Goals & Needs

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The Western Shasta RCD is a growing special district that is focused on conservation and natural resource management. The Western Shasta RCD currently has a staff of 16 including a 2023–24 GrizzlyCorps Fellow. For the 2024-2025 GrizzlyCorps Program, the Western Shasta RCD is hoping to secure a Climate Stewardship Coordinator to work with us to increase climate resilience in neighborhoods and communities throughout our District. 

 

The Climate Stewardship Coordinator (CSC) will work with RCD staff and a robust array of local, state and federal partners to promote Climate Stewardship practices throughout the District. The CSC will assist with managing volunteer programs and organizing community events that promote climate stewardship. Additionally, the CSC will assist RCD staff to implement a variety of projects with climate resilience elements including defensible space and home hardening, wildlife and pollinator habitat enhancement, forest health, open space conservation, fish passage improvements and community education and outreach. 

 

Shasta County has experienced multiple catastrophic wildfires and increases in development pressure over the past decade. The long-standing traditions of forestry and agriculture in our District are threatened by climate change and the Western Shasta RCD wants to help. The CSC will provide much needed support to Western Shasta RCD staff to help us address these issues in a rapidly changing environment due to climate change. The CSC will promote the goals of the GrizzlyCorps Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in order to protect biodiversity, mitigate the impacts of climate change, and support community resilience in Shasta County.

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Capacity Building Projects

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• CALFIRE/CalOES/FEMA California Wildfire Mitigation Program Pilot Project (Whitmore): The CSC will help with community engagement and general project support.

• CARCD/Wildlife Conservation Board Climate Resilience through Habitat Enhancement on California Lands: The CSC will help with community engagement and development/promotion of volunteer climate stewardship events such as monarch habitat enhancement.

• CARCD/CALFIRE Wildfire Resilience Grant: The CSC will help with community engagement and general project support.

• USFS Shasta County Community Wildfire Protection Plan Update: The CSC will help with community engagement and general project support.

• DOC Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Grant: The CSC will help with community engagement, specifically through assisting with the development of a Regional Priority Plan.

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Organizational & Community Highlights

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The WSRCD is situated in an area that is the recreational hub of Northern California. Surrounded by mountains on three sides with the Sacramento River running right down the middle, the District boasts unparalleled access to endless outdoor recreation opportunities. The District Office is located in between Redding and Anderson and the communities located in our District are dependent on tourism and recreation as well as forestry related industries. District staff is made up of a diverse group of natural resource professionals that have backgrounds in forestry, botany, biology, ecology and other related fields. The District has many projects and programs including fire prevention, forest health, stream restoration, vegetation management including invasive species, pollinator and wildlife habitat and enhancement, environmental compliance, and many more. Current District Staff has decades of experience developing and implementing natural resource conservation and protection projects as well as conducting extensive community outreach and engagement. Redding and the surrounding area has experienced extreme wildfire recently and there is a great deal of learning opportunity about recovery and mitigating the impacts of these events as well as preparing the communities impacted for the possibility of subsequent events. The WSRCD works with many federal, state and local partners to address these issues and this allows Fellows access to all of these partners to learn about the work that they do and network with them in order to explore potential future career opportunities. 

 

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