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Mendocino County RCD Newsletter
Winter 2025
| | 2025 was a big year for coho salmon, juveniles (pictured above) of which were seen in parts of the county where they hadn't been seen in 30+ years! | |
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- Program Highlights
- Water
- Soils
- Forestry
- Land Stewardship
- MCRCD Staff Updates
- Ways to Get Involved
| | | | We bought a house! Earlier this year we moved offices into a building at 115 E Smith St that we own! Above photo is a staff and board photo from our Housewarming Party on Mardi Gras 2025. | | Highlights and Accomplishments | | | | In partnership with Conservation Works and Envirichment, Water Resources staff delivered Creek Care education to 5th graders at Eagle Peak Middle School. Students observed benthic aquatic macroinvertebrate samples from the West Fork Russian River at the Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project. | | | |
Water storage tank construction began up on Bell Springs Road, as part of a water conservation project for cannabis farmers through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Cannabis Restoration Grants Program. The pictured tank will hold up to 120,000 gallons.
| | | | Climate Resilience in the Navarro Watershed | | In January 2025 the MCRCD, along with partners at The Nature Conservancy and Trout Unlimited, were awarded $2.7 million grant from the Wildlife Conservation Board for the Navarro-Mill Creek Streamflow Enhancement Implementation Project. The Project consists of five streamflow enhancement projects: repairing an incised channel, developing a pond release plan, installing large wood, constructing an infiltration basin, and implementing a storage and forbearance project in Mill Creek tributary to the Navarro. These projects will improve streamflow and provide critical habitat for fish and wildlife, increase water supply reliability for landowners, and demonstrate groundwater infiltration strategies. Below are images of the 56,000-gallon off-stream storage tank on the left and a 2,400 sq. ft. infiltration basin on the right. | | Additionally, in May of 2025 MCRCD was awarded $1.14 million through the California Department of Fish and Wildlife through the Cannabis Restoration Grants Program working with Mainspring Consulting and Stillwater Sciences to complete stream restoration planning along a section of Denmark Creek and improve agricultural and land management practices in order to protect upland and stream habitat from future land use impacts. | | MCRCD staff edited and updated a second edition of the Navarro River Guide to Watershed Care and Restoration, with an updated map of the watershed created by Jessica Reid. | | Link to the River Guide here | | | |
Highlights and Accomplishments
The MCRCD Sustainable Agriculture Program staff have been busy this year supporting land stewards through multiple programs, including the Wildlife Conservation Board and California Association of RCD’s Climate Resilience Through Habitat Restoration grant. This program provides planning and financial assistance for improving and restoring pollinator habitat on working lands, mostly in the form of native plant hedgerows. As of November, we have successfully planted 3,550 linear feet of hedgerows, and have another 1,250 feet planned in the near future!
Some of these hedgerows were also planned through Carbon Farm Plans written with support from the NRCS Regional Conservation Partnership Program (RCPP), in partnership with CSU Chico’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture and Resilient Systems. These Carbon Farm Plans provide technical assistance for planning and funding conservation activities that improve soil health on farms across Lake and Mendocino Counties.
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October 2025: The MCRCD Soil Team visiting Dark Horse Vineyards with Kurt Malchow from Wildlife Conservation Board to look at hedgerows planted late this spring |
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Announcements
MCRCD is still accepting limited applications for pollinator hedgerow through the WCB-CARCD Climate Resilience Through Habitat Restoration grant! Applications for this project will be closed in September 2026, and can be completed online through this hyperlink any time.
If interested please, apply online at the link above and contact Seth Myrick (seth.myrick@mcrcd.org) and Taylor Delbar (taylor@mcrcd.org) for more information.
| | October 2025: An Acmon Blue Butterfly resting on the flowers of a California buckwheat plant, which is the host plant for this native pollinator | | |
Highlights and Accomplishments
The $7.2 million dollar Leonard Lake-Montgomery Woods Forest Health Collaborative officially started implementing treatments this year. The $1.9 million dollar Leggett Forest Health Project has been undergoing CEQA surveys and will start implementation of treatment soon. The North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP) restarted, and Mendocino County RCD has facilitated the approval of funding forest health projects for 11 landowners this year. The RCD has also provided technical assistance to 50+ landowners over the course of the year.
Announcements and Events
The Mendocino County RCD is here to help more landowners take practical steps toward forest health and wildfire resilience. Both NBFIP and NRCS EQIP can fund technical assistance, depending on your situation.
A common first step is developing a Forest Management Plan (FMP). If you want to learn about FMP funding opportunities, contact us or visit northbayforestimprovementprogram.com.
For NBFIP and general technical assistance, contact Adam Coleman (adam@mcrcd.org) or Ned Formaker (ned@mcrcd.org). For EQIP, you can also start by contacting your local NRCS office at (707) 485-3233.
| | August 2025: Forestry Project Manager Adam Coleman surveying a property and providing technical assistance for the North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP). | |  | April 2025: Ned Formaker and Field Scout Josie record inventory data as part of the Leonard Lake-Montgomery Woods Forest Health Collaborative. | | | April 2025: Forestry Program Manager Doug Turk helping to burn piles at the Leonard Lake Reserve. | | Willits Mitigation Lands News | | |
Highlights and Accomplishments
The Willits Mitigation Lands is ushering in the close of another successful grazing season. A mild summer and fall paired with over 10” of rain since September has resulted in one of the finest fall seasons staff have seen on the project. Lessees are gathering up their livestock and shipping them to winter range. Both North Coast Semaphore grass and Baker’s meadowfoam, the two listed species of concern on mitigation lands are up and growing robustly. Salmon have been spotted in the stream channels, Tule elk are lounging in the afternoon sun, and large flocks of Canada geese, ducks, and migratory raptors have returned to the valley.
| | November 2025: MCRCD project staff hosting California Conservation Core students, three Grizzly Core Staff, and Jen Riddell and Hannah Bird, representing the Hopland Research and Extension Center, out on the project. | | | The Mitigation Project welcomed 26 students from the new California Conservation Corp (CCC) facility that just opened south of Willits as part of California Naturalist Classes taught and organized by Jennifer Riddell, a former Board Member of the MCRCD. Mitigation project staff participated in the class and talked to the students about the birds of the oak woodland community, the creation of the wetlands, endangered North Coast Semaphore grass, managing invasive species, and trapping feral pigs. The group was treated to the sight of one of our beautiful wintering raptors, a Ferruginous Hawk, and many other raptors and birds. | | | November 2025: Ferruginous Hawk over the Mitigation Project. | | |
Announcements and Events
Don’t miss out on our monthly blogs, wildlife videos, and upcoming project tour news found at the button below!
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Taylor Delbar
Sustainable Agriculture Project Manager
In September Taylor joined MCRCD as a Sustainable Agriculture Project Manager. Taylor is a 6th generational Mendocino/Lake county rancher who graduated from California State University Chico with a Plant Science degree in 2019. After graduating he worked in various fields of agriculture across Northern California, including for the Farm Service Agency, as a PCA in vineyards, and working for the Mendocino County UC Cooperative Extension here in Ukiah. As Sustainable Agriculture Project Manager for MCRCD, Taylor works on our soil health-related projects. This includes assisting landowners and farmers with conservation plans, conducting soil health assessments, assisting farmers and ranchers to obtain state and federal funding for conservation ag practices, planning workshops, and outreach and education.
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