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.

Spring has sprung at Dry Creek Nursery! The hills surrounding the nursery have turned green, and the flowers have all started to bloom. The plants in the nursery have swelling buds and flowers will be blooming soon!

Several days a week in the spring, Blue Oak Ranch Preserve in Springville comes alive with field trips. In the beginning of the school year, students in grades 9–12 interview to be an intern in the Education Department’s Sequoia Environmental Youth Leaders (SEYL) program. This year SEYL interns hail from Granite Hills High’s Academy of Careers in Education and Monache High’s Environmental Science Academy in Porterville.

For many in Tulare County, outdoor education begins with a childhood trip to SCICON—but a growing coalition is working to ensure hands-on environmental learning happens at every grade level. SEED, a network of environmental education organizations, brings together teachers, community leaders, and experts to connect classroom learning with real-world applications.

In the hills between Strathmore and Porterville a hidden gem appears only for a few hours a year.

Lewis Hill was originally part of a 600 acre family ranch that raised citrus, olives and cattle. Their son, Cole, integrated modern farming techniques with natural land management practices as he lived on the hill itself. In the 1980s, a team of biologists, neighbors and the Audubon Society cultivated a list of plants on the property including two rare plants—one threatened and one endangered—that quickly became evident.

As spring unfolds across the preserves and private lands conserved by Sequoia Riverlands Trust, the landscape is alive with renewal. This year’s Lewis Hill Wildflower Walk was a vivid reminder of nature’s resilience and beauty. Visitors enjoyed sweeping vistas, unique geology, birdwatching, kite flying, and close encounters with the rare Striped Adobe Lily—a testament to the importance of protecting these landscapes for future generations.

Sequoia Riverlands Trust mourns the passing of Carole K. Combs, 83, the founding Executive Director of SRT and a driving force behind conservation in the Tulare Lake Basin.

Carole loved the southern Sierra and the many wild places in the Tulare Lake Basin. After growing up in Ohio, she married Richard “Dick” Combs, a career diplomat from a legacy Tulare County family.

Water shortages are reshaping agriculture in California’s Central Valley—but landowners have options. The Kaweah Multibenefit Land Repurposing Program (MLRP) is helping transition farmland into low-water, high-impact alternatives like groundwater recharge, habitat restoration, and sustainable agriculture.