Gratitude.

It’s 2025, and we’ve weathered another year of climate uncertainty. Together, we proved yet again that collaboration is the only way to solve our tough environmental challenges in California.

As we reflect on our work over the past year, we’re so grateful for everything you help us do every day. Your commitment to our community means big wins for our environmental, economic and collective health, and we look forward to another exciting year of progress.

2024 IN REVIEW

Thanks to you, we took groundwater recharge from fringe practice to mainstream solution. We celebrated National Groundwater Awareness Week, welcomed Richael Young as our new Water for the Future Program Senior Director, promoted smart policy, and kept working with farmers, water managers, and communities to build water security and resilience.

Thanks to you, we investigated smart soil health solutions with our research and farming community. We visited our pioneering partners, co-published Cover Cropping in the SGMA Era to spread information about cover cropping’s actual water impacts in the state, and celebrated Healthy Soils Week 2024 with a deep dive into circularity and renewable resource cycles.

Thanks to you, we accelerated beneficial habitat restoration with more resources and partnerships around California. We worked with the Northern California Water Association’s Floodplain Forward Coalition to create a roadmap for restoration, published a key report to enhance our existing permitting processes and spur new partnerships, and co-authored a call to scale restoration to meet our ambitious state conservation goals.

Thanks to you, we secured an exciting Conservation Innovation Grant to keep scaling our innovative manure subsurface drip irrigation (MSDI) system to new crops! We’ll investigate how MSDI can irrigate and fertilize almonds safely and scale the system to protect our drinking water and close the loop on manure as a nutrient rather than waste product.

Thanks to you, we honored more dedicated California land stewards this year with the Leopold Conservation Award, and celebrated three amazing finalists in their efforts to steward our natural resources for future generations.

Thanks to you, we hosted another year of successful webinars on climate resilience through regeneration and groundwater recharge for sustainable water management in California. Many of you connected with us to learn what climate solutions lie in healthy soils, restoring habitats, and boosting our water resources. Thanks also to our generous series sponsors Environmental Science Associates, Holland & Knight, and Spottswoode Estate Vineyard and Winery for supporting these gatherings.

Thanks to you, we celebrated Collaboration in Action with our community in San Francisco this past October. Our California Conservationists grew in number, and your generous, new and increased support helped us meet two matching gift challenges from the Emmett Family Foundation and Michael Spiegelman.

And, thanks to you, we welcomed six new team members and a new board member to help us collaborate for more climate success! From storytelling to smart water solutions, your generosity fuels our staff and our work. You inspire us daily, and your partnership is a beautiful reminder of our collective power to be environmental champions.

We accomplished so much together in 2024, and we cannot thank you enough for being part of the Sustainable Conservation community. Because of you, we’re ready to take on drought, deluge, and everything this coming year delivers to safeguard California’s most precious natural resources for all.

THANK YOU.