Our Blog
Dairy Summit Showcases Environmental Progress, Challenges
A Path Forward, Together Farmers, trade groups, state agencies, academics and Sustainable Conservation staff filled the sold-out, inaugural California Dairy Sustainability Summit in Sacramento last week to showcase how the Golden State’s dairy industry is moving the needle on sustainability. Critical issues like conserving water, protecting air quality and water, boosting renewable energy and reducing…
Lundberg Family Farms Receives 2018 CA Leopold Conservation Award
The votes have been tallied, and thanks to our esteemed panel of judges, we’re pleased to announce that this year’s California Leopold Conservation Award recipient is Lundberg Family Farms. Pioneering Excellence Begun in 1937, Lundberg Family Farms is a multi-generation organic rice farm and innovative rice products processor. The family’s proven commitment to sustainable farming…
Workshop Showcases Promise of Groundwater Recharge in Wine Country
Groundwater Recharge: Part of the Solution Something Californians can all agree on? We need to take a closer look at how we manage our water, and find new ways to be better prepared for dry times in our future. And, we need to do it together. Groundwater recharge isn’t an entirely new concept – in…
Proposition 3 Gets Our Vote
On November 6, Californians will go to the ballot box to vote on a raft of state propositions – 11 in total – from homelessness prevention, to improving children’s hospitals statewide, to establishing a permanent daylight savings time (that’s right, no more switching our clocks twice a year). One proposition in particular that’s important to…
San Francisco Chronicle Letter to Editor
Salmon photo courtesy of the National Marine Fisheries Service/Southwest Fisheries Science Center. Sustainable Conservation recently submitted a San Francisco Chronicle letter to the editor in response to its story, “Marin County ghost town cleared away to save Lagunitas Creek’s coho salmon.” We wanted to educate readers about the population and habitat struggles many of the state’s hundreds…
Meet the 2018 Leopold Conservation Award Finalists
When it comes to keeping California leading in conservation, you may be surprised to learn that landowners are key front-line defenders of the environment. Over 50% of all land in California is privately owned, and how people manage this land has a dramatic effect on our environment, from combatting climate change, to boosting clean…
Central Valley, Bay-Delta Restoration Gets Big Boost
California’s Bay-Delta is complex, and home to some of our most imperiled species and degraded waterways. There are many opportunities for habitat restoration and stakeholders and advocates are eager to do the work, but navigating the complex web of environmental regulations can be costly, and time-consuming. With significant new funding from bond measures and other…
Patrick Rutten, Restoration Champion, Receives Sustainable Conservation’s First Habitat Partnership Award
Photo: NMFS/Southwest Fisheries Science Center; Salmon Ecology Team Our Accelerating Restoration team is honored to present our first Habitat Restoration Partner Award to Patrick Rutten, long-time National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) leader and California restoration champion. Patrick Rutten’s exemplary 43-year career at NOAA showcases his exceptional dedication to species recovery in California. He’s served…
Meet the Central Coast Growers Building a Better Water Future
A Closed Loop In California’s Pajaro and Salinas Valleys, aquifers are it. With almost no surface water coming to the Central Coast from further upstream, the region depends entirely on dwindling groundwater. As local aquifer levels go down, the space left behind draws seawater into the fresh water supply. Nutrients from fertilizer also make their…
A Conversation with Suds Jain
In this fourth installment of our 25th Anniversary profiles, we are featuring Sustainable Conservation supporter Suds Jain. A long-time resident of the South Bay, Suds is engaged in climate change work through teaching, environmental project review, research and legislative advocacy. Where did you grow up and who influenced your environmental path? Suds Jain: I lived…
Speeding Statewide Fish & Wildlife Recovery
Sustainable Conservation is dedicated to making it easier to restore California, and we’re thrilled to share the latest round of successful restoration projects that accelerate critical habitat and species recovery made possible in part by our simplified permitting efforts. We’re also working with state and federal agencies to craft new approvals that will help more…
25th Anniversary: Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company
Keeping California Leading Sustainable Conservation is celebrating 25 years of big wins for California’s environment and people, but we don’t do it alone. Our partners keep our Golden State feeding and leading the nation every day by caring for the land that sustains us. We sat down with Bob Giacomini and daughters Diana,…