Building Capacity: Teamwork!
In my first year of developing the business and operations plans for NCRLT , I knew that we’d be gaining staff, increasing capacity, and expanding the services of NCRLT starting in 2024. With broad support from across our community and partners, many pieces of our big, visionary puzzle have aligned in a short time. I am grateful for the blend of individuals, connections, and course corrections leading us into a very successful second year of me steering the ship! Thank you to our entire community for your commitment to our land trust.
In February, our Lands Committee started up again with a familiar chairperson guiding our new recruits. Chair Jim Saake, former NCRLT board President in the beginning of Parks and Preserves Trust, leads our team of seven committee members, including retired USFWS, CSU Chico, County, NPS and USFWS NPS professionals representing expertise in Butte, Tehama, and Glenn Counties. With backgrounds in disciplines from wildlife to botany to engineering to city and county planning, the committee assesses, evaluates, and ranks prospective projects, procedurally recommending for board of director consideration to begin staff implementation toward an active acquisition.
In March, we welcomed two new board of directors to help fulfil mission critical oversight and decision making on behalf of NCRLT. We said thank you to a long-serving director, Ross Turner, who hailed from Corning. Our new directors are Ann Schwab, of Butte County, and Roy Ekland, of Tehama County. A board-led onboarding process that included exploring policies, procedures, budget and finance tracking, as well as many new acronyms specific to land trusts and real estate, is underway.
For April, we are thrilled to introduce two new staff members working with NCRLT. Daniel Deem is our GIS Specialist, and Lucas RossMerz, started in mid-April as our Conservation Director. Daniel and Lucas both jumped right in and are contributing significantly and meaningfully to capacity, growth, and expansion! Lucas will be developing our prospective projects with NCRLT’s Lands Committee, and shepherding selected projects through the application process as we strive to hit our 30 x 30 objectives.
In May, we will announce the new, 2024 location for our Harvest Dinner and Celebration of Land Benefit!
As we move into late Spring and look toward Summer, our team of staff, directors, and committee members look forward to seeing your faces at our upcoming community events! We have Take a Hike at the Deer Creek Preserve in May, June, and July! In late June, we will co-host Family Day on the Ranch - a celebration of ranching and special visit to one of our most recent Conservation Easements.
Save the date, Saturday, October 12th, for The Harvest Dinner 2024 and be sure to read upcoming newsletters to learn of the new location!
