On Thursday July 10, the Sierra Nevada Alliance (SNA) hosted a virtual Placer County Collaborative Meeting to unite organizations and regional leaders to discuss conservation and collaborative needs and solutions. Composed of conservation organizations and tribal communities in Placer and Nevada Counties, this meeting assessed whether there was a need for facilitated collaboration and helped to determine what conservation opportunities and priorities exist in the region. The gathered information will be used to share with funders, like the Rose Foundation, and to help guide SNA in providing capacity support. A total of 36 individuals representing 23 organizations gathered from across the Sierra foothills to make connections, discuss organizational priorities and challenges, and explore ways to collaborate.
The meeting began by providing a clear background and purpose of why SNA gathered everyone together. After attendees had a moment to introduce themselves, pre-meeting survey results were shared, which shaped the trajectory of the meeting, as well as an example of successful partnership projects that took place during SNA’s Spring Training in Placer County. Everyone was invited to attend breakout sessions to discuss the 3 topics of highest interest and priority for these organizations: environmental advocacy, environmental education and outreach, and land management and restoration. The breakout sessions allowed participants to discuss the needs or barriers of their projects, collaborative project opportunities, and methods to improve collaboration.
The majority of those in attendance are interested in continuing facilitated collaboration in 2-3 months in a virtual format and look forward to continuing these discussions. The majority were also interested or potentially interested in collaborative funding opportunities. Organizations expressed the desire to collaborate with others in the region, and this meeting helped them to identify potential partners, as well as collaborative project ideas and opportunities. While a limited bandwidth and funding was expressed as a common challenge amongst organizations, increased collaborative support and bringing community partners together can assist in overcoming these challenges. Many organizations also expressed interest in getting more involved and learning more information about SNA programs and working groups to help them establish more connections and enhance their programs and initiatives via collaborative support.
SNA is in the process of organizing another follow-up meeting via working groups in the coming months. To enhance discussion, smaller working groups will be organized for interested parties to continue previously discussed topics, in addition to any other topics of interest. As a product of this meeting, a collaborative document was created for organizations to share contact information, goals and priorities, current projects and efforts, collaborative project opportunities, and interest in collaborative funding of organizations throughout Placer County and other nearby counties. This information can be shared across partnerships in this region to enhance connections and collaboration. SNA is eager to see the relationships and connections that will continue to develop throughout this region.
