Meredith Sierra
US Forest Service Region 5 Cone Corps Nursery Technician
Host Site: American Forests at USFS Placerville Nursery
During her fellowship with American Forests she will work at the Placerville Nursery to help store seed and grow pine seedlings for California's National Forests. They also grow seedlings for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), National Park Service (NPS), Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), California Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), and parts of Nevada. She will learn how to pull seeds from the seed bank, perform studies on seeds, plant seeds, monitor their growth, and pack them to be planted across the Sierra Nevada. The goal of her fellowship is to help increase the pace and scale of reforestation to save our forests from devastating wildfire and other disturbances. Aside from helping the baby trees grow, she looks forward to helping with cone surveying and collection. The thrill of climbing trees combined with the importance of collecting the seeds in a growing seed shortage will be the prefect way for her to make a positive impact on the Sierra Nevada for future generations.
Meredith Sierra has been in El Dorado County, California, for the majority of her life with access to the beautiful Sierra Nevada. She grew up recreating with her family, and became known for her ability to spot wildlife on their adventures. Some of her favorite encounters so far include bears, manta rays, a porcupine, mountain lion, fisher, and California condor. Her love of wildlife and outdoor recreation inspired her to pursue the field of environmental conservation. After graduating in 2020 from California State University Sacramento (CSUS) with a degree in Environmental Studies, she spent a couple years working for small environmental non-profits in the Sierra Nevada. At Sierra Wildlife Rescue she helped rehabilitate wildlife such as fawns, hawks, owls, raccoons and other small birds. She then moved on the be Watershed Conservation and Land Use Advocate at Foothill Conservancy, which exposed her to a diverse range of environmental fields including grant writing, hydropower licensing, and forest management.
Outside of work Meredith enjoys most of the outdoors pursuits, as long as she can bring along her husky mix, Miska. Their favorite activities to do together include hiking, biking, paddle boarding, and having him tow her on skis (skijourning). She is also a fan of tiny living, and has been living in a trailer that she and her boyfriend renovated for the last couple years.
