Events and Activities
Reclaiming the Sierra Conference
A Conference to catalyze action around a regional strategy to abate the impacts of mercury – from the Sierra to sea.
Date: October 16-18, 2019
For more info, click here
Truckee River Day
It was that first Truckee River Day in 1996 that spawned today’s Truckee River Watershed Council. Since then thousands of nature-lovers have shown up yearly with their gumboots, buckets, shovels and smiles to take on restoration projects throughout the watershed.
Work along side your friends—and make new ones—as together we:
restore designated sites, plant native vegetation, mulch sensitive areas, and repair our mountain home.
Date: October 20, 2019
For more info, click here
Mission Architectures for Exploration of the Moon, Deep Space, and Mars- TERC
Join Dr. Lim as she explores the interstellar interconnection between earth and space and works to create the scientific analogs and human mission architectures for the exploration of the Moon, deep space and Mars.
Date: October 22, 2019
For more info, click here
Managing Our Fireshed: Prescribed Fire to Address our Fuels Crisis
Presentations by UCANR Sierra Foothill Research Station, Ananda Village, Yuba
Watershed Institute, and fire science PhD’s Kate Wilkin and Jo Ann Fites! Bring gloves,
workboots, and hat. Workshops are bag lunch events.
Date: October 26, November 9, 2019
For more info, click here
2019 Water Summit
This daylong conference will be held October 30, 2019 at a new location along the Sacramento River in Sacramento. The annual Water Summit, now in its 36th year, features top policymakers and leading stakeholders providing the latest information and viewpoints on issues impacting water across California and the West.
Date: October 30, 2019
For more info, click here
Job Announcements & Volunteer Opportunities
CA Tahoe Conservancy- Recreation Program Coordinator
Under the general direction of the Resources and Public Access Supervisor, the incumbent serves as a technical expert in the areas of land use planning, recreation and public access projects and initiatives, and strategic advising. The incumbent coordinates and provides strategic and technical support to multiagency, multijurisdictional initiatives and projects designed to improve public access and recreation and meet the State’s climate change goals. The incumbent’s focus is steering and coordinating Conservancy programs, projects, and policies with partners primarily in the North Shore areas of the Lake Tahoe Basin (Basin).
For more info, click here.
CSERC is launching a search for a Program Director
The Program Director will be responsible for carrying the CSERC mission forward in a sustainable, meaningful manner. Put simply, this is an opportunity to join a highly effective, intensely-engaged non- profit conservation organization, to be mentored and trained for dealing with current issues and program areas, and to then transition to assume the lead role at the Center. The Executive Director will provide support as needed as he scales back and passes on the key responsibilities.
For more info, click here.
Alpine Watershed Group- Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator
Alpine Watershed Group (AWG) seeks an Outreach & Volunteer Coordinator to help implement
AWG’s community outreach and education, monitoring, and restoration programs.
For more info, click here.
American Rivers- Associate Director of Headwaters Conservation
The Associate Director of Headwaters Conservation builds partnerships and manages projects to improve watersheds in the Sierra Nevada. The Associate Director helps develop and oversee a range of innovative projects primarily focused on meadow stream restoration, improving forest health and forest roads, green infrastructure and other conservation efforts in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River (SSJ) Basin. The Associate Director will also contribute to fundraising and other internal needs of the region, including strategic planning, and will join a team of eight staff in American Rivers’ regional office in Nevada City, California, a thriving small town in the Sierra Nevada foothills.
For more info, click here.
Cal Wild- San Joaquin Valley Organizer
CalWild’s San Joaquin Valley Organizer works to protect and restore the wildest-remaining undeveloped landscapes in or near the San Joaquin Valley and grow the public lands advocacy capacity in the region. Relevant public lands include the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management holdings in Amador, Calaveras, Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, San Benito, San Joaquin, Tulare and Tuolumne counties.
For more info, click here.
Desert Research Institute- Education Project Lead and Citizen Science Coordinator
The Desert Research Institute is hiring an Education Project Lead and a Citizen Science Coordinator out of their Reno location.
For more info, click here.
REI- Events & Partnerships Coordinator, Sacramento
Based in Sacramento, this job contributes to REI’s success by executing local marketing and brand engagement campaigns within their specific market as directed by the Manager.
For more info, click here.
Mountain Area Preservation - Development Director
The Development Director, working closely with the Executive Director, is responsible for the strategic oversight, development, and implementation of a comprehensive fundraising program that secures the financial resources needed to support Mountain Area Preservation’s land use and environmental advocacy work.
For more info, click here.
Tahoe Conservancy-Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative Coordinator, Senior Environmental Scientist
Under the general direction of the Landscape Forestry Supervisor, the incumbent will coordinate as well as provide strategic, technical, facilitation, and project management support to the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative (TCSI), and ensure its alignment with state and regional mandates.
For more info, click here.
Land & Recreation Manager, Placer Land Trust
Placer Land Trust (PLT) is seeking an experienced Land & Recreation Manager with strong technical experience and interpersonal skills to manage/monitor protected land and develop/support public recreation and land access programs on certain PLT properties/preserves.
For more info, click here.
Senior Engineer (Water Quality Protection)
This position serves as the Water Quality Protection Senior Engineer providing essential technical expertise for the City's source water protection program. This position provides program management and technical expertise in the protection of the City's Lower American River and Sacramento River water supplies, including development of the American and Sacramento River Watershed Sanitary Survey Update reports, comments, and technical materials to support watershed stakeholder efforts.
For more info, click here.
Volunteers Wanted for the Reclaiming the Sierra Conference
There are a variety of volunteer roles and time slots during the conference as well as pre-conference volunteer shifts in Nevada City.
For more info, click here.
Highlights
California Water Resilience Portfolio Initiative
The sierra Water Workgroup Summit on September 12th and 13th provided an opportunity for leaders in sierra water conservation to come together and share their vision for the future of Sierra Water. In particular the conference's listening session Provided an opportunity for attendees to share their ideas for the California Water Resilience Portfolio Initiative. Conference leaders compiled notes from the listening session into a formal letter for the California Water Resilience Portfolio Initiative which was shared with Nancy Vogel, the Director of the Governor's Water Portfolio Program on behalf of the Sierra Water WorkGroup and the Sierra Nevada Alliance.
To view the submitted letter, please click here.
SNA Member Group Spotlight: Center for Human Rights and Environment Organizes Periglacial Environment Tour of Sierra Nevada Mountains in California
[image: Adam Riffle (CHRE), Dave Herbst (UCSB) and Jared Blumenfeld (CALEPA) take water samples at run off stream below rock glacier above Mammoth Lakes, Barney Rock Glacier visible in background]
October 3, 2019 – Cryosphere and hydrology experts, policy makers and cryo-activists carried out a 3-day field visit to California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada, to observe and register biotic elements in hydrology flows from periglacial environments, including rock glaciers and other permafrost areas, key hydrological contributors to California’s hydrology in post snow-melt periods each year and during drought years.
The field visit took place just before the first winter snowfall hit the Sierra Nevada mountains. It was a rare opportunity for scientists, policy makers and cryoactivists to get together to visit and discuss ways to promote cryosphere conservation and awareness of high mountain hydrological resources. Connie Millar, one of North America’s most renown rock glacier specialists for the Sierra Nevada was key to plan out the 3-day rock glacier tour. Dave Herbst, an accomplished biologist and hydrology expert for the Sierra range carried out water sampling. The team was joined by the head of California’s Environmental Protection Agency, Jared Blumenfeld, as well as Daniel Taillant (CHRE Director) and Adam Riffle (CHRE’s Cryoactivism Coordinator for the US North West) to also carry out programmed field work and rock glacier recognition in the area.
Little is known of California’s periglacial (permafrost regions) and the role they play in terms of sustained water provision. Periglacial areas are generally located between visible surface glacier ice (largely extinct or diminished in the Sierra Nevada) and the lower tree line. Permanently frozen grounds in this swath of land can hold large volumes of ice that is either stored for later melt provision, or the lower fringes of which are constantly melting into ecosystems below. Rock glaciers and more extensive permafrost grounds will survive the dwindling and extremely vulnerable glacier remnants of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Rock glaciers, one of the key features of periglacial environments, are large flowing rock debris mixed with ice content, that slowly oozes down mountain sides due to weight, plasticity and surface lubrication (from melting water that seeps through rock to the rock glacier base). They form through what is known as the geo-cryogenic process, which consists of cyclical snow/water precipitation, percolation into the surface rock debris and cyclical freeze thaw cycles that over time, send ice down and rocks upwards towards the surface.
“You could be standing on a massive rock glacier, over a mile long and half a mile wide, and hundreds of feet thick, and not even know it”, says Daniel Taillant, Executive Director of the Center for Human Rights and Environment (a member of the Sierra Nevada Alliance), who brought the field work team members together for the field observations. “Ice is not visible at the surface. Nonetheless, the streams from the foot (or snout) of rock glaciers, feed hydrological systems in many high mountain environments. We have mapped over 800 rock glacier features throughout the Sierra Nevada.”, stated Taillant.
The team met up in Lee Vining and programmed to visit three rock glaciers and their hydrological basins, including the Excelsior Rock Glacier (immediately below Mt. Excelsior), the Barney Rock Glacier (in the vicinity of Mammoth Lakes) and the Gibbs Rock Glacier (adjacent to and below Mt. Dana, the Sierra Nevada’s second highest peak).
To learn more about the Center for Human Rights and Environment please click here.
Resources
One Less Spark- One Less Wildfire
That is why fire agencies need the public’s help to prevent them. Whether it’s ensuring a campfire or landscape debris burn of leaves and branches is completely extinguished, or keeping a vehicle well maintained to prevent sparks, following just a few simple steps can help prevent wildfires.
Learn more here.
Proposition 1 Restoration Grant Programs
CDFW is now accepting applications for the 2020 Proposition 1 and Proposition 68 Proposal Solicitation Notice (PDF). Proposals are due November 20, 2019, by 4:00 p.m. PDT, through CDFW WebGrants.
Learn more here.
Connecting Point: Community Services Central
Connecting Point's Volunteer Hub connects residents of all ages to volunteer opportunities in our community. Using web-based software we match volunteers' interests, skills, and preferences to opportunities in local nonprofits, schools, and public agencies.
Learn more here.
California Wildlands Grassroots Fund
California is blessed with tremendous natural beauty, biological diversity and economic opportunity. Yet, our remaining wildland heritage is in jeopardy from poorly managed growth and development. Californians have long recognized the importance of preserving our spectacular and precious wildlands. The California Wildlands Grassroots Fund (Cal Wildlands) was established to support the heroic efforts of activists to preserve California’s wildlands.
Learn more here.
Sierra CAMP Grant Guide
This page features climate-related funding databases and funding opportunities that are ongoing or accepting applications on a rolling basis. Updates on one-time or irregular, non-rolling grant opportunities, such as cap-and-trade grant program notices of funding availability, as well as opportunities to provide feedback on state funding guidelines, are provided to Sierra CAMP members on a monthly basis.
Learn more here.
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 Sara Monson, Education and Communication Director with the Sierra Nevada Alliance.
If you have articles, events or announcements that you would like included in this newsletter or if you have feedback,
please email Sara.
If you would like to support the Sierra Nevada Alliance initiatives,
please click here to contribute to our funding.
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