SEQUOIA RIVERLANDS TRUST

OUR VISION:​
A future where productive land and healthy natural systems are protected to generate community vitality and economic prosperity.


Strategic Goals
(major headings below tie to the five components of SRT's Vision as updated for the 2016 Strategic Plan)

Functional Land Base Remains Intact

Land Management Promotes Healthy Ecosystem Function

Land Use and Water Policies Favor Conservation and Compact Growth

SRT's Programs Help People Connect with the Land and Our Mission

SRT Continues to Have a Major Conservation Impact

Functional Land Base Remains Intact:

Productive ag lands stay in ag.

Habitats for diverse life continue to be viable; AND Interconnected core habitat areas enable species to adapt to large scale environmental change; AND Scenic open spaces, from urban parks to wildlands, offer respite and beauty.

Natural areas make an important contribution to water catchment and storage.

Land Management Promotes Healthy Ecosystem Function:

SRT showcases both innovative and time-honored stewardship practices to promote healthy ecosystem function on SRT-managed preserves and habitat mitigation sites.

SRT helps grow regional knowledge and adoption of regenerative grazing management principles and methods that have yielded significant benefits in many parts of the world (including California annual grassland).

Our stewardship programs promote watershed function and improved water quality.

SRT continues to raise its standards and capacity for stewardship of SRT-held conservation easements, deed restrictions and other conservation agreements.

SRT's plant nursery grows a diverse palette of high quality, drought-tolerant plant materials for habitat enhancement, restoration (e.g., for mitigation) and urban landscaping.

Land Use and Water Policies Favor Conservation and Compact Growth:
We promote policies conducive to long-term systemic conservation of natural and working lands.

Compact, contiguous and concentric development that invests primarily in existing communities creates better opportunities for all.

Governments and businesses provide appropriate mitigation for impacts of development.

There are strong incentives for regenerative land management practices.

Agency funding priorities are favorable to conservation.

SRT's Programs Help People Connect with the Land and Our Mission:

People touched by SRT's programs learn to appreciate natural systems and the values they provide, including food security.

Engaged communities take action to protect and enhance natural systems and services.

SRT appeals to and engages with a broad demographic, encouraging inclusiveness.

SRT provides recreational access and related amenities on its preserves as much as possible within funding and staffing constraints, and as consistent with other conservation goals for the preserves.

SRT Continues to Have a Major Conservation Impact:

Collaborations and connections leverage SRT's resources for maximum conservation benefit.

Diversified funding sources and responsible financial stewardship increase SRT's financial resilience.

Well-functioning technology, physical plant and management systems make for a healthy, useful working environment.

Land Trust Alliance Standards and Practices, including Indicator Practices required for accreditation, remain top-of-mind.

A strong media presence helps tell SRT's stories and create a supportive setting for SRT's conservation work.

SRT is a community-based organization that works with parents, youth and other residents. SRT collaborates with farmers, ranchers, corporations and others to conserve natural and working lands, but also connects with parents and youth through K-12 outdoor education programs, and with community residents in other contexts, such as events at SRT preserves.

This history of engagement has resulted in lasting partnerships that have informed our land use, water policy and education efforts. Some community members whose first contact with SRT was a public event at a preserve are now participants and co-leaders in our land use and water policy outreach efforts.

SRT's staff also contributes significantly to our organization successes. Many are leaders in their field, and are sought after for speaking engagements both within the state and nationally.

The organization's diverse functions - from youth education to mitigation services to climate science testing - also make SRT unique and uniquely positioned to reach our goals. Our many services and strengths also provide us with ample means of financial support, so we are not dependent on any one source for income.

SRT staff believes it's our nature to seek a sense of place and belonging. We believe it is not possible to care for what you do not understand. As educators, we play a most vital role in this respect: To educate the future leaders of our community through activating their curiosity, knowledge, and wisdom, all of which connect students to their community for a lifetime.

But creating such a system cannot be done with just one generation. Indeed, SRT's work protecting land will never be done, as the lands we own or hold easements on are to be preserved in perpetuity - in other words, forever. All SRT staff can do is create the system that will protect the land, and teach others, especially youths, about the lands' history and biological importance. Then, we hope, future generations will do the same.

So time is one barrier to our work ever being complete. Climate change has created other issues that make our work ongoing. The rare, unusual and working landscapes we aim to protect in California's Central Valley are under attack from long-lasting drought; warmer winters, often with less rain; non-native species, whether animal, insect or vegetation, that choke out the natives; and dropping groundwater levels due to greater use by agriculture and larger populations in nearby cities. These challenges are unlike any faced by environmentalists before, and mean new solutions must be found and new techniques tried for a variety of locations and species.

And these changes may eventually lead to questions we hope we never have to answer: When is it time to give up? Will there come a day when the protections and preservation of the land and its native species will require too much money, too much water, too much energy to continue the work. We can't be sure that won't happen as we still don't know what effects Climate Change will lead to.