*This position has been filled*

Hopland, CA

https://hrec.ucanr.edu/

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Fire resiliency and adaptation education: Climate change mitigation and adaptation education; Research to extension continuum: Regenerative agriculture education, management, and research

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Desired Skills/Traits:

• Natural resources, agriculture, ecology, or environmental education

• Curiosity over a diversity of subjects 

• Able to and enjoys working in varied environmental conditions and terrains

• Can develop and execute plans, manage time, and self-start projects

• Spanish Speaking skills 

• GIS Mapping

• Humor, strong communication, self-motivated, positive attitude

• Field Work and Work Safety training, project management, youth education, social media 

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Openings: 0 of 1​

project breakdown

Goals & Needs

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The UC Hopland Research & Extension Center is a multi-disciplinary research and education facility in Mendocino County located roughly 2 hours north of UC Berkeley. We are stewards of more than 5,300 acres of oak woodland, grassland, chaparral, and riparian environments.

Our mission is to maintain and enhance ecosystem integrity through applied research, adaptive management, and educational activities, while also supporting working landscapes, with diverse agricultural products and recognized ecosystem services derived from these landscapes. We conduct research projects and educational programs in wildlife ecology and management, animal science, entomology, plant ecology, public health, watershed management, and soil ecology.

The Member will work on various climate change and regenerative agriculture projects including; developing and coordinating educational workshops on climate change effects and adaptation, from daylong workshops to multi-day events; assisting with development and enactment of land management plans including a carbon farm plan, grazing strategies, fencing realignments, field camp development; coordinating prescribed burn activities; assisting with various outreach projects to extend UC knowledge and programs into local communities; assisting with citizen science projects.

The work will address various environmental challenges including; how north coast communities adapt to climate change effects; how to effectively use prescribed fire to meet multiple land management and ecosystem service goals; how to integrate grazing multiple species into effective regenerative agricultural land management systems; how to sequester carbon on working landscapes.

The above scope of work directly promotes GrizzlyCorps purpose and goal by getting the Member directly and actively involved in planning, coordinating, and enacting land management tools to build a climate-change resilient operation on 5,400 acres of land, by engaging in the work of extending this knowledge into local and regional communities, and by helping feedback into the UC system knowledge of what tools and education local communities need to best adapt to the challenges of climate change.

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Capacity Building Projects

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 All work will be for HREC program activities.

The Fellow will work with the Director, Community Education Specialist, and Facilities supervisor to conduct activities under general (and sometimes specific) direction. They will be supported by, and have access to, other staff including our Staff Research Assistant, Ag Technicians, and onsite IGIS specialist as well as visiting researchers.

Desired project outcomes include:

1. Support community education programs as needed including California Naturalist, Climate Stewards, youth field trips and camps focused on agriculture and sustainability.

2. Facilitate and coordinate citizen science projects such as phenology or rangeland species surveys.

3. Conduct media outreach on various media (social, radio, newspapers, blog posts) sharing lessons learned to the broader community.

4. Land management data collection: species location and spread, soil health measures. Done manually and via GIS.

5. Assist with implementation of the Carbon Farm Plan.

6. Compile and describe data sets.

7. Assist with conference and workshop logistics.

8. Assist with various agriculture and natural resource research projects including fire ecology, grazing, soil carbon sequestration.

9. Install and maintain data collection equipment like weather stations and wildlife cameras

10. Assist with habitat restoration projects in oak woodlands, riparian areas, or rangelands.

11. Assist with developing a Vegetation Treatment Plan (VTP) with CalFire.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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The Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) is known throughout UC ANR as one of the most beautiful locations within our statewide REC system, with over 5300 acres of oak woodlands, rangelands, riparian areas, and chaparral. The core of HREC is our headquarters area nestled in a small valley surrounded by oaks and madrones. We have a conference center, dormitory, 7 houses, an office building with lab, sheep barn, warehouses, and a full set of workshops (wood, metal, mechanics) to support our working ranch. As a recent Corp member describes, “I like that this place encourages me to spend time in quiet reflection, outdoor meditation, and artistic practice, without the constant distraction of living near bustling urban events. It's not too quiet, though, as we do have groups coming in and out to take advantage of our event facilities which gives the opportunity to meet new people at the site on any given week. I also appreciate the variety of environments and cities within a 1 and 2 hour radius of HREC - there are great farmer's markets, shops, and events to be tapped into in Santa Rosa, Sebastopol, Fort Bragg. Some of the most beautiful coastlines in California are within a day's drive from the site. Some weekends I don't even feel the need to leave, though - the land here is so beautiful and untrodden, there is such biodiversity in trees, flowers, and birds that it never gets old to go hiking on site.”

Our staff of 8 are highly skilled individuals in their respective areas including research, administration, business, livestock, community education, facilities, equipment, and agriculture. At HREC, the Member will become an important part of our small team and get to know and work with everyone in group and one-on-one settings. Alongside our HREC staff we also house staff for two statewide programs, IGIS and California Naturalist, and collaborate closely with experts from multiple UC campuses, UC Cooperative Extension, and environmental consultants from government and industry. Thus, the Member will benefit from diverse mentorship opportunities and rich professional networking. HREC staff work hard to create a supportive, respectful, and collaborative office environment; the Member will be challenged to devise independent goals and learn a broad set of skills, while given the opportunity to dive deeply into the exploration of their own unique interests. 

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