104 Monterey County GIVES! 2023 mcgives.com Environment & Sustainability DONate online mcgives.com Agriculture and Land-Based Training Association (ALBA) Year Founded: 2001 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 11 paid, 0 volunteers Budget: $2,100,000 758-1469 albafarmers.org Big Idea: ALBA delivers a holistic curriculum for want-to-be farmer entrepreneurs, building these beginning farmers—90 percent of whom are Mexican immigrants or U.S.-born Latinos—into businesspeople running a successful and sustainable organic agricultural operation. Participating in the rich agricultural heritage of the region can easily seem out-of-reach for many, but ALBA’s goal is to make this American Dream accessible, through an intensive, on-farm training process over five years. This nonprofit’s Big Idea not only provides farmland and farming guidance about soil and sunlight, but applied methodologies to help independent farmers succeed. “ALBA was very beneficial for me. I saw farming as just planting and harvesting. ALBA showed me how to be a businessman and made me a better farmer. So many friends from class and training changed my life completely; networking was crucial and incredibly meaningful. Hands-on field classes were great. I learned a lot that way. Field trips were lovely for opening my horizons; I now know how to look for markets.” -Anonymous Carmel River Steelhead Association Year Founded: 1974 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 105 volunteers Budget: $19,000 624-8497 carmelsteelhead.org Big Idea: Now that the Carmel River Steelhead Association (CRSA) earned its scientific collection permit and can run its own conservation and restoration operations, this nonprofit’s Big Idea is ready to spawn fresh initiatives. The next step in restoring and conserving the Carmel River watershed is capturing fish DNA. This will establish a continuum of DNA from returning fish and identify enduring family groups to see if CRSA intervention helps long-term. Along with DNA samples, this nonprofit plans to complete PIT tagging (passive integrated transponder) to help track fish in the future. “The Carmel River Steelhead Association performs a critical service to both the fish in our creeks and to the residents of our region. They advocate for habitat and water quality improvements throughout the watershed, as well as train and organize teams of volunteers to do the difficult work of climbing through miles of creek bed and poison oak to rescue juvenile fish that would otherwise perish in drying streams. Steelhead are a key component of our shared natural heritage and the Carmel River Steelhead Association is dedicated to the conservation and continued success of steelhead recovery in the Carmel River watershed.” -Jen Hunter, PhD, Hastings Natural History Reservation, UC Berkeley Communities for Sustainable Monterey Year Founded: 2005 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 0 paid, 835 volunteers Budget: $63,680 917-8895 sustainablemontereycounty.org Big Idea: Communities for Sustainable Monterey works through eight local action groups in different cities to bring environmental awareness to issues, and celebrate environmental resources. For its Big Big Sur Land Trust Year Founded: 1978 Paid Staff and Volunteers: 25 paid, 180 volunteers Budget: $10,115,046 625-5523 bigsurlandtrust.org Big Idea: This nonprofit’s Big Idea makes big headlines, acquiring and stewarding impressive parcels of land throughout Monterey County. Big Sur Land Trust currently seeks donations to help create a wildlife corridor in the Sierra de Salinas range with one important land acquisition at Basin Ranch. This 5,105-acre property at the southern end of Carmel Valley Road will provide essential wildlife connectivity, allowing animals like badgers, golden eagles and mountain lions to safely forage. This public access project will be managed in collaboration with the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County. “Acquisition of Basin Ranch by Big Sur Land Trust (BSLT) would expand an important wildlife corridor. The property is characterized by oak woodlands, annual grassland, mixed chaparral, coastal scrub and freshwater ponds. These provide important habitat for several species of greatest conservation need including mountain lion (Puma concolor), American badger (Taxidea taxus), southwestern pond turtle (Actinemys pallida), Blainville’s horned lizard (Phrynosoma blainvillii) and golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos). The ranch also provides important foraging habitat for the endangered California condor (Gymnogyps californianus) between their Big Sur Coast and Pinnacles National Park populations. In addition, the ranch is culturally important since it is bisected by historic and Native American travel routes between adjacent Paraiso Hot Springs, Arroyo Seco and the Salinas Valley.” -California Department of Fish and Wildlife spotlight Visitors from across the world find peace in nature at this most beautiful place.” Jim Rurka, Point Lobos Foundation
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjAzNjQ1NQ==