“More Plants. More Jobs. More Impact.”
—Phil Daubenspeck, Chief Investments & Partnerships Officer
Last fall, Sequoia Riverlands Trust was awarded a $970,000 grant from the Sierra San Joaquin Jobs First Catalyst Program (S2J2)—part of the California Jobs First Initiative administered in our region through the Central Valley Community Foundation. As part of this grant, the Dry Creek Nursery will be significantly expanded, both with a new greenhouse and with additional staff capacity.
Preliminary work has already begun on the new 3000 square-foot greenhouse, and we have just hired our new full-time Nursery Specialist. This new space and expanded staffing will allow us to:
Expand production
Open the nursery several more days each month
Provide greater accessibility to native plants by selling them in local communities (farmers markets, etc.)
Develop a workforce training program (The Nursery workforce development program will have four cohorts of trainees over the next 18 months who will learn all about native plants, horticulture, and various other skills in the nursery and on restoration projects)
As mentioned above, the nursery expansion is part of a larger grant that provides additional funding for a second workforce development cohort focused on land management and restoration on SRT preserves and other regional projects. It also provides the capacity for a large-scale region-wide restoration plan, referred to as the Regional Restoration Planning Project (R2P2).
This plan will include more than 50 partner organizations, agencies, state and local governments. SRT is hopeful that it will develop a Regional Restoration Plan to drive habitat restoration, water resilience, and workforce development.
