Executive Director Update

from Briana Bacon

We are a month into our new fiscal year, and wrapping up a very successful previous year.

As you will read in the stories below, the year has been filled with a variety of community projects, that are well underway, some of which will wrap up soon. We are prepping for the fair, the heat, and all of those summer activities that keep us hoping for an early fall! Don’t forget you, your plants, and all of those critters need a lot of water, shade and rest to stay cool this time of year. 

Our employees are working hard to ensure that the hedgerows stay watered, the fuel reduction projects continue, and the education continues! We are increasing rapidly by the numbers, by the number of employees, the numbers of acres treated with fuel reduction, the number of community classes and RX Fire workshops, the number of grants we are servicing, and the numbers of partnerships that we are building to help bring sustainability to our community for the long-term.  You will read about several exciting projects from my colleagues that illustrate how to create a vibrant and thriving ecosystem, both locally and throughout the region. 

The last few years we have been an attendee at the Nevada County Sustainability Summit; this year we have been asked to speak on a panel for Regenerative Agriculture! We are honored by this opportunity and excited to share our thoughts with the community. There were some great partnerships that have grown out of that summit, including our youth internship program and this year’s first ever Truckee Farm Day. 

The largest theme this year has been about resiliency and impact, and I can honestly say that we are continuing to serve our educational mission in spades! Speaking of spades, come by the fair booth and grab a deck of RCD conservation playing cards, that feature some great facts about natural resources. They are a great teaching tool for kids, students, and even adults. 

Our partners at NRCS have launched their annual Local Working Group Survey, and your input matters. The survey helps the federal government better understand our local conservation and RX fire needs so funding can be directed where it will have the greatest impact. The more feedback we gather, the better we can support community members in accessing the resources and assistance they need. Click the button below to participate.

You will notice we have refreshed out brand, added a lot of resources to our website and we finally released our new documentary, on the past, present and future of timber in the Northern Sierras. 

Make sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for fun facts, and real time footage of our events!

Warmly,

Briana Bacon

Executive Director

LOCAL WORKING GROUP SURVEY 2026

The USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service and the Nevada County Resource Conservation District seek input from farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners.

Financial assistance is available to landowners & land managers for conservation activities in Nevada County, but we need help determining the most important natural resource concerns to align our initiatives better.

In doing so, we ask you to complete a survey and invite you to attend our Local Working Group Meeting, which will be held at 2:00pm on Wednesday, August 26^th in the conference room located at 113 Presley Way, Suite 2 in Grass Valley, CA 95945 hosted by the Nevada County Farm Bureau. Both in-person and virtual options will be available.

Program Director Update

from Nathan Alcorn

Lower Deer Creek–Penn Valley Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project

During the reporting period, the project team continued advancing environmental and landowner participation requirements for the Lower Deer Creek–Penn Valley Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project. The Mitigated Negative Declaration associated with the first batch of returned Right of Entry forms was submitted to FEMA for review and approval. NCRCD, VESTRA, and the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services (OES) will begin a renewed outreach campaign during the summer to increase community participation and build additional momentum toward meeting the grant's project goals. The team will continue targeted outreach to landowners and community members to secure additional participation and advance the project toward implementation.

NEUNCORXFIRE Prescribed Fire Project (CAL FIRE Funded)

During the reporting period, NCRCD and Terra Fuego successfully completed a 15-acre prescribed burn at Olalla Ranch in North San Juan. The primary objectives of the treatment were to reduce fine fuels and target invasive goat grass for eradication. The project team will conduct follow-up monitoring and treatment activities next year to continue addressing the goat grass infestation and support long-term vegetation management objectives.

The successful implementation of the prescribed fire demonstrates the effectiveness of the NCRCD and Terra Fuego partnership in utilizing fire as a strategic fuels reduction and invasive species management tool.

Nevada County RCD Fuels Reduction & Fire Prevention Support Project

During the reporting period, NCRCD continued implementation of the Grass Valley

Collaborative Fuels Reduction Project in partnership with BurnBot and All Phase Land Clearing.

Several acres of dense timber have been treated on the hillside adjacent to Idaho Maryland Road.

Work has included the removal of numerous hazardous trees encroaching on the roadside, helping to reduce roadside hazards and improve overall forest and fuels conditions within the project area. The ongoing collaborative approach has allowed NCRCD and its partners to efficiently address hazardous vegetation and improve wildfire resilience within the Grass Valley community.

Donner Summit Firewise Community Roadside Fuels Reduction Project

During the reporting period, the Nevada County Resource Conservation District (NCRCD)

continued outreach and project development for the Donner Summit Firewise Roadside Fuels

Reduction Project. To date, 62 Right of Entry (ROE) forms have been returned from participating landowners on the east side of Nevada County.

The project will establish and maintain shaded fuel breaks along critical roadways serving the Eagle Lakes, Cisco Grove, Big Bend, Rainbow, Troy, Pla Vada, and Kingvale Firewise Communities. An RFP has been released to solicit qualified vendors for the approximately 40-acre project, which encompasses 11 linear miles of roadside fuels reduction. Project implementation is currently planned for early September 2026.

PG&E CCC Project

During the reporting period, NCRCD and the Nevada County Office of Emergency Services

worked collaboratively to identify suitable locations for roadside fuels reduction and shaded fuel

break treatments to be completed by the California Conservation Corps (CCC). PG&E funding has supported the CCC crew's efforts to provide vegetation management and community engagement throughout the project area.

This partnership was developed through a grassroots, collaborative effort and has created a valuable opportunity for NCRCD, OES, PG&E, and the CCC to work together in support of community wildfire resilience. The project has brought multiple partners together to identify local needs and implement practical vegetation management activities that directly benefit the community.

Conservation Programs Update

from Charlie McIntosh

Conservation Programs Manager

Wildlife Habitat Enhancement Projects

The big news this summer has been completing work on the restoration of a leaking pond at the Nevada Joint Union High School District (NJUHSD) - Ranch property. Nevada County Resource Conservation District posted a Request for Proposals (RFP) in March and Tringle Land Restoration was selected in May to install a bentonite clay liner and repair the broken drainpipe. Work was completed by the second week of June and the pond is successfully holding water, providing expanded riparian habitat for wildlife, and supplying much needed irrigation water to a large section of the District Ranch property. Plans are being formulated to plant out native habitat-enhancing vegetation at all 3 of the restored pond sites with students in the Fall. 

The hedgerow projects at Sierra Harvest’s Food Love Farm and a local historic ranch property on McCourtney Road are off to a healthy growing season, with a little hand weeding and supplemental water; we expect these habitat havens to become thriving nodes of biodiversity home to more than 60 species of native plants across the two sites. 

These habitat enhancement projects are generously supported by funding from the California Conservation Board and Point Blue Conservation Science’s ROOTS program. 

Oak Savanah Restoration Project 

The watering season is in full swing at the Oak Savannah restoration site planted out by 2nd and 4th grade students in Fall/Winter 2025 and 2026. Nevada County RCD staff (and intern) are visiting the local ranch property twice per week to ensure the blue oak, black oak, live oak, oracle oak, valley oak, cottonwood, willow, redbud, elderberry, buckeye, toyon, coffeeberry, ceanothus, and mug wort plantings get well established. These native plants won’t need supplemental water after the first few seasons, but a little support during years 1-3 can dramatically improve their chances of survival. 

This restoration project is generously supported by funding from the California Conservation Board and Point Blue Conservation Science’s ROOTS program, with special thanks to the staff and leaders of STRAW (Students and Teachers Restoring A Watershed). 

NCRCD Advisory Visit Program

The Nevada County Resource Conservation District’s Advisory Visit Program (AVP) has been immensely popular, with close to 70 site-visit requests over the past 3 months. Due to the overwhelming popularity of this program, we have paused new requests as we catch up with the back-log and are actively planning improvements to the program that will better serve our community in a more accessible education-focused context. Stay tuned for updates on current and future workshops! 

The AVP focuses on identifying resource concerns on the land, providing technical assistance to support land stewardship, and connecting growers / producers / landowners with local, state, and federal resources to implement conservation practices.

The AVP is supported by NCRCD's partnerships with the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) and Sierra Harvest’s Beginning Farmer Rancher Development Program (BFRDP). 

Rx Fire, Rx Grazing, and Biochar at the School Ranch

The Nevada County Office of Emergency Services is providing funding to the Nevada County RCD and Nevada Joint Union High School District’s Career and Technical Education for a community education and demonstration project on 3-5 acres at the School Ranch showcasing the impacts of three regenerative land management practices; prescribed fire, prescribed grazing, and biochar. The project will provide hands-on educational opportunities for students and the community covering how to implement these practices on Nevada County landscapes while also assessing the impacts on vegetation, soil health, and fuel loading. The Ranch property, owned by the school district, is already an active working lands educational facility where the project will serve as an on-going educational and demonstration site. 

NCRCD is planning a series of workshops for students and the community to learn about biochar, grazing, and prescribed fire and how these practices can influence wildfire fuel loads, soil health, and native/invasive species. 

Stay up-to-date on upcoming ag events and workshops in Placer and Nevada Counties, learn about current funding opportunities and resources for farmers and ranchers, get routine management tips, and more! This bi-monthly newsletter is a collaborative publication between UC Cooperative Extension, Placer County Resource Conservation District, and Nevada County Resource Conservation District.

Star Beltman (UC Davis) - Central Sierra Research Project 

Star Beltman is a graduate student at UC Davis working on a research project within the UC-wide California Organic, Agroecological, and Regenerative (COAR) Transitions initiative. Her work examines the factors that enable and constrain small-farm transitions to ecological management practices, focusing specifically on mixed vegetable and perennial fruit systems in the central Sierra Nevada region.  

Over the coming months, she will be conducting surveys and in-person interviews with growers to better understand their experiences implementing ecological management practices in their operations. This research is intended to elevate small farmers’ perspectives and ensure their voices are represented in shaping future research priorities, educational programming, and agricultural policies. 

Findings from the project will inform the COAR Transitions team as they develop policy recommendations and updated UC Cooperative Extension approaches, and will also be shared with organizations such as RCDs and local farmer-facing nonprofits, as well as with participating farming communities. 

Star is seeking to connect with farmers managing fewer than 150 acres who are already using some ecological management practices in Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, and Mariposa counties. Participants will be compensated for their time and insights. 

Please reach out to sbeltman@ucdavis.edu if you are interested in connecting or learning more! 

This last quarter, the NCRCD had 14 prescribed fire site visits and held 5 workshops. Three of those workshops helped conduct burns for landowners, totaling 3.85 acres. We also completed our funding from the Community Wildfire Defense Grant, which allowed our program to provide these free site visits and workshops.

The NCRCD is pleased to announce the continuation of our program through funding awarded by the California Department of Conservation and subsequent subaward from The Watershed Research and Training Center! This funding will also have the NCRCD assist the Nevada County Prescribed Burn Association with capacity and resource building.

If you’re interested in your own site visit or attending one of our workshops, please sign up on our website. Want to help others prepare and conduct their own burns and apply what you’ve learned from our courses? Join the Nevada County Prescribed Burn Association, discussion group where neighbors help each other conduct burns.

Quotes:

What key lessons or skills did you learn from participating in one of our events?

“When I mention Rx burning to some, they freak out. Then I explain the process, beginning with prepping the land, assessing the weather and precautions taken many people get it.”

-Michael M.

“I found these events extremely valuable, not only for fire safety and regulations, but to understand and see how beneficial pile and broadcast burning are to the overall ecosystem (humans included!)”

-Oscar L.

“Where to begin?? Everything about safety, readiness, procedures, HOW to go about every aspect of "good fire and burning”"

-Rupam H.

PGE-Educational Donation

Earlier this year we began a project with Nevada County OES Defensible Space inspectors to assist properties identified as being in distress or non-compliant with local vegetation management standards regarding wildfire defensible space and egress. With this donation and NCOES, and the contractor Home Hardening Solutions Inc., we’ve been able to assist these properties, free of charge, for the property owners. We have completed a total of 7 properties.

NCRCD Programs

from Amanda Rodgers

Operations Director

Over the past three months, we have been busy advancing several exciting initiatives. One of our highlights was the launch of a new Farm Day program in Truckee, which was met with tremendous enthusiasm and proved to be a great success. We invite you to take a look at the details below.

In June, we completed the third installment of our Working Lands Documentary Series, The History of Forestry and Fire in the Northern Sierra. You can see the trailer below and you’ll find a link to watch the full film on our YouTube channel.  

In addition, we have refreshed our marketing materials and are preparing to update our popular 49er Farm Trail Map over the coming year. Our team is also hard at work planning our Nevada County Fair booth in the Family Farm area in August and for Farm Day in September.

Meanwhile, our School Garden Micro Grant Program is now accepting applications for the current funding cycle. We look forward to supporting schools throughout the region as they strengthen and expand their garden-based education programs, creating more opportunities for students to learn and grow.

Come see us at the Fair!

We are gearing up for another fun week at the Nevada County Fair from Wednesday, August 12th - Sunday, August 16th. Come and visit our booth in the Family Farm area. We'll be giving out great prizes this year - beautiful educational posters including Native Oaks of California, Native Grasses of California, and Endangered Pollinators, our new educational conservation playing cards, and more!

NCRCD Ag-Talks at the Fair in the Family Farm Area!

Charlie McIntosh will be presenting three talks this year. Please come join him and get your questions answered. All talks begin at 3:30 PM. Here are the topics he'll be covering:

Wednesday: Hedgerows: An Oasis for Pollinators, Beneficial Insects, & Wildlife

Thursday: Cover Crops: What to Plant this Fall

Friday: Noxious & Invasive Plants: A Few of the Common Characters



1st Annual Truckee Farm Day Success!

Truckee - Farm Day - Love!

The 1st Annual Truckee Farm Day was load of fun and a huge success, serving 250 students from 11 classrooms from the Truckee area.

Our sincerest appreciation to the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District, their maintenance team, and each one of our volunteers for sharing your time and energy to help make Farm Day a memorable and educational experience for the 2nd and 3rd graders from the Truckee Unified School District.

We’re thrilled to have brought this educational experience to the Truckee community!

Farm Day at the Nevada County Fairgrounds 2026

Exhibitor and Teacher registration

 is now open!

Over 1,000 Nevada County 2nd and 3rd graders will be invited to attend Farm Day 2026 on September 16th, at the Nevada County Fairgrounds.

Farm Day isn’t just about​ animals, fruits, & vegetables. It’s about how important water is to all facets of agriculture. How trees become lumber and paper products, how spinning fibers from animal wool makes clothes, and how bats help farmers with their crops. It’s about the importance of insects and pollination, saving seeds, worms, and soil and so much more!

This long‑standing community favorite offers hands‑on agricultural activities for hundreds of local 2nd and 3rd graders - please join us!

Working Lands III Screen Premiere

The long‑awaited third installment of our Working Lands documentary series premiered to a full house at the Don Bagget Theater in Grass Valley on June 30th.

In this film, we explore the history of our forests in the Northern Sierras and across California, gain insight into their current condition, and learn what it will take to restore them to a healthy state through a range of treatment methods, including the use of prescribed fire.

This film will be made available for online viewing soon. Watch for the announcement on our website and socials.

For detailed information, please see the full article on YubaNet.com

Working Lands I and II, now available online

The first two documentary films are now available on the NCRCD YouTube site!

Now accepting MICRO-GRANT APPLICATIONS

Every year, the NRCD supports education in agriculture for youth with thousands of dollars in our Micro-Grant program for school gardens. School gardens create vibrant, hands‑on learning opportunities that help students connect with the natural world and extend their education far beyond the classroom. Eligible schools can receive up to $5,000 to launch, grow, or improve their children’s garden projects.

If you’re interested in learning more or applying for a micro‑grant, please click here to complete a brief questionnaire. Once submitted, our team will reach out to schedule a School Site Visit. During the visit, we’ll learn more about your program, explore your garden space, and identify the resources that can help your garden thrive.

Our team will be reaching out to applicants in September to schedule site visits.

Additional Resources at NCRCD...

Manure Exchange Program

The Manure Exchange Program provides a practical, sustainable solution for farmers, gardeners, and landowners seeking natural fertilizers—while giving livestock owners an easy way to share excess fresh or composted manure. By linking local providers with those who can put these materials to good use, the program strengthens soil health, recycles valuable organic matter, and promotes environmentally responsible practices, often at little or no cost. It’s a benefit to both the community and the landscape.

To register as a manure provider or find available manure in your area click here.

Min Till Drill Rental Program

The Min‑Till Drill is a compact, 6‑foot‑wide seeding tool available for rent on a first‑come, first‑served basis. Its smaller size makes it ideal for areas that larger drills can’t access, including orchards, vineyards, and wooded terrain.

Engineered for minimal soil disturbance, the drill prepares the seedbed, places seed, and firms it into the soil in a single pass—saving time, lowering costs, and promoting healthier land stewardship. It supports the suppression of invasive weeds such as star thistle, reduces erosion, conserves water, and can establish pasture within a single season. For optimal results, use it in spring for irrigated pasture and in fall for dry‑land pasture.

A few important considerations apply before renting this equipment. To learn more about the rental process click here.

Tool Lending Prorgam

We have a few specialty tools that you can borrow including a seed spreader, a weed wrench, and a pond rake. These items are available for pick-up at our office on a first-come, first-served basis. Typical borrow time is one week. Send us a message, give us a call or drop by the office to find out which tools are available. (530) 798-5529.

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