Across the discussions, a common themed emerged: California’s climate and natural resource challenges are deeply interconnected, and the most effective solutions recognize and strengthen the connections between our watersheds, working lands, communities, and ecosystems.
Sustainable Conservation Board Chair Jeff Loomans and his wife, Patricia Munter, first became involved with Sustainable Conservation in 2018. Since then, they have become dedicated champions of the organization’s work, with Jeff joining the Board and stepping into the role of Board Chair at the beginning of this year.
At the North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board’s April 15th meeting, Sustainable Conservation’s Accelerating Restoration team was honored with the Executive Officer’s 2025 Water Quality Stewardship Award. This year’s award recognized the decades of work the team has put into restoration permitting improvements to make habitat restoration faster, more effective, and more accessible across California.
The Alameda Creek watershed covers an area of nearly 700 square miles and is populated by over 200,000 people. For decades, migrating fish in Alameda Creek were blocked by a gas pipeline and concrete barrier that crossed the creek in Sunol Valley.
On January 29, 2026, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) hosted California’s first Nature-Based Solutions Summit, bringing together a diverse group of leaders to share experiences, offer insights, and discuss next steps. Nature-based solutions are not a side dish; they are the full meal. They are investments in public safety, economic resilience, workforce development, and cultural restoration.
“There is no miracle prescription that will solve all of California’s climate and natural resource challenges, but a combination of science-backed solutions that can be feasibly scaled across the state is what gives me hope right now.”
Join our donor community for invites to future events like this and to help us advance the collaborative stewardship of California’s land, air, and water for the benefit of nature and people!
“The Yurok Tribe worked hard to build a bridge, based on trust and mutual respect, between local tribes, local farmers and residents, and CalTrout,” said Barry McCovey, the director of the Yurok Tribe Fisheries Department. “Together, we are working to fix two of the biggest threats to salmon in the Scott River Valley by restoring fish habitat and modernizing water conveyance infrastructure. This mutually beneficial outcome could only be achieved through collaboration.”
On October 14th, more than 30 Sustainable Conservation community members, donors, Board members, and staff piled into a tour bus for a jam-packed day of sightseeing cutting-edge climate resilience projects throughout the Central Valley.
Join Sustainable Conservation in welcoming its two GrizzlyCorps Fellows for the 2025-26 term, Ryan Wakefield and Hayley Willner!
Read our 2024 annual report to learn what your generosity made possible last year.
Investing in faster, more cost-effective regulatory processes for restoration pays dividends for both ecosystems and the communities that depend on them. Thanks to a coalition of local partners led by Creek Lands Conservation (CLC), the Arroyo Grande stream gauge has now been modified to allow federally threatened South-Central California Coast (SCCC) steelhead to once again access eight miles of upstream spawning and rearing habitat.