Sierra Happenings

Events and Activities

11th Annual Wild & Scenic Film Festival - South Lake Tahoe!

The Wild & Scenic Film Festival, organized and produced by the South Yuba River Citizens League, leaves attendees feeling INSPIRED and MOTIVATED to go out and make a difference in our communities and the world. By activists and for activists, it is the largest event of this kind, and it showcases our work in a broader environmental and social context, serving to remind us that we’re participants in a global movement for a more wild and scenic world.

Date: March 31st, 2016
Location: Montbleu Casino in South Lake Tahoe.


Please view festival tour dates here, or visit their website!

Conservation Science Webinars!

Conservation Biology Institute and Data Basin are teaming up to provide the following webinars to the public!

• December 14, 10 AM PST: Bioenergy Threatens Wetland Forests of the US Southeast
• December 17, 11 AM PST: Mapping Aquatic Condition to Facilitate Informed Management Decisions
• January 7, 10 AM PST: How Temperature and Precipitation Trends Have Affected Mountain Hydrology and Ecology

For more information about webinar topics and presenters, click here!

TERC Monthly Lecture: Exploring Mars with Curiosity

Dawn Sumner from the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences will be leading this monthly lecture. She is also a member of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, helping the rover Curiosity explore ancient environments in Gale Crater on Mars.

Date: January 28, 2016

Location: California Air Resources Board, Monitoring and Laboratory Division. 1927 13th Street, Sacramento

Details: Seating open at 5:30 p.m. to pre-registered guests, open seating starts at 5:50 p.m. Program starts at 6:00 p.m. $5 suggested donation will be collected at the door.

Please click here to register for this event!

Job Announcements & Volunteer Opportunities

Executive Director: Sierra Nevada Alliance!

We are seeking an innovative, resilient, and dynamic executive director to lead the organization as it moves into its 23rd year. The executive director will have primary responsibility for pursuing the Alliance’s long-range vision of successful Sierra conservation in concert with member organizations, partners, volunteers, staff, and board.

Job description and application info here.

River Policy & Communications Director with SYRCL!

The South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL) seeks a Director who is a seasoned advocate and manager with leadership, communication, community organizing and coalition-building skills. The Director will be highly skilled in using policy advocacy, legal, scientific and communication tools to protect the watershed, and will be experienced at building strategic coalitions, mentoring program staff, and raising funds.

Job description and application info here!

Operations Manager: Friends of the Inyo!

Friends of the Inyo seeks an Operations Manager, responsible for day-to-day operations. Responsibilities include financial, human resources requirements and legal obligations, and operations management. This is a full time, year-round, position based in Bishop, CA.

Job description and application info here.

Development Director: Keep Tahoe Blue!

The League to Save Lake Tahoe seeks a Development Director to grow their annual revenue. The League to Save Lake Tahoe is a solutions-based environmental organization focused on advocating for environmental standards backed by science, devoted to community engagement, and working together to Keep Tahoe Blue.

Job description and application info here.

The League to Save Lake Tahoe also seeks Education center volunteers!

Development Director: Eastern Sierra Land Trust!

The Development Director is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction and management of all fundraising and development for Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT).

Job description and application info here.

Community Water Center Internship!

The Community Water Center is currently interested in hiring 1-2 interns to support ongoing environmental justice campaigns around drinking water issues in low-income communities and communities of color in the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

Full internship description available here, or email Asha Kreiling.

Resources

Call for Abstracts - Agricultural Groundwater Conference

The Unique Agricultural Groundwater Conference will be held in San Francisco, June 28-30, 2016. The conference integrates across a wide range of topics specifically focused on this nexus: sustainable groundwater management, groundwater quality protection, groundwater-surface water interactions, the groundwater-energy nexus, agricultural BMPs for groundwater management and protection, monitoring, data management, modeling tools, and agricultural groundwater management, regulation, and economics.

Please consider submitting an abstract to this unique conference focusing on groundwater in key agricultural regions in California, North America and throughout the world!

Abstract Submission Deadline: January 15, 2016! More information here!

Free Memberships Available: The Citizen Science Association

The Citizen Science Association is now inviting inaugural members. At this time, there is no cost for membership. As this new organization is being established, inaugural members can help to shape the Association through opportunities to vote on key decisions about direction, priorities, and leadership.

For more information, click here!

CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship

California's State Legislature is looking for a few good scientists and engineers to trade their lab coats for business suits, and swap molecules and equations for committee hearings and bill analyses!

Applications for the 2017 Class of our CCST Science & Technology Policy Fellowship open onTuesday, December 1st.

For more information, click here!

Become a 2016 Switzer Environmental Fellow! Or a Host!

The Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation announces 2016 Switzer Environmental Fellowship opportunities. Switzer Fellowships are given to top graduate students in New England and California who demonstrate outstanding leadership potential, and who are committed to a career in environmental improvement.

The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation also created the Leadership Grant Program to help advance the professional careers of Switzer Fellows and to give non-profit organizations, educational institutions and government agencies greater access to individuals with superior technical, scientific or policy expertise.

The Switzer Fellowship focuses on leadership potential than any particular research project. Applications due January 11, 2016!
More information here.

Leadership Grant Projects (One-year grants of up to $40,000!) may address any environmental issue; however, there must be a clear partnership between the Fellow and the non-profit agency.
More information here.

Highlight

Environmental Crisis of Plastics:
Squaw Valley Institute & 5 Gyres Institute
Host Community Discussion

On December 3rd, the Squaw Valley Institute held a discussion led by Anna Cummins, Dr. Marcus Eriksen, and the 5 Gyres Institute at the Resort at Squaw Creek.

This event examined the mystifying 5 gyres, targeted methods to reduce plastics pollution, and raised awareness for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its devastating effects.

The Squaw Valley Institute is passionate about bringing attention to this growing situation and helping to open a dialogue about what can be done to combat the problem.



Most of the things we buy utilize single-use plastic. While some of it is recycled and remade into durable goods, only 5-10% is recovered and roughly 50% ends up in the garbage where it eventually washes out to sea. Once in the ocean, much of the plastic circulates into one of the earth’s five gyres. These massive, slow rotating whirlpools accumulate plastic and currents circulate it around the world where it washes up on beaches thousands of miles away.



Attendees joined the discussion led by 5 Gyres co-founder Anna Cummins & Dr. Marcus Eriksen, as they explained the growing plastic problem, examined the 5 ocean gyres, and offered solutions for how to reduce plastic pollution, while raising awareness for the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and its devastating effects.



Founded by Anna Cummins and Marcus Eriksen, in collaboration with the Algalita Marine Research Foundation and Pangaea Explorations, 5 Gyres aims to restore clean oceans through research, education and advocacy. The group has completed 16 global expeditions collecting cutting-edge plastic research, which has helped create legislation, impact change and further address global education of plastic pollution.

To inspire uncommon conversations about this topic within our schools and kids, SVI’s youth program VOY/CE has partnered with Sierra Watershed Educational Partnerships (SWEP). SWEP is a popular local non-profit organization that promotes environmental stewardship by collaborating with local teachers, school districts and community partners to address pertinent environmental issues.



Similarly, SVI’s VOY/CE program is also directed at the school age members of our community and aims to introduce students to thought-provoking topics to create lasting transformations as students expand their view of the world through dedicated time interacting with SVI guest speakers. The VOY/CE program and SWEP’s Green Teams through the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District met with Anna Cummins and Dr. Marcus Eriksen in advance of this event. Students were able to ask meaningful questions, examine and share their own experiences and ideas, and develop a broader understanding of the impact plastic pollution has on our oceans and our local environment.


The event was a great success. Thank you to attendees and all who made this community educational event possible!


Find out more about the 5 Gyres Institute by clicking here. For more info about the Squaw Valley Intitute VOY/CE program, click here .


If you would like to support the Sierra Nevada Alliance Initiatives,
please click here to contribute to our funding.

The policy of the Resource is to include articles that appear in local or major media outlets relevant to Sierra conservation. We also include news releases, event notices, funding opportunities and job announcements sent to us from our Member Groups and friends. If you as a reader disagree with the content of a submission we encourage you to submit a letter to the editor of the issuing publication to reach the broader audience who read the article. You are welcome to forward your letter to the editor to the Alliance for inclusion in our new "Letters to the Resource" section. We also invite Letters to the Resource to be directly submitted on any article with which you're concerned.

Newsletter contents prepared by Kate Gladstein.
If you have articles, events or announcements that you would like included in this newsletter or if you have feedback,
please email Kate!.

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