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Gold Ridge resource conservation district

Sebastapol, CA

 

http://www.goldridgercd.org/

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Habitat Restoration and Resilience Field Coordinator

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Desired Skills/Traits:

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  • The scope of work for this role is diverse, so there is not a specific degree requirement, but rather just coursework and/or life experiences that show a passion for natural resource conservation.  

  • Primary qualities/skills: 

    • Is organized, prompt, respectful and responsive

    • Motivated and self-directed once given a task 

    • Strong written and verbal communication stills, - Spanish fluency a plus

  • Secondary qualities/skills:

    • Enjoys working with diverse people and organizations  

    • Has experience with ArcGIS mapping or interest in learning

    • Has interest in learning or experience in social media and outreach

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Openings: 0 of 1​

Gold Ridge RCD, school garden
Focus Area: Agri-food Systems, Forestry

Food Systems,  Education & Outreach; Regenerative Agriculture; Climate Mitigation & Adaptation; Ecological Forestry; Watershed Management; Volunteer Engagement

project breakdown

Research

10%

Planning

20%

Implementation

40%

Education & Outreach

30%

Goals & Needs

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The Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (GRRCD) in western Sonoma County, with fourteen staff of diverse backgrounds, conducts multiple programs focused on natural resource management, climate change adaptation, watershed health, and sustainable agriculture.  Our AmeriCorps Fellows have opportunities to engage with staff in numerous capacities, in both field work and office-based activities, as well as activities through our project partners.  This Coordinator position will assist in multiple programs, providing a diversity of both field and office-based experiences while building capacity of RCD staff through a focus on management systems development. Programs include:  a wildlife habitat enhancement program, which partners us with school garden coordinators, farmers, and public land managers to create and enhance diverse habitat; a coho recovery program, restoring passage and habitat conditions in two critical watersheds of the lower Russian River; a Farm To School Program, designed to increase the on-school production of and access to fresh produce in school lunches through both support of school gardens and of increased procurement from local farms; and a community fire prevention program, designed to increase home defensible space in a rural forested setting.

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Capacity Building Projects

 

Central California Coast Coho Salmon Recovery.  The Grizzly Corps Fellow will contribute to the program by assisting in applied research to inform restoration efforts. This may include deploying and managing Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) antennas in tributaries of the Russian River and comprehensive water quality monitoring. Either through grant funded projects with Gold Ridge RCD or through partnerships with other regional fisheries organizations (eg. Sonoma Water, Army Corps of Engineers, CDFW, CA Sea Grant), the Grizzly Corps Fellow would learn other fisheries monitoring techniques including: spawner surveys, downstream migrant trapping, snorkel surveys, and fish handling. A position with Gold Ridge would also provide a Grizzly Corps member with the opportunity to observe and engage with the design and implementation of instream restoration projects aimed at improving habitat for salmonids. 

 

Monarch Butterfly Recovery Monitoring.  Over the past two years, GRRCD has worked with a wide array of partners over a 5-county region to create or enhance habitat for monarch butterflies.   Building on the work of our current Fellow, the incoming Fellow will help establish long-term monitoring and data tracking measures for our project sites, and assist in proposal development to continue the program.  

 

Capacity Building of School Garden Programs.  The GrizzlyCorps Fellow will support the Sonoma County School Garden Network (SGN) Farm-to-School Coordinator to provide technical support to schools to support school garden programs.  This will include professional development workshops for educators and garden coordinators, administration of mini-grants to schools to provide garden supplies like irrigation materials and curated grow kits of seasonal plants, and state-aligned curricular resources integrated with garden and nutrition education. The Fellow will also assist in planning, developing, and monitoring of school garden habitat plantings. 

 

Community Wildfire Defensible Space Project. Conducted in partnership between the RCD and the nonprofit Safer West County, supports rural landowners in creating and maintaining wildfire defensible space around their homes and roads.  The Fellow will support outreach and engagement as well as develop an instructional guide documenting the process of engagement.  Safer West County is a new organization that is eager to build its capacity to serve its community. This pilot rebate project will build SWC’s capacity to run a rebate project in the future without RCD’s support.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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Gold Ridge RCD has a friendly, tight-knit, and growing staff, with several new faces recently joining our team (including several of our former AmeriCorps fellows!).  Our office is an old farmhouse, sitting on a hilltop vineyard property west of the rural community of Graton.  Many staff work remotely at least part-time, with a lot of flexibility in work hours and schedules.  Our district covers west Sonoma County, a diverse and beautiful area including an iconic coastline, redwood forests, rolling grasslands, oak woodlands, picturesque towns, and the county’s two largest wetlands.  The RCD offers a wide range of ever-evolving resource conservation programs, allowing staff and our Fellows to be constantly learning new things. 

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