Events and Activities
Volunteer to Help with Fennel Packing-Sierra Harvest
More than 7,500 students are excited to try organic fennel as part of the Harvest of the Month Program where students taste a new local or regional produce item every month. Five volunteers needed to help process and pack organic, local fennel from Mountain Bounty on Monday, Nov. 4th from 1:30-5PM.
Date: November 4, 2019
For more info, click here
Basin Water Management — Challenges in Water Management at the Basin Scale
Sustainable basin water management will be the theme of this year’s
annual International Conference on Irrigation and Drainage. The
conference will be Nov. 5–8, in Reno. It is hosted by the U.S. Society
for Irrigation and Drainage Professionals.
Date: November 5-8, 2019
For more info, click here
2019 Water Summit
The Tahoe Film Fest is scheduled for December 5 - 8, 2019 and will be hosted at various locations including the Incline Village Cinema, Crystal Bay Club Crown Room, and Northstar Village Cinema. All proceeds from Tahoe Film Fest ticket sales will support science education and research at Lake Tahoe through the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
Date: December 5-8, 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.
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.
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.
Highlights
SNA Member Group Spotlight: Eastern Sierra Land Trust
Photo by Tom Koerner, USFWS
We Love Speed Goats, by Susanna Danner, ESLT Land Stewardship Program Manager
Bodie State Historic Park is one of the most scenic places in Mono County, where Eastern Sierra Land Trust does much of our land conservation work. And that’s saying something, in a county as full of beautiful places as Mono County. The ghost town of Bodie at dawn is suffused with golden light on the wooden buildings, and the dusty green sagebrush steppe seems to glow. If you are lucky, and you’re there right when the park opens, you even have a fair chance of seeing Bi-State sage-grouse in the park.
That rare species, and other animals dependent on healthy sagebrush steppe, was the reason for Eastern Sierra Land Trust (ESLT)’s recent work in the Bodie Hills. In early September, ESLT partnered with Bureau of Land Management for two volunteer stewardship days near Bodie State Park.
Pronghorn, known fondly as “speed goats”, were a main focus of our stewardship days. (Pronghorn aren’t goats, of course, but they look a little like them, as well as looking a little like African antelope. That’s why their misnomers persist.) Pronghorn are the second-fastest land animal in the world, and the fastest in North America. They can run at speeds above 55 MPH to outrun threats. The now-extinct American cheetah (more closely related to the extant mountain lion than to the African cheetah) is probably the reason that pronghorn evolved to run so swiftly.
Photo by Susanna Danner, ESLT
Let-Down Fences Are Not A Let-Down
Today, pronghorn in the Bodie Hills face different threats – some fences are a risk to their migration. To address this, BLM is modifying old fences in the Bodie Hills to make them passable and safe for wildlife to cross.
Mule deer and pronghorn need different things: mule deer jump over fences, and pronghorn dive under fences – often at top speed. So we had to lower the top fence wire, for deer, and raise the bottom fence wire, for pronghorn. We also placed fence markers that will help sage-grouse see the fence wires. These markers alternate dark and light, so that whether the backdrop is vegetation, sky, or snow, the birds can see the fence.
Finally, we prepared the fence for conversion from a permanent fence to a let-down fence. Let-down fences are placed flat on the ground during sage-grouse broodrearing season, to allow the birds free rein to fly through the wet meadows of the Bodie Hills. Then, when grazing season begins, and the birds are less concentrated around the wetlands, the fence is assembled. This method of fence construction is one of the safest for wildlife, and also helps ranchers by reducing the cost of fence management. Permanent fence wires, though they seem diminutive, collect snow and can break when the weight of winter snows accumulates on them. Using a let-down fence means that there is no fence wire tension during snowfall, and the fences need less maintenance.
As we modified the fence, we noticed native flowers, archeological artifacts, hawks overhead, and sage- grouse scat underfoot. On the horizon, the parade of peaks along the Sierran escarpment and the jumble of the Sweetwater mountains. The Bodie Hills are so quiet – only the susurrus of aspen leaves in the draws, the wind over the sage, and birdsong. The cattle lowing and the russet weathered wood of the Bodie townsite are reminders of the rich human history of the hills. And the generosity of spirit of the volunteers helps keep this beautiful piece of California natural and human history vibrant. Thank you to the hardworking volunteers who wielded fencing tools, loppers, and pliers so deftly in support of Eastern Sierra habitats and wildlife.
Eastern Sierra Land Trust works with willing landowners to protect vital lands in the Eastern Sierra region for their scenic, agricultural, natural, recreational, historical, and watershed values. To learn more about ESLT’s work, visit www.eslt.org.
Photo by Susanna Danner, ESLT
Resources
Partnership Awards- Public Lands Alliance
The Call for 2020 Partnership Award Submissions is Now Open!
From October 16, 2019 to November 29, 2019, public lands professionals are invited to submit to the 2020.
Learn more here.
ACTION ALERT: Tell the EPA – Don’t Revoke Clean Water Act Protections
Stand with SYRCL & other Waterkeepers to Protect Waterways from Irresponsible Dams & Development Projects.
Learn more here.
Partnership Awards- Public Lands Alliance
The Truckee Core Values Fund is a community event fund created by the
Truckee Chamber of Commerce in partnership with the Town of Truckee
and powered by Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation.
The fund supports nonprofit organization events or events that partner with nonprofit organizations who align with at least one of the Truckee Core Values:
Healthy Lifestyle
Family Friendly
Natural Beauty
Community Minded
Arts, Culture, History
Applications will be accepted September 12 - November 1
Learn more here.
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.
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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