Sandhill Cranes Journey a long way, as has YOUR Northern California Regional Land Trust!
Winter Notes from your Executive Director
Seasonal Changes
I could easily lose track of time with Winter’s business of appointments and deadlines, yet I'm repeatedly called back to nature’s seasonal changes when I hear the Sandhill Cranes overhead. As I walk in my backyard preparing for the weekly chores. When I’m spending quality neighborhood time with friends or our pets, walking to the car from the office – the cranes keep reminding me that I’m here.
A picture of Sandhill Cranes!
Let’s talk about Water!
Despite today’s warm sunshine, I would welcome a bit more rain and chill to come before Winter turns fully into Spring. Along with a large portion of our community, I’m eagerly watching local canals, “creek” channels, and creeks adjust to the flows of this moment, and turning my focus toward policy and legislative engagement; California’s land and water conservation meetings occur just before the turn of the season.
Pictured: Hamlin Creek March 2025
Celebrating Acquisitions Impact
Protecting private lands forever will never become routine for me, and I recognize it’s shared accomplishment to the communities renewed commitment to protecting 30 % of our lands and oceans by 2030. The NCRLT mission guides us to work with local agencies and individuals in protecting lands we love.
NCRLT staff, Cynthia Graves Perrine (Executive Director) and Ben Gelderloos (Acquisitions Coordinator) proudly hold up a sign marking Kittyhawk Orchards as a new NCRLT conservation easement!
Christian’s Cranes and Love Your Land
For our major fundraiser of 2025 – 2026, we hosted a live muralist for The Harvest Dinner, commissioning a local artist to partner for support of our work in a one-of-a-kind project. Christian’s Cranes, both the work of art itself, a two-stretched-canvas-acrylic painting, as well as the process of watching the piece fledge, take flight in shared special places, prepare for lift-off, and ultimately find a permanent home in support of protecting working and wild lands forever, has exceeded my expectations. I hope you will join me in continuing to do so for the Land we Love!
Your generous contribution during our Love Your Land Trust campaign, including the silent auction and our membership renewal launch, goes towards raising funds for NCRLT's management of Deer Creek Preserve and increasing NCRLT's momentum for coordinating acquisition of recreation lands.
Christian Garcia used spray paint as the primary medium to make this beautiful piece!
Photo credit: Michelle Camy
Our Organization, and NCRLT’s Current Team, are on a long journey along with our community!
NCRLT has recently closed its 41st easement, Kittyhawk, bringing our conserved acres to 41, 240. Simultaneously, investing in our human resource capacity increases our potential for more to come and grants have helped tremendously as have ongoing giving programs, such as Salt of the Earth.
With support from Salt of the Earth donors, we secured capacity grants from California Council of Land Trusts and Department of Conservation (DOC) to support staffing capacity and training, including intensive, technical academies, to better equip our Conservation Program to leverage SALC Program distributions of cap-and -trade funds through the California Strategic Growth Council.
These SALC grants have funded six projects like Kittyhawk, with another two in progress - one to close this year and another in 2027.
For continued momentum, I was able to use my training programs experience in cooperatively designing and facilitating a week-long intensive field training to adapt Land Trust Alliance curriculum and the vision of Feather River Land Trust’s Shelton Douthit. Launching the Ca Land Protection Academy with SIERRA CASCADE LAND TRUST COUNCIL leadership in October 2025, generously funded by Wildlife Conservation Board and CCLT, provides a robust program to train and mentor land protection specialists - including Ben Gelderloos on our team, already increasing our conservation impact with mentorship from Placer Land Trust’s Jeff Darlington, among others.
It is the best feeling to play a small role in an applied training program which, for years to come, will bolster and accelerate career development of already-amazing apprentices and amplify a plethora of land conservation projects. Land trust work is a marathon not a sprint but sometimes it feels we must do both to get us through a rough patch that remains full of strategic opportunities.
The grant agreement for Kittyhawk was on my desk when I arrived to NCRLT. Ever grateful to those who kay the groundwork, we dedicated its closing to Abigail R. Whittaker and Hannah Espinosa who formed strong and effective partnerships for me to lean into. Thank you for all, for all 36 years of great work!
On the shoulders of giants we will continue to rise to each challenge.
Exciting upcoming events!
Make it stand out
Attend our Open House on the 23rd of March, 4:30-6:30pm, at the NCRLT Office, 30 Independence Circle, Suite 100, Chico. Visit with leadership, staff, and our land trust community and see our expanded office space here in Philadelphia Square. We will have light appetizers and local beverages available.
Tickets are free, registration is required, same day registration is available upon arrival the day of the event!
