Events and Activities
Volunteer Stewardship Day for Sage-Grouse Habitat
Come help Eastern Sierra Land Trust and the Bureau of Land Management as we team up to care for land where our Bi-State sage-grouse live, for two back-to-back Stewardship Days. On September 6th and 7th, we need as many hands as possible to work on habitat enhancement projects on land that the sage-grouse calls home.
Date: September 6 & 7, 2019
For more info or to RSVP contact Marie at: marie@eslt.org or (760) 873 – 4554.
The Stampede Road Clean Up
The Stampede Road Clean Up, is happening on Saturday, September 7th along Stampede Road, near the mouth of the Little Truckee River. Trout Unlimited work every year to clean up their stretch of road they have adopted through Adopt-A-Road program.
Date: September 7, 2019
For more info, click here
California Biodiversity Day
We are encouraging Californians to get out and explore nature, including by attending one of several “biodiversity open houses” at state parks, wildlife refuges and ecological reserves. We’re also inviting folks to help document our biodiversity by taking pictures of plants and wildlife using the popular iNaturalist app, developed by the California Academy of Sciences in partnership with National Geographic.
Date: September 7 & 8, 2019
For more info, click here
TERC Presents: Mission Architectures for Exploration of the Moon, Deep Space, and Mars
Could Earth’s oceans teach us about life in space? Can volcanic terrain help us understand the environment on Mars? Dr. Darlene Lim thinks so. As a geobiologist and limnologist at the NASA Ames Research Center, she has searched the far reaches of the world to develop a better understanding of the potential for life on other planets. 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: September 12, 2019
For more info, click here
Sierra Water Workgroup Summit
Over the past twelve years and across the State, diverse groups have been coming together to create model Integrated Regional Water Management Plans (IRWMPs) to ensure reliable water supply, protect water quality and restore watersheds. The 2019 Sierra Water Workgroup Summit, sponsored by the California Lawyers Association, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and Sierra Nevada Alliance will take place in Kings Beach, CA.
Date: September 12-13, 2019
For more info, click here
20th Annual Markleeville Creek Day
Alpine Watershed Group, in partnership with the Great Sierra River Cleanup, will be hosting its 20th annual Markleeville Creek Day on Saturday, September 21, 2019. This event allows for the completion of important restoration work through several projects across the Carson River watershed. Volunteers will have the opportunity to plant willows in Hope Valley, remediate headcuts in Grover Hot Springs State Park, remove invasive and noxious weeds from meadows and riparian zones, or cleanup roads as part of the Adopt-A- Highway program. There will also be kid friendly events, including painting picnic tables in Heritage Park and cleaning up Markleeville Creek. All are welcome to attend. No experience is necessary.
Date: September 21, 2019
For more info, click here or call (530) 694-2327 and email awg.snap.rm@gmail.com
Symposium: Climate Change and the Ecology of Sierra Nevada Forests
This symposium will focus on the responses of Sierra Nevada forests and adjacent ecosystems (such as meadows) and the organisms that comprise them to increasing climate stresses.
Participants will be invited to submit a paper related to their talk or poster to a special issue of Western North American Naturalist by May 2020; our aim is to gather at least 15 such papers. We also aim to have a diversity of institutions (academic and non-academic), career stages, focal organisms and ecosystems, and human demographics (age, gender, race/ethnicity, etc.) represented - therefore please share this announcement widely! The symposium is co-sponsored by The Sierra Nevada Research Institute and Western North American Naturalist.
Date: September 21-22, 2019
For more info, click here
SYRCL's 22nd Annual Yuba River Cleanup
Welcome to the 22nd Annual Yuba River Cleanup. Register today to join nearly 1,000 volunteers from our community, helping to keep our watershed clean. A clean river means a beautiful, healthy river and a healthy river in the Sierra can impact life downstream, all the way to the sea.
Date: September 22, 2019
For more info, click here
Job Announcements & Volunteer Opportunities
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.
American Rivers - Various Positions
American Rivers is hiring multiple positions.
For more info, click here.
Watercraft Inspection Program – Watercraft Inspectors
The Tahoe Resource Conservation District is looking to hire multiple positions in North Lake Tahoe, specifically for the Alpine Meadows watercraft inspection station just north of Tahoe City. Do you know anyone with drive and passion for the environment? Whether they are environmentally focused or mechanically minded, looking to start or develop a career, ages 16+ just looking for a summer job, we welcome them to become a part of our team!
For more info, click here.
Volunteers Wanted for the Reclaiming the Sierra Conference
"The Sierra Fund is gearing up for their fifth biennial conference, Reclaiming the Sierra 2019: Headwater Mercury Source Reduction. It’s taking place October 16th-18th, 2019 at the Gold Miner’s Inn in Grass Valley, CA and they are looking for volunteers to help with the 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 people who commit to a five hour or more volunteer shift, The Sierra Fund will provide a FREE conference pass which may be used Wednesday, October 16th through Friday, October 18th. This year’s conference includes inspirational keynote speakers, presentations from professionals in their fields, live music, artwork, and a headwaters tour in the Sierra Nevada.
For more info, click here.
Sequoia Riverlands Trust is Partnering with Waldron to Conduct a Search for a New Executive Director
This is a unique opportunity to lead an innovative land trust organization into its next stage of development. Working with and through a committed and knowledgeable team, and in partnership with a well-connected Board of Directors, the Executive Director will weave together SRT’s conservation, mitigation, education, and policy programs in a way that ensures financial sustainability and meets the needs of SRT’s diverse stakeholders in the counties it serves.
For more info, click here.
Highlights
SNAP Spotlight: Crew Stover, Serving with Sierra Nevada Alliance
Meet Crew, he is finishing up his second SNAP term serving for the Sierra Nevada Alliance and the Tahoe Fund. He came to the Sierra for this position, after graduating from the College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, NY last May. Crew has a unique position in the SNAP program, serving for multiple organizations simultaneously.
With the Tahoe Fund, Crew manages a unique environmental stewardship campaign called Take Care Tahoe, check it out at: TakeCareTahoe.org. Take Care is an innovative campaign attempting to normalize responsible everyday behaviors in Tahoe. The campaign has a series of funny messages that get people to think about how their actions can harm the health of the environment. Over the last year, Crew has worked on expanding the reach of the message and creating brand recognition through collaboration and social media. By working with Lodging Associations, the Take Care message is now in many hotels and coming to the casinos soon.
With the Sierra Nevada Alliance, Crew does a variety of watershed and outreach work. Last fall, working with Trout Unlimited, he coordinated a restoration event on Prosser Creek implementing over 4 tons of spawning gravel into the creekbed. This summer, he spent multiple weeks in Nevada City, CA assisting Sierra Streams Institute with physical habitat assessments in the Deer Creek watershed. For the Outreach component of his position, Crew represents the Sierra Nevada Alliance at events and festivals such as Earth Day. He also represents the Alliance at both North and South Tahoe Environmental Education Coalitions, which orchestrate environmental education programs for local school districts.
Crew is extremely grateful to the Sierra Nevada Alliance and SNAP program for this opportunity. Growing up on the East Coast, the AmeriCorps Partnership was the perfect fit for someone looking to move West. The last year and a half has not always been easy, but was an amazing learning experience for him. Crew hopes to continue with conservation work in Tahoe once his term is completed.
Increasing Workforce Capacity for Forest Health Restoration in the Sierra:
Sierra Nevada Alliance Announces New Sierra Corps Forestry Fellowship Program
The Sierra Nevada Alliance is proud to present the Sierra Corps Forestry Fellowship Program starting this Fall with generous grant funding from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. One of the most prevalent challenges facing efforts to restore Sierra Nevada forests today is a shortage of experienced workforce to implement restoration projects. Implementation funds are abundant, but technically trained staff is limited. With this difficulty in mind, the Sierra Corps Program will initially place at least three Fellows with Host Site partners throughout the region for technical training and work in forest health, biomass utilization, and wildfire recovery efforts. The Alliance is also actively seeking funds to at least double the number of Fellows in the next year. Fellows are expected to bring some previous experience in, and passion for, forest health work to boost their career in this field and assist with restoration implementation, strategic assessment and monitoring, technical permitting and planning, GIS analyses, community outreach, collaborative facilitation, or other relevant tasks. This program is modeled after the Alliance's 14-year-old Sierra Nevada AmeriCorps Partnership watershed program. Both programs create a legacy of conservation leaders for the Sierra and Nation and build capacity for Alliance conservation Member Group partners to strengthen the overall impact of work on the ground.
The Alliance is currently accepting Host Site applications from organizations implementing forest health projects in the Sierra and Cascades. These organizations include environmental nonprofits, state and public agencies, land trusts, and federal agencies. Fellows will work with staff at these Host Sites to implement projects and Host sites are expected to supervise Fellows in their work. This is a cost-share partnership between Host Sites and the Sierra Nevada Alliance. The Alliance provides half of the salary and administrative costs (benefits, health care, training, and travel stipends). Host Sites are expected to contribute a cash match towards the total cost of a Fellow’s year of work. We strongly encourage all organizations with relevant need and work projects to submit Host Site applications despite potential financial challenges with meeting the cash match requirement.
Sierra Corps is aiming to open the application period for Fellows in September and have them working with their host sites by late October or November. Fellows will be enthusiastic, dedicated, conservation-minded individuals willing to commit to a year (with a possibility of extension) fellowship working to restore Sierra forests and build resilient communities. The Sierra Corps Fellowship Program is not an entry level internship program. Applicants are expected to have experience in conservation planning, monitoring and assessment, and/or restoration implementation, ideally with a forestry emphasis. The program will provide Fellows with an annual $25,000 salary, standard health insurance, and technical skills-development training.
To implement the Sierra Corps Program, the Sierra Nevada Alliance has hired a new Program Director, Nicole Lutkemuller. Nicole joined the Alliance team on August 1 and is working from the Alliance’s Tahoe City office to recruit the initial round of Host Site partnerships and Fellows. Nicole grew up outside of Auburn, CA and brings 6 years of experience in various conservation planning, project management, outreach/education, and environmental data analysis positions with agencies, NGOs and private organizations. Since completing a B.S. In Environmental Science from Sierra Nevada College in 2012 she has worked for the Maine Dept. of Conservation, Bureau of Land Management, Alpine Watershed Group as a SNAP member, and for a GIS data visualization firm in Truckee while also getting involved in political organizing. Nicole has served on the North Tahoe Regional Advisory Council to Placer County since 2015. She is thrilled to bring her passion for protecting the Range of Light and her experience and knowledge of Sierra Nevada forest health issues to the Sierra Corps Program.
If you are interested in applying to be a Host Site or a Fellow with the Sierra Corps program you can contact Nicole directly at nicole@sierranevadaalliance.org or (530) 542-4546 x 708. The Sierra Corps website can be accessed here and has Host Site application materials and program information available for download.
Resources
Volunteers and Vulnerable Communities at the Center of Governor Newsom's Strategy to Ready California for Disaster
California For All Emergency Preparedness Campaign grants released to empower communities and engage one million vulnerable Californians on emergency preparedness
Sacramento, Calif. – California Volunteers, Office of the Governor, announced today the release of nine available grants for the California For All Emergency Preparedness Campaign to deploy a network of volunteers and transform how Californians get ready for the next disaster. Gov. Gavin Newsom first announced the campaign when he declared a state of emergency due to increased risk of wildfire on March 22.
Learn more here.
AmeriCorps Alums Segal Leadership Award
AmeriCorps Alums @ Service Year Alliance, a powerful network of diverse alums that support and equip each other to get things done so that all people can thrive in strong communities, seeks to recognize two emerging leaders for the 2019-2020 AmeriCorps Alums Segal Leadership Award, which also grants them entry into the lifelong Segal Fellowship.
Learn more here.
Tahoe Land CapRadio
Lake Tahoe is a jewel in the Sierra Nevada, but climate change threatens everything we love about it. CapRadio’s Ezra David Romero takes us inside this petri dish for scientific research to see how Tahoe helps us confront the global climate crisis.
Learn more here.
Stream Flow Enhancement Program (Proposition 1)
California voters approved the Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014 (Proposition 1) to provide funding to implement the three objectives of the California Water Action Plan, which are: more reliable water supplies, the restoration of important species and habitat, and a more resilient and sustainably managed water resources system that can better withstand inevitable and unforeseen pressures in the coming decades.
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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