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October 31st, 2018

Sierra Happenings

Events and Activities

River Network Webinar Series

River Network hosts webinars related to clean water, ample water, and strong water champions, providing access to best practices and new ideas and celebrating interesting and novel approaches. In addition, they promote select webinars from other institutions to enhance learning across our community.

Date: September 25- March 14

Please click here for more information.


Upcoming Regional Climate Symposia

The State of California has released the Fourth Climate Change Assessment, which provides the scientific foundation for understanding climate-related vulnerability at the local scale and informing resilience actions. A series of regional workshops are being organized to showcase key findings, as well as to discuss opportunities to advance local adaptation initiatives.

Please click here for more information.

Date: Monday, December 03, 2018 10:00AM - 3:00PM Tahoe Regional Planning Agency Stateline, Nv

NEEF Hosts WeeGreen Seminar

WeeGreen - a free digital platform that helps people, communities, and organizations achieve their sustainability goals more quickly and easily. WeeGreen can help organize, launch, and maintain your sustainability campaigns. The platform is specifically designed for peer-to-peer driven outreach that accelerates the adoption of sustainable behaviors, products, and services through an integrated on-line marketplace.

Date: Wednesday November 7th @ 1:00pm

Please click here for more information.


Wild & Scenic Film Festival

Experience the adrenaline of kayaking the wildest rivers. Climb the highest peaks. And trek across the globe with adventure films from around the world. At our festival, you’ll witness how individuals and communities across the globe are taking action.

Date: January 17th-21st, 2019 Nevada City

Please click here for more details.


9th Annual Sustainable Food and Farm Conference

Join us for Nevada County's premier food and farming event with nationally renowned speakers and cutting edge strategies for improving your farm business, homestead or home garden.

Date: February 7-10 2019

Please click here for more details.


Job Announcements & Volunteer Opportunities

Tahoe Family Solutions is looking for a Camp Director!

Camp Explore is a place that fosters learning, physical and mental growth, leadership and teambuilding along with tools that help build self-esteem, confidence and self- reliance in young people. We accomplish this through hiking, camping, backpacking and various outdoor activities in the Sierra Nevada Mountains for 6 to 8 weeks each summer.

For more info, click here.

American Rivers - Various Positions

American Rivers protects wild rivers, restores damaged rivers, and conserves clean water for people and nature. Since 1973, American Rivers has protected and restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and the annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® campaign.

For more info, click here.

USDA Forest Service Volunteer Opportunities in the Lake Tahoe Basin

Volunteers are the heartbeat of the U.S. Forest Service. Volunteer service in the Forest Service was formalized in the Volunteers in the National Forest Act of 1972. The national forests, grasslands, and prairies are there for you to enjoy because many people have served over numerous years to preserve, protect and improve them. Now you can give something back by volunteering.

For more info, click here.

Resources

Lake Tahoe Restoration Act/Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act Erosion Control Grant Program

The Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) receives Erosion Control Grants money that provides Federal Assistance to local governments for erosion, stream restoration and sediment control projects that are located on non-Federal lands and that provide benefit to Lake Tahoe. These funds are available to the governing bodies of political subdivisions (local government jurisdictions) within the Lake Tahoe Basin for the purpose of planning, designing, implementing, and monitoring urban erosion control water quality treatment projects. The funds will be allocated on a competitive basis.

Learn more here.


The Truckee Core Values Event Fund

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

Learn more here.


Grants for California Residents that Qualify as Lower-Income

The Clean Vehicle Assistance Program provides grants and affordable financing to help low-income Californians purchase a new or used hybrid or electric vehicle. Their goal is to make clean vehicles accessible and affordable to all who qualify.

Learn more here.


Highlights

Happy Halloween from the Sierra Nevada Alliance

Go to W3Schools!


Today we celebrate the spooky cultural heritage that makes the Sierra unique. From the famous Donner party to the rumored haunted Vineyard house in Coloma, there are several spooky sites in the Sierra that are sure to get you in the halloween spirit. Visit Bodie State Park for a ghostly walk located high in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where a ghost town is frozen in time. The buildings and artifacts contained in them remain as they did when the last of the residents vacated the town of Bodie. Please click here for more details.

13th Cohort of Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Members, off to a Great Start!

Go to W3Schools!


October marks a time of change in the Sierra. Leaves transform their colors and a chill fills the air. At the Sierra Nevada Alliance, October marks another important time of change, as we welcome our new cohort of Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership (SNAP) members to our organization. On Sunday, October 26th the 28 members of the 13th SNAP Cohort congregated at Sagehen field station to begin their orientation training week. This year’s cohort traveled from near and far to join our program. The states that they represent include California, Washington, Vermont, Chicago, Utah, Florida, and Maine, to name a few. They boast a very diverse set of backgrounds: some come straight from college, others have already completed an AmeriCorps term, some possess graduate degrees, and others come with robust past careers and are seeking a career change. The one common thread that ties this diverse team together is their passion for the environment and the goals of AmeriCorps: Getting things done, developing participants, and strengthening communities.

Since all SNAP members work at host sites throughout the Sierra working on watershed projects doing restoration and monitoring, environmental education, and volunteer recruitment and support, orientation was designed so that members developed pertinent, theoretical knowledge as well as gained first-hand experience using skills that they will use throughout their service.

After a very informative Monday spent learning about the program and meeting their site Supervisors, SNAP members spent most Tuesday in Johnson Meadow, with the Tahoe Resource Conservation District, monitoring the upper Truckee river to secure bassline data, and removing old fencing. On Wednesday, members teamed up with Sierra Watershed Education Partnership to help facilitate a forest health program with 7th graders from North Tahoe School. Each SNAP member guided a small group of students through educational stations which included planting Sugar Pines with the Sugar Pine Foundation, a compass scavenger hunt, and collecting data from plots of land. Education training continued Thursday when SNAP members participated in a Project WET (Watershed Education for Teachers) training. In addition to learning several watershed education activities, members learned about climate change in the Sierra and how to communicate this topic to the audiences that they will be working with during their term. Finally, on Friday members had the opportunity to become CPR and First Aide certified, to ensure that they have the skills to keep themselves and others safe in the field. On Friday afternoon, training ended and we said goodbye to our members as they headed out to their host sites, which include: Alpine Watershed Group, American River Conservancy, American Rivers, Bishop Piute Tribe, California State Parks, Eastern Sierra Land Trust, El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation District, River Wranglers, Sierra Nevada Alliance, Sierra Streams Institute, Sierra Watershed Education Partnership, Sequoia Riverlands Trust, South Yuba Citizens League, Tahoe Environmental Research Center, Trout Unlimited, Tuolumne River Trust, United States Forest Service.

Members began serving at their host site organizations on Monday. While it can be hard to fully grasp the impact that this cohort will make during their 11 months of service, by September 20th of next year this cohort will have restored at least 275 acres of the Sierra watershed, they will have educated over 7,417 high need, community members in the Sierra, they will recruit at least 800 ongoing volunteers and 2,800 one time volunteers, who will help restore at least 600 acres. We look forward to sharing more articles in the Sierra Resource about our SNAP members and the projects that they are working on in the coming months, so stay tuned!

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 content is 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.



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Recent News

Climate Change

What can you do about climate change?
Energy Upgrade California

Quick Link: Climate patterns are changing, in California and across the planet. Since the mid 20th century, climate scientists have tracked these global warming trends and attributed them largely to human activity on the planet. That activity (our use of fossil fuels) has resulted in dramatically increased levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Scientists Push for a Crash Program to Scrub Carbon From the Air
New York Times, Brad Plumer, October 24, 2018

Quick Link: Scientists are increasingly warning that cutting emissions isn't enough. We'll also have to take billions of tons of carbon out of the atmosphere.

Forestry

The World’s largest organism is dying, but there are still ways to save it.
CNN, AJ Willingham, October 18, 2018

Quick Link: The "Trembling Giant," as it is known, is actually a massive single organism connected by one sprawling root system. This ancient marvel of nature is thousands of years old -- scientists don't know exactly how old -- and is considered the largest living organism on Earth.

Annual Prescribed Burn Program to Begin Soon on Eldorado National Forest
USDA Forest Service, October 26, 2018

Quick Link: I PLACERVILLE, Calif. -The Eldorado National Forest will begin its annual prescribed burn program as soon as weather conditions are favorable. Fire managers plan to burn up to 7,000 acres of national forest land this fall, winter and spring using a combination of understory and pile burning techniques. The actual number of acres burned will depend on weather and air quality conditions which may limit the number of days that prescribed burning can take place.

Recreation

Forest Service recreation facilities in Tahoe closing for the season
USDA Forest Service, October 26, 2018

Quick Link: SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – The U.S. Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit has begun closing recreational facilities around the Tahoe Basin for the winter season. Seasonal closures apply to many Forest Service recreation sites including beaches, campgrounds, picnic areas and forest roads.

California Ski Resort Projected Opening Dates
USDA Forest Service October 26, 2018

Quick Link: When will ski resorts in the California open for the ski season? See this list of projected opening dates for California mountains.

Water

‘So much water.’ Trump moves to slash environmental rules on Delta, putting farms before fish
The Sacramento Bee, Dale Kasler, October 21, 2018

Quick Link: The Trump administration Friday pledged to slash the thicket of federal environmental regulations that govern the Delta and much of California’s water supply, aiming to increase water deliveries to his political allies in the San Joaquin Valley. Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/article220320230.html#storylink=cpy

California Water Officials Must Stop Putting Oil Industry Over Water
News Deeply WATER DEEPLY, Hollin Kretzmann, October 25, 2018

Quick Link: State regulators have allowed the oil industry to dump waste fluid in unlined pits for decades. Even amid proof that this practice has polluted groundwater, officials continue to grant the industry a pass on cleanup requirements.

Wildlife

West’s rivers are hot enough to cook salmon to death. Will this court ruling keep them cool?
The Sacramento Bee, Dale Kasler, October 23, 2018

Quick Link: It might be the most gruesome element of the drought conditions that have gripped the West in recent years: salmon being cooked to death by the thousands in rivers that have become overheated as water flows dwindle.

South Lake Tahoe home to kokanee salmon spawning grounds
Las Vegas Review-Journal, Heidi Knapp Rinella, October 25, 2016 >

Quick Link: Hundreds of crimson-hued kokanee salmon are swimming upstream and spawning in Taylor Creek, on the south shore of Lake Tahoe just 10 miles across the border from the Silver State. Averaging just under a pound (although a record 5-pound specimen was caught a few years ago), they’re not as big as their more famous, 25-pound relatives in the Pacific Northwest, and they’re one of the best-kept secrets across the land. Read more here: https://www.reviewjournal.com/entertainment/food/south-lake-tahoe-home-to-kokanee-salmon-spawning-grounds/

Other

Economic analysis provides watershed moment for environmental groups
Oregon State University October 15, 2018

Quick Link: Economists have found that in the United States, watershed groups have had a positive impact on their local water quality.





Sierra Nevada Alliance

P.O. Box 7989
South Lake Tahoe, CA 96158

phone: 530.542.4546
fax:530.542.4546

www.sierranevadaalliance.org

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Since 1993 the Sierra Nevada Alliance has been protecting and restoring Sierra lands, water, wildlife and communities. The regional climate change program shapes and implements county and regional resource plans that promote smart land use, incorporate sustainable water management practices, aggressively reduce greenhouse gases and adapt to climate change.