Program Spotlights
- It's Bay-Friendly Garden Month!
News & Announcements
- Earth Day Volunteers Remove 999 LBS of Litter
- North Bay Receives $4.9M Grant to Build Fire Resiliency
- Conservation Champion: Yvette Diaz Samayoa
In Case You Missed It
- Water Conservation Video Contest Deadline is May 28
- May is Bike Month!
Upcoming Programs
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Last year’s transition from our annual, single-day Bay-Friendly Garden Tour to a virtual Bay-Friendly Garden Month was a resounding success, and we will continue that virtual fanfare during May of 2021. Napa RCD and City of Napa Water will present a suite of live online workshops and garden tours, as well as feature online resources to inspire local residents to adopt water-saving, sustainable landscaping practices in their own front and back yards.
Questions? Contact Ashley at (707) 690-3117
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Sponsors and partners for these events include the City of Napa, Napa County RCD, and UC Master Gardeners of Napa County. This programming is inspired by Bay-Friendly Landscaping & Gardening, a program of ReScape California (rescapeca.org), a non-profit organization that advocates for a sustainable approach to landscaping.
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Earth Day Volunteers Remove
979 lbs of Litter
Thank you, Community Cleanup Volunteers!
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With all the recent changes in guidelines for outdoor gatherings, and volunteer activities, we had no idea how our community would respond to this year's modified Earth Day Napa Community Cleanup.
We are pleased to say that we had a GREAT turnout! We had a record number of volunteers for the event, and volunteers reported that they felt safe and secure following the COVID-guidelines in place. Many thanks to all of our volunteers, including groups from Domaine Carneros and the South Napa Target!
238 of you worked at ten different sites to pull 979 pounds of trash out of our creeks, river, and wetlands. Thank you, volunteers, for showing up for our local community!
We'd also like to give a special shout out to this year's site captains: Betty, Stephanie, Katie, Dean, Kasey, Chris, Flora, Yvette, Frances, and Danielle. If you know these folks, give them an elbow bump and send some thanks their way!
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North Bay Receives $4.9M Grant to
Build Fire Resiliency
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Rebuild NorthBay Foundation's “Building Fire Resiliency in California’s Coast Range Forests and Grasslands” grant proposal has been awarded $4.9M by USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) to implement land management practices which minimize wildfire impacts on human life and property in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), restore natural fire regime patterns in undeveloped areas, and improve resource conditions following recent wildfires by providing financial and technical assistance to private landowners.
Building on established regional partnerships, this project will be administered by Rebuild NorthBay Foundation (RNBF) in partnership with local governments, NRCS, CAL FIRE, Clear Lake Environmental Resource Center (CLERC), and Resource Conservation Districts (RCD) from Colusa, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Sonoma, and Yolo Counties.
Starting just north of the San Francisco Bay and expanding north and east over the Coast Range, the project’s geographic area has experienced a number of the large-scale fires becoming increasingly common in the state. Project partners have already been working to advance fire resilience and forest health in this region, but a legacy of fire suppression, a large population living in the wildland-urban interface, and a changing climate necessitate more effective partnerships and a landscape-level vision.
This project focuses on planning and implementing fire resiliency practices on privately owned forestlands and grasslands. Over 40% of the region’s wildlands are privately owned, so farmers, ranchers, and rural landowners are in a unique position to reduce wildfire risk and promote wildfire recovery. However, they require technical and financial assistance to take effective action. RCPP is a tool to deploy this assistance to reduce fuel loads, improve forest and rangeland health, prevent soil erosion, and recover from wildfire damage – together.
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May Conservation Champion:
Napa RCD Intern Yvette Diaz Samayoa
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For this month's Conservation Champion spotlight, we decided to let our Champion take over this space and tell you her story in her own words:
My name is Yvette Diaz Samayoa and I am a graduating senior at California State University Monterey Bay this May. I am majoring in Environmental Studies with a concentration in Environmental Education. My interest in the environment started
when I joined my high school’s environmental club, which then led me to apply for the Napa Youth Stewardship Council (NYSC). I joined as a junior in high school and am actually what you’d call an OG member- I was a part of the first youth council!
For this internship [at the RCD] I have been communicating with NYSC students and keeping them up to date on things that we are planning for them. I also helped with the Conservation Career Panel by coordinating panelists, setting a date that works with the students, and hosting the panel. And I helped run the Earth Day Napa Community Cleanup event at Shurtleff Park with 3 of the NYSC students.
It was surreal to believe that 5-6 years ago I was a member of the council and now I am helping run the council. My mom actually pointed that out to me on the Earth Day event and she said “It was pretty cool that you used to be one of those students and now you’re leading it.” She made me tear up a little because I would have never thought that I would eventually be in that position and I am so grateful for the opportunity and all that Napa RCD has done for me.
My goal in life is to make a difference in the world and the best way that I can do that is to educate the community about environmental issues and teach them how to be environmentally conscious. For now, my goal is to be an environmental educator and this summer I will be interning with Solano RCD for their Boater Outreach Internship Program. I am super excited to try something new and I want to better my local community and this is my first step in doing that. Eventually, I would want to get into the local government so that laws can be changed/ made to make the community more environmentally friendly.
I love working with the NYSC members so I don’t have a favorite moment because I learned a lot from everything I did with them. I’ve understood how much it takes to run a club and planning events and getting people involved. I loved every moment working with the NYSC, Eric, and Danielle and I hope that one day I’ll have the opportunity to give someone the opportunity that was given to me.
Thank you Yvette for playing such an integral part in engaging students in the NYSC. You had a lot to keep track of between school, a job, and this internship, and it was inspiring to see how motivated you were and continue to be. You are a rock star and we are excited to see the amazing work you’ll do!
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Water Conservation Video Contest |
Submit a video to the Napa County Water Conservation Video Contest!
This year's contest focuses on 30-second videos that address the following theme:
Imagine it is the year 2040: What does a water-wise Napa County look like? What are you and others doing to help protect our water resources for generations to come?
All students and families in Napa County are eligible to enter. Submissions are due Friday, May 28, 2021. First Place will receive $250 and the video will be shown at Century Napa Valley Theatre. Winners will also receive a $60 gift certificate to the Theatre. Second Place receives $150, Third Place receives $100.
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Why bike? 31% of vehicle trips in Napa County are less than 2 miles, and 63% are less than 5 miles – which are within reasonable biking distance. If Napa County residents shifted just some of their short trips to biking, we would make noticeable progress toward meeting environmental goals and cleaner air.
The Bike Coalition has several programs and resources to help people stay safe and have fun while biking all month long, including a weekly raffle when you pledge to ride your bike during Bike Month. To learn more and pledge to ride, check out the Bike Coalition’s Bike Month page. |
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May 31 - BFGM Workshop: Laundry-to-Landscape Greywater Systems
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Did you know that we have a separate email list for volunteers? |
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Help support Napa RCD - Donate Today!
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Napa County Resource Conservation District | 707-252-4189 | NapaRCD.org
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