Over the last 24 years, Russian Riverkeeper has grown from a single staff member to a paid staff of 14. This growth has helped increase our ability to protect and restore our watershed. We see a great need to expand our capacity even further to meet the major challenges we face from the warming climate.
There is a lot of work that needs to be done to help our watershed and community thrive in response to a climate that is changing so rapidly. Our community is not prepared for a drought that lasts more than 2 years or floods like the historic event in 1862 when the Central Valley was mostly underwater. Time is of the essence to get ahead of these increasingly severe disruptive events caused by the changing climate.
To meet this climate challenge and to prepare for future leadership succession, we are reorganizing our staff structure and dividing the role of Executive Director and Policy Director/ Riverkeeper into two positions. We are currently seeking a new Executive Director. Our current Director, Don, will move into the role of Policy Director/Riverkeeper. This will increase our capacity for creating more groundwater recharge projects and other climate-smart solutions to protect us from drought. It will also provide more capacity to build a watershed-wide Arundo eradication coalition and expand our floodplain restoration efforts to create a more resilient watershed.
We are extremely grateful for the generosity of several Watershed Heroes who have stepped up to help fund this new position. Thanks to the following donors we can take this important step in the evolution of Russian Riverkeeper!
Our Watershed Heroes
Eagle Ridge Foundation
Sandy and Bob Young
Michael and Janet Verlander
Gary and Delores Arabian
Marc and Jeanie Kahn
Howard and Barbara Wollner
Cindy Daniels and Doug Lipton