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Project Title: South Fork American River Cohesive Strategy Coordination

 

Goals & Needs

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The SOFAR All Lands Cohesive Strategy (http://sofarcohesivestrategy.org/) is a landscape level restoration strategy in the South Fork American River watershed. This 410,000-acre landscape is a model for assessing and resolving resource conflicts operating in California’s forests today. Fire exclusion and past management decisions have resulted in complex fire issues that are exacerbated by drought, climate change, and many other factors. Values at risk within the watershed include communities, popular recreation sites, private timber, sensitive species and habitat, old growth forest remnants, managed forestlands, water delivery systems, hydroelectric power generation facilities, the Highway 50 transportation corridor (Gateway to South Lake Tahoe), and cultural sites. This watershed is a high priority for collaborative action because of these high value resources. 

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Our dedicated and diverse group of stakeholders, including federal, state, local agencies, and non-government organizations, and individuals, have been working together to create a fire-resilient ecosystem that protects and conserves high value resources. We take an all lands approach, and the primary goals of the collaborative are: 1) Restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes; 2) Creating fire-adapted communities; and 3) Responding to wildfires.

We seek a GrizzlyCorps Member to become part of the SOFAR team to improve our ability to work strategically among our organizations, to increase our capacity to engage community members through outreach and communication actions, and to increase our capacity to implement projects. Tasks the Member would undertake include:

•  tracking project accomplishments of the various organizations and assisting in a gap analysis to identify future locations for high priority action and investment

• making presentations and developing communication materials that tell the SOFAR story and motivate various groups and individuals  to both support and implement the defensible actions needed to increase community resilience

• monitoring the implementation of projects in the field to ensure that project design criteria are met

• organizing volunteers to complete restoration treatments.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation Districts’ (RCD’s) office is located in Placerville, California. RCD is a grassroots, non-regulatory government organization that works to meet individual and community goals for the natural resources in their community through voluntary approaches. The mission statement of the RCD is "To promote the responsible stewardship of our natural resources within our boundaries." The RCDs objectives are in four areas of strategic focus: 1) Organization – Develop the capacity to plan and deliver conservation programs; 2) Fire – Significantly reduce the risk to life, property and watershed health; 3) Watershed – Coordinate and facilitate the development of a watershed scale resource management program; 4) Education – Help to fill the training and resource management information needs of homeowners, landowners, and resource users.

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The RCD office supports a diverse team of resource professionals serving the communities of El Dorado County. This office also hosts a Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps (SNAP) position. Offices of resource specialists with the Eldorado National Forest (USDA Forest Service) are in the same building, facilitating collaboration and an easy exchange of information and resources. Interaction with resource professionals at the office location, with the to-be-formed Advisory Group (noted below), and the SOFAR stakeholders at-large will provide a rich professional experience by exposing the partner to a variety of resource issues, land management jurisdictions, and resource specialists Active stakeholder engagement and a shared interest in maximizing the impact of collaboration have formed the foundation of SOFAR successes to date, and will contribute to a positive work environment for the GrizzlyCorps team member. 

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Placerville is an hour by car travel east of Sacramento, and situated among pine and oak woodlands at about 1,800 feet elevation. About 11,000 people live in this city and the historic main street is a focal point for community events throughout the year. The Coloma area, about 7 miles north, is well known for whitewater boating, and the Eldorado National Forest about 15 miles to the east offers a wide variety of recreation opportunities, including hiking, fishing, camping, wildlife watching, mountain biking, and boating. The Placerville area has a rich history. Nearly at the site of the discovery of gold in 1849 (the actual site is in Coloma), the area has shifted overtime from a principally natural resource and agricultural economy to one that includes a strong recreation-based service industry.

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Project Title: GrizzlyCorps Improvement and Expansion

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Goals & Needs

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The Resource Conservation District of Tehama County (RCDTC) is a special district assisting Tehama County citizens to manage, conserve, improve and enjoy the natural resources of the county. The RCDTC also partners with other organizations and RCDs throughout the North State to provide services to larger region. The RCDTC works on a broad array of projects that range from wildfire protection, to enhancing fish passage in local rivers and streams, mitigation plantings, and assisting farmers and ranchers with irrigation efficiency and healthy soils projects, along with a variety of natural resource education projects.

The member will serve in a dynamic work setting and must be flexible and willing to engage in a variety of office and fieldwork roles which may shift quickly. In an office capacity, the member will assist with education and outreach initiatives for a diverse range of projects, which may include:

• Community outreach to program beneficiaries and recipients

• Managing and growing RCDTC social media engagement

• Supporting project managers in meeting grant deliverables

• Production of multimedia promotional and educational material

 The member will also assist with fieldwork tasks as needed. These tasks may include assisting with:

• Operating a chipper and chainsaw to create defensible space for residents of Tehama County

• Operating the Mobile Irrigation Lab which tests the efficiency of irrigation systems

• Assisting with native species mitigation planting projects and monitoring mitigation sites

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These tasks all address the challenge that climate change is posing to the community from increased incidence of drought which increases wildfire risk and demand on scarce water resources. Planting native species, assisting with wildfire risk reduction, and improving water conservation strategies all address symptoms of climate change. Improving forest and woodlands through fuels reduction work helps to sequester carbon by improving tree health and preventing catastrophic wildfires. Increasing soil health through healthy soils practices such as improving irrigation efficiency increases drought resilience, improves crop production, increases soil’s water holding capacity and removes carbon from the atmosphere with the ultimate goal of mitigating climate change. Education and outreach work helps the community understand and support these efforts.

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By joining RCDTC, the Member will be a part of building the resilience of the North State community in the face of the effects of climate change. The wide variety of projects that the RCDTC participates in provide an opportunity to sample diverse aspects of environmental, agricultural, and forestry tasks, including both field and office work. The member will join RCDTC staff in finding satisfaction in the service they do as they engage with community members to accomplish much needed projects.

 

Organizational and Community Highlights 

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RCDTC provides a relaxed and collegial work environment. Its staff is hard-working and motivated but have fun during the workday – a sense of humor is a required job qualification! The board of directors is supportive of staff and avoid getting involved in day to day management.

The RCDTC’s foundation is providing a suite of service to include site monitoring and restoration, conservation plan development, irrigation system evaluation, and educational outreach. Staff has extensive experience providing technical assistance to landowners, land managers, and tenants to implement various natural resource conservation practices and will share their knowledge gained from this experience with the Member.

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Partnerships are the keystone to the RCDTC’s project success and staff recognize the value in establishing and maintaining working relationships with other entities to coordinate collaborative multi-disciplinary projects. The Member will benefit from exposure to these partnerships with private landowners, NGOs and federal and state resource agencies.

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Tehama County, California is well-known for its rural nature, a landscape reflecting the rugged beauty of the west. Locals and visitors alike value its wide vistas of diverse landscapes and access to over 100,000 acres of public land. These public lands provide ideal grounds for world-class hunting, fishing, hiking and other outdoor recreation. Scores of visitors from outside the region enjoy the public lands, rivers, and creeks. In addition to the local recreation opportunities, a short drive will take you to the big city in the San Francisco Bay Area or the state’s capital of Sacramento, the Pacific Ocean or skiing at Mt. Shasta Ski Park. 

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Project Title: Conservation Outreach Coordinator

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Goals & Needs

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The Yolo County Resource Conservation District (YCRCD) YCRCD is a special district recognized under state law and serves over 650,000 acres, including diverse agricultural operations, rangeland, public open space, and developed areas and municipalities. The YCRCD has accomplished a number of successes in improving water quality, addressing water conservation issues in urban and rural areas, preserving and restoring habitat, and developing new ways of achieving conservation goals. The mission of YCRCD is to protect, improve, and sustain the natural resources of Yolo County. The YCRCD uses a model of cooperation and voluntary action instead of regulation to solve complex local, regional, and statewide issues. 

We are funded by grants and contracts which do not typically cover outreach for our work. Our Member would work with RCD staff to improve our outreach into the community. This work would be diverse and include tasks such as:

• writing press releases for local newspapers

• improving communication of conservation workshops and events

• populating our new website with locally relevant information on climate-beneficial conservation

• mentoring for high school students learning about on-farm climate beneficial practices such as planting native hedgerows and riparian buffers that sequester carbon

• working with our County government to incorporate reporting of climate beneficial agricultural practices into meeting their Climate Action Plan goals

• assessing our outreach strategy to better meet the needs of our diverse community

• assisting staff with public education workshops covering a variety of conservation issues including wildfire management. 

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The Conservation Outreach Coordinator will be addressing GHG reduction through promoting and implementing on-farm practices that sequester carbon. Additional benefits of climate beneficial practices include wildlife and pollinator habitat improvements, ag and
stormwater water quality improvements, groundwater recharge, soil health improvements and erosion reduction.
 

This work will increase resilience for California agricultural landscapes on irrigated and non-irrigated crop lands as well as private rangeland and public open space. The Members’ activities will focus on farming in Yolo County and the Sacramento Valley and will help address the needs of our communities, and promote state goals for healthy soils, improved watersheds, and wildfire impact.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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We are looking for an AmeriCorps Member to join our incredible team here at the Yolo County RCD. We have a staff of 12 and a dynamic and collaborative work environment. Specific projects we are currently working on include planning and implementing habitat enhancements and conservation practices on municipal open spaces, farm and ranchland, and involvement in restoration implementation and establishment activities on several ongoing projects on public and private land that include native pollinator hedgerows, riparian restoration, stormwater drainage structures and agricultural field borders. We embrace a problem‐solving approach to resource management and enjoy working with partners and clients with different perspectives, priorities and temperaments. Field and office work is split about 60/40. The ideal candidate will have a working knowledge of agricultural practices and some background and interest in habitat restoration.

 

Yolo County is an agricultural community and home to the University of California, Davis. Members can choose to live in the college town of Davis or the City of Woodland or other small towns in the area. It is helpful to have a vehicle but there is a bus service that is reliable. Being in the Sacramento Valley, the climate is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. You are only a couple of hours from the mountains to the east and the ocean to the west. Sacramento is a 25 minute drive away and San Francisco is an hour and a half away. The Amtrak Capitol Corridor connects the City of Davis with both of these cities.

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Project Title: Wildfire Resilience, Community Wildfire Mitigation Coordination, Community Outreach and Wildfire Preparedness, Home Ignition Zone Evaluation Program Coordination

 

Goals & Needs

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The RCD of the Santa Monica Mountains encompasses the Santa Monica Mountains from Point Mugu to Topanga State Park and includes the Simi Hills, Santa Catalina Island, Pierce College, Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area and Chatsworth Reservoir. Our mission is to promote land stewardship and resource conservation through ecological research, conservation planning and design, habitat restoration and environmental education, while adhering to the highest standards of transparency and accountability as a public agency. Created in 2020, the Community Resilience department of the RCDSMM has quickly become one of the key regional stakeholders in wildfire mitigation and preparedness, and the lead agency in innovative projects such as the defensiblespace.org website.  

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The Southern California region, including Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, is one of the most fire-prone environments in the world and has more homes and area burned per decade than any other region of the US. The Member will be working on a new project funded by the California Fire Safe Council to promote sustainable defensible space principles and wildfire preparedness programs. The project focuses on under-resourced communities (e.g., low-income, language isolation, priority investment population...). The Member will work under the supervision of the Community Resilience Coordinator on tasks ranging from:

• community outreach

• engagement to on-site home ignition zone

• defensible space evaluations.     

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Since 2019, the RCDSMM has been on the forefront of the concept of sustainable defensible space by creating the website defensiblespace.org to promote wildfire mitigation and preparedness actions that can support native ecosystems of Southern California. The challenge of this new project it to reach populations located in or near the wildland-urban interface that are not usually reached by our programs. The Member will directly work with communities to build local hubs for wildfire resilience supported by the RCDSMM, and contribute actively to increasing wildfire resilience in Los Angeles County.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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Proudly serving the local community for over 57 years, the RCDSMM offers programs and services focused on watershed management, restoration, wildfire resilience, research, and education throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and surrounding areas. The RCDSMM staff is a small group of passionate educators, researchers and biologists working to promote land stewardship and resource conservation in one of the most biodiverse regions in the continental US. The landscape is a complex intermix of protected wildlands including National Park Service (NPS), state parks (SP), state conservancy (MRCA), local parks, private land trusts and development under multiple city and county jurisdictions, including Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the US. The County’s landscapes and ecosystems are under pressure from its 10 million residents (plus far more visitors), many of whom recreate in its protected open spaces on a regular basis.

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Working with the RCDSMM is a great introduction to the landscape of local, regional and state organizations working in environmental conservation. The successful candidate will gain a deep understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each agency, and gain knowledge from projects led by our senior staff members. The mix of landscapes and communities in the RCDSMM service area and Los Angeles County is one of the most diverse in the country. The Community Resilience Department being the newest addition to the services provided by the RCDSMM makes it a truly dynamic work environment requiring solid organizational skills. The department currently manages 3 grants related to wildfire resilience and sustainable land use. The Community Resilience Coordinator is managing his time between on-site assessments, program development, and community outreach. The member will support the Coordinator in all those aspects, learning and developing skills in all three areas. 

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Living in Los Angeles or Ventura County and serving the local communities will provide the successful candidate with deep insights of the population diversity of Southern California, and help them develop the skills required for creating community programs designed to be self-sustaining in the long-term to make a lasting impact on resource conservation and wildfire resilience.

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Project Title: Capacity Building for Carbon Farming: a public-private partnership to scale on-farm implementation

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Goals & Needs

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The statewide RCD network, led by the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts (CARCD), is positioned to inspire, lead, and build on local action to enact beneficial environmental and climate change impacts through providing direct, locally-specific, technical assistance to landmanagers. The Gold Ridge RCD (GRRCD), in their role as administrator of the RCD Project Tracker, will be a partner for this project.

Zero Foodprint (ZFP) is leading public private collaborations in CA and Colorado to connect funding from business, citizens, and philanthropy to regenerative practice implementation on local farms and ranches. Restore California (Restore CA) is a program of Zero Foodprint, which invites food service providers to add a 1% opt-out fee on the check that is directed towards implementing on-farm climate beneficial practices. Zero Foodprint and CARCD share a Letter of Intent that solidifies our partnership in the pursuit of exploring and enacting mutually beneficial solutions to increase the rate and pace of on-farm implementation of climate-beneficial agricultural practices. 

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The Fellow will:

•  work with CARCD, RCD Project Tracker, and Zero Foodprint towards our collaborative goal through directly overlapping projects and activities, as well as more individually nuanced assignments that serve each of the organizations’ goals of addressing climate change through working lands solutions.

•  develop communication systems and coordinate information sharing between the on-the-ground RCDs, Zero Foodprint, and CARCD

• research and strategize data aggregation tools for carbon farm plans/practices.

• research climate action plans and opportunities to integrate agriculture, equity, and Restore CA

• conduct outreach on Restore CA and carbon farming

• coordinate a UC Berkeley and UC Davis-wide movement to scale healthy soil practice implementation.

• CARCD, GRRCD, and ZFP are welcoming of other related activities based on the Member’s interests and skill sets.

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Working landscapes have a significant role to play in mitigating global climate change, particularly through the sequestering of atmospheric carbon in soils and vegetation. In addition to their carbon sequestration benefits, well-managed soils confer significant benefits related to increased water holding capacity in soils, water quality, biodiversity and other positive environmental impacts. RCDs have been developing Carbon Farm Plans, which are comprehensive assessments of the land’s resources and capacity to reduce GHG, developed in an iterative process by a technical advisor in conjunction with a land manager. RCDs have developed over 100 Carbon Farm Plans and are working with ZFP to move funding from the private sector to implement these critical plans. By bringing agriculture to the table as a climate change solution, rather than as a GHG emitter, carbon farming offers producers an exciting avenue of constructive engagement with one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time.

Our organizations are in conversation with policy-makers, farmers and ranchers, scientists, chefs, business leaders and advocates, so Grizzly Corps candidates will gain access to a wide breadth of the food system, from regenerative agriculture to the establishment of a renewable food economy. The Member will be working to directly unpack barriers and create solutions for increasing acreage of on-farm climate-beneficial practices.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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CARCD is a small but growing organization of nine warm and thoughtful staff. CARCD’s team often works independently, yet is deliberate about collaboration and making opportunities for staff connection and individual professional development. CARCD is deeply committed to learning and integrating Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion into our work and facilitate regular staff learning sessions.

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The work and mission of CARCD is intrinsically intertwined with the 95 RCDs in California, resulting in close working relationships with RCD staff across the state. The Fellow will work in partnership with all interested RCDs involved in carbon farming, soil health, and Zero Foodprint, as well as in a local capacity, directly with the Gold Ridge RCD. The Gold Ridge RCD is the administrator of the RCD Project Tracker a tool to communicate and engage about the important work RCDs accomplish and a leader in developing local and scalable working lands’ solutions to the climate change crisis by implementing on-the-ground projects.

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ZFP is a small and dynamic team of food system advocates and restaurant industry leaders. Our Executive Director Karen Leibowitz received her Ph.D from UC Berkeley and maintains close connections with the Berkeley Food Institute. The direct supervisor and point of contact is Anthony Myint, Co-Founder and Director of Partnerships, former chef, who is working tirelessly to generate funding opportunities for carbon farming ranging from the waste hauling/compost industry, to regional government collaboration, to institutional food service, to individual crowd-funding. 

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All three organizations are located in the greater Sacramento-Bay Area of Northern California, in Sacramento, Sonoma, and San Francisco counties. This region of California offers a beautiful spectrum of landscapes and communities that are inspiring for many. Although the Fellow will have the option on where to reside and ratio of remote/office work, CARCD invites the Fellow to join our (currently virtual) community work culture and to share our office space in downtown Sacramento in the future. Because we engage in lobbying and other Sacramento events, the member would be invited to learn about Sacramento and the State Government. CARCD’s office is co-located with the Department of Conservation and two blocks away from the State Capitol and a wonderful summer farmer’s market.

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Project Title: Lost Sierra 30x30 Campaign + Lost Sierra Food for the People

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Goals & Needs

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Friends of Plumas Wilderness and Lost Sierra Food Project are teaming up to host a Grizzly Corps Fellow. Try your hand in two solving two of the most important crises of our time by working a full season on a regenerative agriculture farm and creating connectivity between natural areas to allow for plant and animal migration in the face of a warming climate. 

• FOOD + NATURE

• COMMUNITY + WILD

• LSFP + FOPW

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We imagine splitting the fellowship roughly in half, but realize that collaboration and overlap is beneficial. We all know each other well, and even share office space! We are exited to see how collaboration between the two different but closely aligned organizations can work and can imagine some shared hours overlapping during the two parts of the fellowship.

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FIRST HALF OF FELLOWSHIP: FRIENDS OF PLUMAS WILDERNESS

(SEPTEMBER – MID-FEBRUARY)
Friends of Plumas Wilderness aims to protect biodiversity and climate resiliency by conserving 30% of the public lands where the Sierra and Cascades meet by 2030. Improving the health of our region, locally known as the ‘Lost Sierra’ due to our low population density and abundant public lands, will improve community resilience and increase carbon sequestration. The 30x30 movement is gaining global momentum: more than 45 countries support the concept. Both the U.S. House and Senate currently have resolutions on the floor, and California Governor Newsom signed a 30x30 Executive Order in 2020. The Plumas and Lassen National Forests have a long history of extraction, and the evidence of logging and mining are everywhere present. Yet roadless areas remain: the Middle Fork of the Feather River – the wild heart of the Lost Sierra and one of the original Wild & Scenic Rivers designated in 1968 – is the focus of our 30x30 campaign. The Middle Fork of the Feather River burned in 2020 with the 319,000 acre North Complex Fire. It was the 6th largest, 5th deadliest, and 5th costliest fire in California’s history. The Feather River delivers drinking water to over 27 million people through the State Water project, and the watershed needs protection and restoration. 

 

Working closely with our executive board, National Forest managers and scientists, and allied conservation partners like The Wilderness Society, CalWild, and The Rewilding Institute, your projects will center on outreach and education, planning and mapping, research and ‘adventure science’. Join our all-volunteer grassroots team to study, explore, and maintain the integrity of natural ecosystems where the Sierra and Cascades meet. We have been defending natural ecosystems on public lands in our region for nearly 50 years. We are more motivated than ever to make things happen and protect wild places. The stars are aligning for conservation – now is an opportune moment to get involved!

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SECOND HALF OF FELLOWSHIP: LOST SIERRA FOOD PROJECT (MID-FEBRUARY – JULY)
The Lost Sierra Food Project (LSFP) aims to increase local food access for Plumas County residents, prioritizing low income populations, provide workforce development programs, and create educational food and ecological farming opportunities. At the heart of the organization is Rugged Roots Farm, a two-acre educational and production farm where regenerative agriculture techniques are practiced and taught. When a Grizzly Corps member joins our team in February 2022, it will be our fourth season producing food for the community, running educational and job training programming. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), agriculture accounts for 10-12% of total global anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gasses. It is not necessary to deplete topsoil and pollute the watershed in order to produce food. We teach and practice regenerative farming practices, methods that reverse climate change by building organic matter and restoring degraded soil biodiversity. Food access, education and regenerative farming create an intersection between community action and environmental practices. On the individual level, addressing climate change can feel incredibly overwhelming, and so our work allows folks to get their foot in the door. In our rural, politically and economically diverse community, this is a non-threatening invitation to tangibly take action against climate change, at least three times a day.

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As a Grizzly Corps Fellow with Lost Sierra Food Project you will be hands-on throughout the season on our community-based farm. You will learn the in and outs of the early to mid season tasks on a regenerative farm. From starting seeds in the greenhouse, skinning a caterpillar tunnel to making compost and compost tea and setting up drip irrigation. Depending on the applicant, LSFP has a variety of opportunities that we can cater to your desired interests, skills and goals, such as taking a leadership role in educational programming, grant-writing, marketing and/or hosting community events.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Lost Sierra is in Northern California where the Sierra Nevada and Cascades converge and the Feather Rivers flow. Plumas County’s quaint communities are surrounded by public lands managed by the Forest Service. The Lost Sierra is home to the most diverse conifer forests on the planet and some of the highest plant richness of California with over 1,400 species. Bird (>125 species) and mammal (>55 species) richness is among the highest in the state. No need to drive to Yellowstone to see wolves: the Lost Sierra is home to California’s only wolf pack, the Lassen Pack. 

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The mild winters and long, dry summers of our four-season Mediterranean climate mean we get to play outside year-round. And with an average of only 6 people per square mile – compared to Los Angeles County’s 2,138 – most likely you and your friends will be the only ones around. 

Quincy is small-town living at its best: small, affordable town surrounded by public lands, with plenty of mountains, canyons, rivers, and lakes. There is lots to do if you enjoy the outdoors and your destinations will never be busy or crowded. Quincy and surrounding areas offer an abundance of recreational opportunities, including: endless hiking; majestic rivers and lakes for camping, SUP-ing, and boating; world class mountain biking; ski-shoeing, cross country and backcountry skiing; adventurous rock climbing; and more!

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Quincy is the county seat, and home to Plumas District Hospital, Feather River College, the Supervisor’s Office and Mt. Hough Ranger District of Plumas National Forest. There are lots of well-educated professionals in the area, and a thriving young adult population. The UC Berkeley Forestry Camp is 8 miles west of Quincy in Meadow Valley. All your grocery shopping, hardware store stops, and cafes with internet hang-out time can happen in Quincy - it’s got all the amenities. The National Monument Committee is a diverse group: from professional conservationists at the national and state level (The Wilderness Society, The Rewilding Institute, CalWild), to experienced elders providing inspiration and guidance, to college professors and young professionals, our group is motivated.

 

Your Site Supervisors for Friends of Plumas Wilderness are a married couple: President of Friends of Plumas Wilderness Darrel Jury, and Secretary Darla DeRuiter, are both recently retired Feather River College professors. Darrel has served as an AmeriCorps coordinator at our previous institution (Western State, Gunnison, Colorado), and Darla has extensive experience working with student interns and work study students. We work extremely well together and can provide you with meaningful projects and helpful supervision. Your Site Supervisors for Lost Sierra Food Project are Leslie Pace and Jessie Mazar, Co-Directors and best friends. Both are committed to community development, education, and, of course, providing nourishing food to Plumas County residents. During their free time, you can find them working on odd projects (renovating airstreams, building yurts, gutting campers) or exploring their backyards on bikes, skis or whatever toys they can find.

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Project Title: Ecocultural Revitalization and Collaborative Stewardship Projects on Karuk Lands

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Goals & Needs

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The Karuk Tribe is a federally recognized Indian Tribe occupying aboriginal land along the middle course of the Klamath and Salmon Rivers in Northern California. The Karuk Department of Natural Resources, which is the interested applicant for this program, is located in Orleans, California. The Mission of the Karuk Department of Natural Resources is to protect, enhance and restore the cultural/natural resources and ecological processes upon which Karuk people depend. 

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The desire is that the GrizzlyCorps member would be able to assist in essential GIS and data stewardship functions for the GIS Division of the Karuk DNR, namely for the Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP), but also might provide GIS support to all divisions of the DNR including cultural resources management, fire, and wildlife projects. 

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The Western Klamath Restoration Partnership (WKRP) is one of the main collaborations the Karuk Tribe is a co-lead on. WKRP is a collaborative land and fire management effort between Tribal, Federal, and Non-Governmental (NGO) stakeholders in the Western Klamath Mountains of Northern California. It is based on 20 years of collaborative work between diverse partners, ultimately forming the WKRP in 2013.  It spans two national forests—the Klamath and Six Rivers—and includes the communities of Weitchpec, Orleans, Somes Bar, Forks of Salmon, Cecilville, Sawyers Bar, Happy Camp, Seiad Valley, and much of the Karuk Tribe’s ancestral territory. Historically, the Western Klamath Mountains experienced fires every 3 to 10 years. Fire suppression over the last 100 years has resulted in a fire deficit that the WKRP is working to mitigate. A hallmark of the partnership is the Karuk Tribe’s knowledge of fire, passed down from generation to generation. This “traditional ecological knowledge” (TEK) shows us that traditional human/fire relationships of our past can guide the strategies of our future. 

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GrizzlyCorps members would have the opportunity to work at the forefront of the integration of TEK and Western science through planning and implementation by Karuk people on Karuk land responding to climate change and past mismanagement regimes. Karuk people have long been part of the ecosystem. Climate adaptation is about restoring human responsibilities and appropriate relationships to the natural world.Climate adaptations for species and habitats center around the revitalization of Karuk cultural management, the restoration of traditional fire regimes, reducing impacts from intervening factors, the expansion of Karuk tribal management authority and capacity, community engagement and public education, increased interjurisdictional coordination, and expanded research and monitoring.

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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The Karuk Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is a Tribal department that has seen exceptional growth since it was established in 1989. Founded with a single employee after Congressional appropriations were allocated to support fisheries management and the restoration efforts of the Tribe, DNR has grown into a multi-program department all sharing the common mission of protecting, promoting and preserving the cultural/natural resources and ecological processes upon which the Karuk depend. A focus of the department is to integrate traditional management practices into the current management regime, which is based on certain principles and philosophy. Our small but very talented and dedicated staff of less than 100 ensure that the integrity of natural ecosystem processes and traditional values are incorporated into resource management strategies. We work in a supportive and interdisciplinary/interdepartmental manner, recognizing how all of our collective work ties together to accomplish shared goals. Our employees include parents, students, care-providers, and dedicated community members, etc. and we recognize that our priorities might sometimes lie outside our work commitments, despite how important our work is. 

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The Karuk DNR is located in Northern California in Orleans, California, near the border between Humboldt and Siskiyou counties, and near the confluence of the Klamath and Salmon Rivers. It is one of the most beautiful and unique rural places with plenty of opportunities for people who love being in nature to explore and spend time hiking, swimming, fishing, and more. Although there are small local grocery stores, gas stations, post office, and a thriving food vendor schedule, the drawback to living in such a stunning place is that there is not much more until the towns of Eureka/Arcata roughly 80 miles to the southwest, or Ashland/Medford, OR roughly 140 northeast. The community is a small and tight-knit one, with a large demographic of tribal people native to this area, but is very welcoming and accommodating.

Project Title:  Regenerative Agriculture and Fire Recovery Planning and Project Implementation 

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Goals & Needs

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Cascade Ranch is a neighboring 418-acre farm just north of Pie Ranch, and is home to the Cascade Regenerator Program (CRP), located on the ancestral homeland of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Here we envision a regenerative landscape where multiracial groups of farmers, ranchers, and land stewards have access to the resources needed to feed the diverse communities of the Bay Area.The CRP helps emerging farmers take the next step in their careers, with an emphasis on providing equitable economic and wealth-building opportunities to under-resourced, early stage farmers and ranchers. CRPS also provides participants with affordable land to start their own small farm businesses, along with mentorship and technical support, equipment access and training, sales and markets, and financial and business planning with support from program partners. 

Service Projects at Cascade Ranch include:

•  collaborating with and providing support to the Amah Mutsun Land Trust on native plant propagation and revegetation efforts

• fire restoration activities such as tree felling, line clearing, building protection, and water supply and distribution infrastructure upgrades

• supporting CRP participants, researchers, students, and partner agencies with sustainable farming and ranching activities such as soil health and water quality assessments,

• soil carbon storage and baseline measurement efforts, and natural resource conservation.

• Fellows will help conduct farmer and public education and outreach through a variety of methods and platforms, assess and improve farm infrastructure, utilize crop planning and management tools, provide support to the Cascade Leadership Council to improve the recruitment of next generation farmers and ranchers from target demographics, and work with rotational grazing and livestock operations to improve overall land stewardship goals.

This work addresses climate disturbance and ecosystem service concerns by expanding and testing practices which support fire recovery/preparedness and regenerative agriculture (water budgeting and measurement/reporting, water quality improvement projects, soil and nutrient management, pest management, and carbon neutral/negative farming methods) through the use of traditional ecological knowledge, community feedback, industry and partner agency collaboration, and data driven inputs from research in ecology, evolutionary biology, mapping, crop management technology, and robotics. 

 

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Organizational and Community Highlights

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Pie Ranch values include Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Solidarity, Commitment and Collaboration, Love and Respect, and Responsible Stewardship. Pie Ranch is committed to justice of all kinds and organizes its work around food justice specifically. As an organization we aim to change the deeper systemic problems that cause the current food system to fail in providing equitable access to healthy food, affordable land, and healthy ecosystems. Our programs advance self-reliance and social justice by acknowledging that community leadership is required for effective management strategies. We embrace the seventh generation concept that urges the current generation of humans to live sustainably and work for the benefit of seven generations into the future. Working at Pie Ranch means being part of a team that honors different perspectives and makes room for diverse voices, amplifies those who are traditionally marginalized, and relies on clear communication. 

As a remote coastal community, we have particular challenges, such as spotty wifi/cell connectivity and inclement weather! Each day provides new challenges and opportunities to solve puzzles and improve efficiency. Being prepared for a variety of tasks throughout the day will serve you well at Cascade Ranch, there are always different projects to focus on. Must be flexible in planning and ready to pivot priorities on short notice! Staff are friendly, supportive, and communicative. There is a long history of Spanish-speaking groups in this region, so if you are interested in or passionate about different cultures, that is ideal! Love education and outreach? This is a wonderful place to help develop and implement programmatic materials and messaging while building relationships and public speaking skills. Our office environment is small and cozy, but old, as many ranch buildings are. We practice Covid-safe protocols and rotate office use for added safety and comfort. 

Standard amenities are provided but on occasion are unreliable due to the remote and rustic nature of our work. Being flexible and finding creative work-arounds is key to having a positive experience at Cascade Ranch. Looking to build your technical skills? Opportunities abound! You will support staff in environmental assessments, project planning, assist researchers, collect and analyze data, use mapping applications, and utilize software programs for crop management. You will be encouraged to connect with other Pie Ranch programs such as youth education and the farm stand, in order to expand your understanding of farming from a non-profit perspective and get involved with the community members that support our work.