Hello conservation community,

Happy New Year! We enter 2023 invigorated by the recent parade of rainstorms and return of salmon in our streams. Water is on everyone’s mind right now and there’s much to learn by observing our streams' response to each storm. We encourage everyone to take these winter months to reflect on water and how it truly connects us all. We hope you’ll join us in taking care of our water and our community in the coming year – through participating in tree plantings, becoming a Stream Watch volunteer, or finding ways to reduce water use around your home, yard, or farm.

Until next time,

Napa RCD

This Month's News

Program Spotlight

The Salmon are Here!

News & Announcements

What It's Like to Be a Napa RCD Intern: Isabella
December Rainfall Summary
Grateful for Your Donations
MLK Day Events

The Salmon are Here!

Its refreshing to see some water and fish in the rivers! Chinook salmon are staged in the estuary as early as August and wait for the first rains of the season. Our environmental scientists, Martin Perales and Paul Blank, were out on the Napa River in late December conducting Chinook spawner and carcass surveys from their kayaks.

Check out the blog post on our website for some photos and more information about what they're doing and what they found this year!

If you see salmon, let us know! Email Martin Perales a photo or video and a location: MartinP@NapaRCD.org

Learn More

News & Announcements

What it's Like to be a Napa RCD Intern:

Spotlight on Isabella!

This Fall, Napa RCD was able to hire two high school interns through our Teen Conservation Internship program.

If you joined us for any of our Community Oak Planting Days this year (including the ones coming up on MLK Day!) you will have met our interns Isabella and Liliana!

The internship is geared toward teens that might be interested in working in the conservation field, and helps them get experience in planning and implementing volunteer restoration projects. Here's a brief peek into the experience from Isabella:

"The people working here at Napa RCD welcomed us interns easily and taught us the ropes with a great amount of patience. We worked on drafting and sending emails, a bit of digital design for posts on Instagram and Facebook. Though the best part of being here was being able to do our oak tree planting events. We’d meet up early to set up and then while the volunteers showed up, introduced ourselves and we went on to demonstrate how things would happen. Soon enough I was speaking to the group easily. All in all I'm eager to see what Napa RCD is going to do next to help our Napa community." -Isabella Molina-Lopez, New Tech High School

Stay tuned for a wrap up article next month, as well as a spotlight on Liliana!

December Rainfall Summary

Paul Blank, Napa RCD Environmental Scientist

December brought much-needed rainfall to the Napa Valley, with seven storms and 14 days of measurable precipitation. Rain totals at the County ALERT monitoring stations (napa.onerain.com) were above average for the month, ranging between 8.9 inches at Mt. George and 15.0 inches at Mt. Veeder. The City of Napa area received 9.5 inches during the month. These totals represent approximately 32% of mean annual precipitation. On average, we get 21% in December. As of December 31, we received 37% of our annual rainfall, putting us right on the average for that time in the water year.

Grateful for Your Donations

It's official, folks! The 2022 Napa Valley CanDo's GiveGuide has been wrapped up in a VERY big bow not just for us, but for all participating nonprofits! We raised $11,570 from 89 friends, and are grateful that so many folks make the choice to support us with their hard earned dollars.

Special thanks go out to our partners over at The Monkey Flower Group for their constant support over the last 9 years, Napa Climate NOW! for their $1,000 match, and our Napa RCD Board of Directors for their $1,950 match! Thanks for helping us send 2022 out on a high note! We are looking forward to continuing the work we do in our communities in 2023!

Did you miss the Give!Guide but still want to help us out? You can! Napa RCD accepts donations on our website year round!

Donate Today

MLK Day Events with Napa RCD

Napa RCD and our partners have two events planned for MLK Day of Service, happening on Monday, January 16, 2023. Both events are from 10am-12:30pm.

Please register. Due to current weather events, we need to be able to contact folks if we need to cancel.

More Info

In Case You Missed It

Now Accepting Applications for 2023 Spring Internships

The Teen Conservation Intern will assist Napa RCD staff in planning and implementing volunteer events focused on enhancing forest and waterway health, primarily invasive plant removal events and the Earth Day Napa Community Cleanup. This will include event publicity and outreach, developing agendas, coordinating project sites, and directing volunteers during events. The Intern may assist with other Napa RCD conservation and education activities as necessary.

Applications are due Sunday, January 15, 2023.

Apply Here

Napa RCD Scholarship for Emerging Environmental Leaders Now Open for Applications

The purpose of this Scholarship is to celebrate the contributions of young leaders who have partnered with the Napa County Resource Conservation District (Napa RCD) to voluntarily care for Napa County’s land, water, soil, wildlife, and people. As the go-to-hub for conservation in our community, Napa RCD is honored to recognize, activate, and empower the next generation of environmental stewards.

This scholarship is open to students graduating from any high school, high school equivalent, or GED program in Napa County. We will award two scholarships, each for $1,000.

Apply Here