California Stories

A Season of Close Calls

As the 2022 wildfire season draws to a close, we are reflecting on how precarious our relationship with fire in California has become. On September 6^th, the Mosquito Fire raged up the American River Canyon, forcing our colleagues to evacuate their homes. Over the next eight weeks, Foresthill was saved by firefighters twice and flames came within six aerial miles of TNC’s French Meadows Project, 28,000 acres of forest at various stages of restoration.

Now, we are doubling down on our efforts to stem the cycle of destructive wildfires while setting the stage for a future where fire restores our forests instead of destroying them. This work is both ambitious and complex, but we are happy to report that your support has allowed TNC to lead the way for California forest restoration.

Public Sector Wins

TNC’s Let’s Stop Making History campaign helped change the broader public narrative, moving away from “all fire is bad” and toward a story based on facts centered on the importance of “good fire” to restore our forests and prevent megafires. The campaign was aimed at lawmakers, and the awareness it built catalyzed a massive surge in wildfire resilience funding, including nearly $3 billion of state funding and $7.5 billion in federal funding.

Behind the scenes, TNC scientists were working with the Forest Service and leading academic researchers to develop a prioritization framework to direct restoration funding to a 2.4 million-acre landscape of high-priority forest around Lake Tahoe. Recently, this Framework for Resilience was adopted by California’s Natural Resources Agency, which has partnered with Google.org to make the tool easy to use and freely available to state programs and all fire practitioners in California. The resulting interface, Planscape, will go live in early 2023 and will help direct billions of dollars.

Private Sector Wins

A MARKET FOR RESTORATION BYPRODUCTS: Much of the new funding for forest restoration will be used for “ecological thinning,” the removal of small and unhealthy trees and brush that spread megafires. This creates a lot of low-value wood material, so our team partnered with Bain & Company to find a market for it. We created a new $49 million-dollar Revolving Loan Program, administered by California’s Investment Bank, designed to help landowners reinvest proceeds from these new wood products in forest restoration.

INSURANCE: Lack of liability insurance for private prescribed fire practitioners is a key barrier to increasing controlled burns. In 2022, our team worked to establish a $20 million Prescribed Fire Claims Fund pilot, which will serve as a backstop to the private insurance market for public benefit controlled burning. To design the fund, we partnered with Senator Bill Dodd and others to develop and secure the passage of a companion bill, Senate Bill 926. 

What’s Next

ON THE GROUND: Now, TNC is launching a massive controlled burning training initiative. With initial seed funding from CAL FIRE, we’re creating our own in-house fire team that will train more than 1,200 conservation fire practitioners by 2025, significantly increasing our state’s capacity for controlled burns.

ON CAPITOL HILL: We are working to pass significant policy reforms at the federal level. The National Prescribed Fire Act (S.1734 Sens Wyden, Manchin, Cantwell, Feinstein) would approve $600 million for controlled burns on federally managed lands and require agencies to increase the area treated with controlled burns. In 2022, despite broad support for this bill, Congress did not act. But with growing awareness of the problem, we are hopeful the 118^th Congress will take up the bill. Stay tuned in 2023.

It can be amazing to watch organizations with so many different missions come together to achieve a shared goal. At the Regional Conservation Investment Strategy (RCIS) Symposium, that goal was to integrate conservation into infrastructure planning. 

TNC sponsored the legislation that created RCISs five years ago. The aim was to get transportation, water and energy agencies to design projects that avoid impacting sensitive species and habitats, while restoring and protecting larger, connected landscapes. The program has already resulted in eight approved strategies with three more currently in development. That means 11 million acres in California will receive conservation-minded transportation infrastructure. But where do we go from here? 

On September 20th, 2022 we held our fourth annual RCIS Symposium where 200 attendees, panelists and speakers came together to share information and best practices on the Regional Conservation Investment Strategy. 

Highlights from the day: 

• California Department of Fish and Wildlife Director Chuck Bonham kicked off the event by reflecting on the push to integrate community and nature values and amplify conservation priorities that guide decisions. 
• East Kaweah (Tulare County) RCIS, discussed how the program has enabled difficult stakeholder engagement, connecting conservation and agriculture with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. 
• Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, Natural Resources Agency Deputy Secretary Jennifer Norris and TNC’s Jay Ziegler engaged in a conversation on how RCIS strategies  help regions meet climate resilience, water, infrastructure, and housing goals, with special attention to conservation and nature-based solutions.

For infrastructure agencies, locating and protecting sensitive species and habitats reduces risks to infrastructure projects that result in faster project approvals and an increase of community support. When infrastructure agencies invest in conservation, to help achieve their business and community goals, nature wins.

Southeast of San Jose lies the Diablo Mountain Range, home to mountain lion, bobcat, badger and tule elk. The Range is renowned for its biodiverse chaparral communities that provide refuge for plants and animals against high-intensity fires, making it one of the last remaining places resilient to the effects of climate change within the Bay Area. Alongside local partners, TNC protected the Diablo Range using strategic conservation tools like land acquisitions, watershed and rangeland management and most recently, advance mitigation, working with infrastructure agencies to reduce impacts before projects are implemented. 

Pacheco Pass, which bisects the Diablo Range, is a migratory route for both wildlife and people between the Central Valley and the Bay Area. But US Route 152 acts as a barrier to local wildlife, fragmenting habitat and putting native species at risk. More than 10 years ago, the California High-Speed Rail Authority selected Pacheco Pass to connect the Bay Area and the Central Valley, so TNC and our partners made sure we could influence the planning to protect this critical habitat. 

Now, After seven years of community engagement, including the creation of the Pajaro Compass, the High-Speed Rail Authority has committed to building a wildlife crossing over Route 152, providing safe passage for at-risk species.

This is an extraordinary milestone, but the train has not yet left the station. Alongside our partners at the Peninsula Open Space Trust, Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority and the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, we will continue to fight for climate resilience in the region, because all the species of the Bay Area (including us!) rely on the Diablo Range.  

Something amazing happened on Santa Cruz Island. Two rare plants on the verge of extinction have made a comeback. Historically, few plants have ever come off the Endangered Species List but on the Channel Islands, we’re showing that recovery is possible.

The Trouble with Islands

Compared to the mainland, islands have fewer species, so each one needs to take on a bigger workload as part of the ecosystem. From providing food for pollinators to soil remediation and creating habitat for other species, native flora keep islands running. But the more plants islands lose the harder it is for their ecosystems to defend against threats like invasive species and climate change. These two recently delisted species are only found on the islands.

Archipelago Power! 

Santa Cruz Island is one of a chain of islands stretching from Baja California del Sur, all the way up our coast. Because each island is stewarded by a different group, and it can be hard to break silos…until now. Island stewards and botanists from each of the California islands formed a group to work on plant recovery across the archipelago. Together, we share expertise, remove invasive species that threaten native flora, fundraise together, and leverage our unique skills for the health of every island. Now, this partnership is, quite literally, bearing fruit. 

What’s next? 

Thanks to our collective efforts, more and more plants are poised to come off the endangered species list on islands up and down our coast. But climate change is making our work harder and there is A LOT to do. In partnerships with institutions like the Santa Barbara, Huntington, and California Botanic Gardens, we’re restoring highly endangered species like Island Barberry on Santa Cruz Island, which has only 11 individuals remaining on earth! 

On our islands, each species is part of an intricate puzzle and, one by one, we’re putting the pieces back together. 

This October, a light in the world went out. We lost Dawit Zeleke, a friend to all who knew him and one of the most effective advocates for nature TNC has ever known. As a farmer and a fierce conservationist, Dawit was able to turn divides between conservation and agriculture into strong bonds and shared goals.
 
Over the arc of his extraordinary career, Dawit led conservation partnerships across California, and he was doing this work up until the moment he left us. He was integral to the protection of the wetlands of the Cosumnes River, he helped establish new forests along the Sacramento River and he saw through the 20-year Hamilton City Project.
 
Dawit led the effort to make TNC’s Staten Island a model for sustainable, wildlife friendly agriculture and reduced emissions farming. Additionally, he curated the Sierra Valley Preserve to be a haven for both people and wildlife, down to the Visitor Center’s “bird-proof glass.” Dawit was with The Nature Conservancy in California for 30 years.
 
Beyond his conservation legacy, Dawit was a wonderful person. His infectious spirit and luminous smile made him a natural connector, but his deep belief in the people in his life made him a true friend.
 
To honor Dawit, we’ve established the Dawit Zeleke Memorial Fund to support independent projects at the intersection of conservation and agriculture.

When the railroad first came through the Sierra Nevada in the 1800s, the government divided the forest into a checkerboard of square-mile parcels. Many of these were given to the Union Pacific Railroad Company in exchange for laying track, and ultimately sold off one by one. This long game of checkers split up habitat for generations of wildlife, and TNC and our partners have worked for decades to reconnect the land.

In June of 2020, we had a major win in a series of linked land acquisitions. Through the Northern Sierra Partnership, TNC assisted a local land trust in acquiring the 680-acre Frog Lake property, a spectacular wild landscape nestled in a glaciated bowl below the Sierra Crest. Earlier this spring we helped the partners acquire 2,240 acres of forested lands known as Carpenter Ridge and Red Mountain, a steep ridgeline that insulates the fens and meadows of the protected Carpenter Valley.

Together, these connected lands provide habitat for imperiled species like the willow flycatcher and the gray wolf, which recently ventured back into California for the first time in a century. The area is home to other wide-ranging mammals like black bears, mountain lions, and mule deer. By protecting the slopes that surround Carpenter Valley, we’re not only conserving essential habitat, we’re securing the health of a watershed that hundreds of thousands of people rely on.

These acquisitions are a major milestone in reconnecting wildlife habitat in the Northern Sierra. The deal also opens once-private property for public recreation, so that people and nature can enjoy this pristine landscape for generations to come. Read about this historic acquisition in The Mercury News.

In March 2020, TNC acquired the 462-acre Nobmann Ranch in the Lassen Foothills. This beautiful property abuts our Dye Creek Preserve, connecting habitat for the state’s largest migratory deer herd and protecting Mill Creek, a haven for at-risk species like Chinook salmon and steelhead. Mill Creek has the highest elevation Chinook spawning grounds in North America. Salmon travel more than 300 miles from the ocean to reach their destination near Lassen National Park. Thanks to this acquisition, TNC has become one of the largest holders of water rights in the Mill Creek system. The property comes with an impressive water right of three cubic feet-per-second, the equivalent of three basketballs worth of water going by every second, 24 hours a day.

Mill Creek is fed by the cold, volcanic springs of the Cascade mountain Range, which makes it highly resistant to drought, unlike other rivers that rely on rain and snowmelt. We plan to bolster the health of the Mill Creek system and keep the stream flowing for salmon year-round by using our portfolio of water rights to deliver the water nature needs. With this work we are creating a model that can be replicated across the state to help California’s freshwater species thrive.

Now, the Nobmann property will be managed in conjunction with our Dye Creek Preserve. TNC holds more than 100,000 acres of conservation easements in the region, and this unique property adds a critical piece to the puzzle.

During last summer’s drought, while other creeks ran dry, Mill Creek continued to flow with the water young salmon need to thrive. Most creeks that cross through the foothills below Mt. Lassen have no minimum flow requirements, which means every drop can be diverted for agriculture. 

In 2020, TNC became one of the largest holders of water rights in the Mill Creek watershed with the acquisition of the 462-acre Nobmann Ranch which abuts TNC’s Dye Creek Preserve in the Lassen Foothills. We were able to ensure Mill Creek kept flowing all summer with the simple choice not to divert water from it. Even in a historic drought, Mill Creek had enough water to keep flowing as long as people didn’t interfere. 

Good summer conditions in streams like this are essential for the year-round health of the ecosystems that rely on the creek and the salmon that return to it. But these benefits shouldn’t be limited to Mill Creek, or to where TNC holds water rights. TNC is working to define how much flow is adequate to support these ecosystems and form coalitions of local water right holders to keep more waterways flowing. 

It’s amazing what nature can do when we get out of its way, and in the Lassen Foothills, we’re working to help more rivers keep flowing.

This year, TNC lost a conservation legend. Larry Serpa spent 45 years at TNC as an aquatic ecologist, managing natural areas, surveying properties for rare species and leading exemplary and often surprising trips into the field. His fascination for the hard-to-find and overlooked was well known and infectious among his colleagues. Larry’s true passion was freshwater ecosystems, and the insects that support aquatic food chains. He wanted to know “who lives where” and how the populations of these insects differed across habitat types and geography.

Beginning in graduate school, Larry visited streams across California from nearly sea level to elevations over 10,000 feet, collecting specimens, identifying and cataloging his finds. Over time, he built what became the largest individual collection of aquatic insects from our state, numbering over 190,000 specimens. Larry kept his data meticulously, documenting times, locations, and ultimately identifying over 1,500 individual species, including some that were previously thought to be extinct.

Thanks to his wife Lynn Lozier, Larry’s collection has been donated to the California Academy of Sciences. The Academy reports that it is one of the largest collections they’ve ever received, and its addition makes their institution “easily the biggest and best resource for western aquatic collections.” Now, with these data, scientists will be able to track how species have moved and California ecosystems have shifted—critical insights that can help our state adapt to climate change. In spring of 2021, Larry lost a battle with cancer, but he spent his life doing what he loved—walking in the water—uncovering the mysteries of California’s streams.

Mary Gleason has spent decades using science to protect ocean habitats in California and around the world. After an impactful 20-year career with TNC, Gleason has retired as Director of Science for TNC’s California Oceans team. Gleason spoke about the moments in her career that changed her perspective and what keeps her optimistic about the future.  

TNC: As you look back on your career in science, what projects and experiences have stayed with you?

MARY GLEASON: For me, the most exciting projects have been ones where I can see science having an impact. Some projects help us discover something new, while others change people’s perceptions or raise their awareness leading to positive changes in the world. 

Our recent study with UC Santa Barbara looked at the amount of microfibers that are released when we wash our synthetic clothes here in California. The results shocked us. We found that, despite good wastewater treatment systems, microfibers are being released by the quadrillions, and that number got a lot of attention, which is now catalyzing action. 

On the water, my work with fishing communities around the world really inspired me. They bring their local knowledge and years of experience to the work. Off the West coast, our team worked with groundfish fishermen to formally close areas of seafloor to trawling to help protect habitat and rebuild fisheries. I’ve been here long enough to see those fisheries recover. It’s amazing when the work comes full circle, from science to impact.

TNC: What moments changed your perspective over the course of your career?

MARY GLEASON: The susceptibility of our oceans to climate change constantly requires me to adjust my perspective on ocean health. Coral bleaching has long been one of the early signs of climate impacts. When I was researching corals in French Polynesia for my dissertation in the early '90s, the area experienced its first serious bleaching event. Most of my study animals died, and it was hard to watch. It was my first experience with mass mortality in the ocean, and that was the moment I decided to work in conservation rather than academic research. 

Since then, coral bleaching has become really prevalent, and we know now it is directly related to climate change. The conservation challenges are getting bigger and bigger as climate change exacerbates everything. The science is very clear, and hopefully the global community’s embrace of the science will allow us to do a lot more on a policy level and a structural level to make the big changes we need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

TNC: What are some changes you’ve seen in the field over the course of your career?

MARY GLEASON: I am excited that we are starting to see more diverse representation in marine science. When I started in my career, I was often the only woman in the lab, on the research vessel, at the field station, etc. While that has changed, there is a lot more we need to do to build opportunities for scientists from under-represented communities to enter the conservation field and to feel supported once they’re here. Science needs that, and the world needs that, and organizations like TNC need to step up and do more. I love the Black in Marine Science program led by Dr. Tiara Moore; they are doing awesome work to celebrate and promote black marine scientists, provide opportunities and inspire the next generation of ocean stewards.

TNC: Describe a time when you felt you really made a difference. What made you the proudest?

MARY GLEASON: TNC loaned me to a public-private partnership for six years. My job was to help the State of California design and implement a network of 124 protected marine areas under California’s Marine Life Protection Act. I’ve never worked harder in my life, but it was so rewarding. I brought planning and science expertise to help representatives from local communities, fishermen, NGOs, scientists and public officials. Our group worked together to build what is now the largest network of protected marine areas in the world.

Now, when my daughter and I are out walking along the California coast and we see signs marking marine reserves and conservation areas offshore, she points them out because she knows I helped make that happen. She’s proud of me. 

TNC: How did you first enter the field of marine science?

MARY GLEASON: I grew up on the east coast of Florida. My dad loved to snorkel and sail, and my mom was a devoted fisherwoman, so I spent a lot of time on the water and knew from an early age that I wanted to be a marine biologist. My mother was a scientist, and my dad worked for the space program. I grew up in a household with a lot of travel and adventure. I learned to dive relatively young, and once I started diving, I was hooked. 

I got my undergraduate degree in marine science and worked as a research assistant for many years doing marine ecological research. I was fortunate to be one of UC Berkeley’s first graduate students to do a project at the University’s then-new research facility in French Polynesia. After I finished my PhD, I worked in California, Indonesia and the Philippines with communities and governments on coastal management projects. I joined TNC’s California chapter right when they were setting up their marine program. And 20 years later, it’s amazing how many different marine conservation efforts the Oceans Program is working on and how much impact we are having. 

TNC: What is your advice to new scientists? Is there anything you wish you’d known?

MARY GLEASON: Find your passion and follow it. This will lead you to other people who care about similar things. For people interested in marine science, there is so much we still don’t know about the ocean. So many questions are unanswered, and there are so many big ocean challenges to solve. There’s plenty of room for everyone to make a big difference.

TNC: What developments are you most excited to see in the marine sciences in the coming years? 

MARY GLEASON: There are so many ways that technology can help us understand and address problems—everything from using satellite data to map kelp or track whales to collecting eDNA to understand where species are. It’s a brave new world of research opportunity, and we are going to need technology to help us recover and get back into better balance with nature. But, at the same time, we also need to empower and recognize communities that are stewarding their ocean resources well. Unfortunately, we’ve undervalued local and traditional knowledge, when, in fact, local stewardship can make all the difference, especially when it's combined with adequate support, partnership and new technology. It’s an all-hands-on-deck moment for the ocean, and we need everyone to be working together on solutions.

TNC: What keeps you optimistic about the future?

MARY GLEASON: The next generation of scientists and community members who are willing to change and be more revolutionary and radical in their thinking. They give me a lot of hope. I grew up in the '70s, very much a part of the environmental movement, and science and public pressure did make a difference. Now, with climate change, we need to do the same times a thousand to implement the systemic changes we need. And we don’t have time to lose. The younger generations are rightfully angry and worried about the world we are leaving them. I hope we can all kick butt together to make the changes we need.

We need to protect our marine ecosystems and help recover ocean areas that are being degraded. Healthy oceans will be more resilient to climate change, and the ocean is a huge part of the solution set for both addressing climate change and meeting human needs. 

TNC: As you look back on your career, what are you most grateful for?

MARY GLEASON: I feel so fortunate that my childhood dream of being a marine biologist came true and that I had the opportunity to have an almost 20-year career at TNC doing the work I love with an incredible team of inspiring conservation professionals. Waking up every day to help protect nature and advance effective conservation has been challenging but never boring. And as someone on the cusp of retirement, it definitely feels bittersweet to leave. I know I’m not done with conservation work, and I’m excited to see the new forms it will take in my life.

Earlier this month, TNC and the Ocean Protection Council hosted the West Coast’s largest science convening to prevent whale entanglement. Each year, whales are accidentally caught in marine debris and the gear that fishermen set out in the ocean. This can result in serious injury or even death. 

The science convening was designed to combat the issue on all sides, featuring panel discussions between state and federal fishery managers and fishermen and presentations from more than 20 researchers from around the U.S. Presentations highlighted opportunities for greater collaboration, as well as new tools and research to reduce the risk of entanglement in West Coast fisheries. And thanks to its virtual format, the convening safely hosted more than 200 attendees. 

The timing of the event was critical. Washington, Oregon and California are all developing entanglement risk management plans that will set the course for improving whale conservation and uphold the fisheries that serve as economic pillars in the three states. Now, informed by findings from the workshop, the Ocean Protection Council is developing a competitive call for more than $2 million in public funding to advance research and tools to reduce entanglement risk across the West Coast.

Six years of collaborative efforts led by TNC’s California Ocean Program resulted in the protection of 150,000 square miles of critical seafloor habitat off the west coast. That’s nearly the size of the state of California! New regulations protect this habitat which is home to deep-sea coral and sponge formations. Fish populations have recovered to the extent that historically important fishing grounds have been able to reopen.

Protecting ocean habitat isn’t just a goal of environmental organizations; fishing communities also depend on a healthy ocean. But these two groups often find themselves at odds. In 2012, TNC and a coalition of organizations and fishing leaders came together to change that.  

We brought together an extraordinary collaborative with the help of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Environmental Defense Fund, and fishing industry professionals of all kinds. The collaborative held over 30 port meetings up and down the West Coast to negotiate a new proposal to the federal government that would enhance habitat protections while saving fishermen’s livelihoods. 

By cross referencing fishermen’s knowledge of the seafloor with new scientific data, we were better able to identify high-value fishing areas and sensitive habitat for protection. The result was a massive win for the ocean and a more sustainable future for West Coast fishing communities.