The Foundation supports efforts to protect wilderness areas and natural resources, preserve cultural heritage, and prevent irreversible environmental and economic damage. Organizations that combine educational and environmental components take precedence. We are particularly interested in programs that:

Featured Grant:

The Northern Sierra Partnership | www.northernsierrapartnership.org

"The difference between the old and new ways of thinking about strategy and leadership is that the old revolves around the boundaries of single organizations while the new revolves around the boundaries of ecosystems, clusters of organizations that co-evolve in a larger space of collective value creation … in ecosystems coordination functions through a constellation of diverse players that collectively form a vehicle for seeing current possibilities and sensing emerging opportunities."

-Theory U, Leading from the Future as It Emerges – by Otto Scharmer

The northern Sierra Nevada, which extends from south of Lake Tahoe to Lassen Volcanic National Park, is home to exceptional natural, cultural, and recreational resources of statewide and global significance. The region also faces immediate threats from incompatible development and catastrophic wildfire, as well as the likelihood that global climate change will significantly affect the region's resources and communities. To safeguard this critically important region, timely conservation action on the largest possible scale is essential.

The Northern Sierra Partnership represents a new alliance of conservation organizations dedicated to the region’s future and committed to rapid collaborative action to plan and implement crucial conservation projects, link conservation to sustainable economies, leverage public funds with effective private fundraising, and build a firm base of local support.

Initially convened by the Morgan Family Foundation, the partners have agreed on a cutting-edge, strategic approach to conserving the northern Sierra's most valuable lands and waters. The partners — the Feather River Land Trust, Truckee Donner Land Trust, Sierra Business Council, Trust for Public Land, and The Nature Conservancy — have an impressive record of success in local conservation. Now, as a partnership, they have a coordinated approach to work with landowners, government agencies, and community organizations to protect species diversity and habitat; maintain a critical mass of working ranches, forests, and tribal lands; and provide benefits such as a quality water supply, recreation, carbon sequestration, and sustainable industries.
The partners will pool resources and coordinate projects to achieve the following 5 to 10 year goals:

The Morgan Family Foundation and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, among others, have provided initial funding. By acting promptly and working together, we can make sure that this region's remarkable natural, cultural, and recreational resources — and their vital role in ensuring California's future — will be protected for future generations.

To find out how you can help, please email info@northernsierrapartnership.org.

De Anza College Environmental Studies Department | www.deanza.edu/es

Core Mission: Students, Education, Stewardship!

The De Anza College Environmental Studies Department integrates physical, biological, human, socioeconomic and political principles. Formal and non-formal methods of teaching help students acquire the basics of this field. These include a scientific foundation, an understanding of social and economic concepts, and an awareness of the behaviors that protect or damage the earth and its resources.

Students in this department are trained for exciting career opportunities in some of the fastest growing fields in the country. The Morgan Family Foundation has endowed the Chair of the department and more recently supported the Environmental Stewardship Program in which students are working in one of the most beautiful outdoor labs in the state - Santa Clara County.

Currently, many of these inspired and committed students have created the DeAnza Wildlife Corridor Stewardship Team, aimed at proving that Coyote Valley is a crucial link between the Diablo Range to the east and the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west. The teams have made ground-breaking discoveries and have tracked mountain lions, bobcats, coyotes, badgers, fox, deer and other wildlife through the valley. Additionally, the bird survey team identified 57 species of birds within a 3-month period, including 5 species of raptors. Their work has been widely recognized by the media, elected officials and education professionals as critical input for the valley and an innovative educational opportunity for these students.

Chair Julie Phillips and the rest of the stewardship team are dedicated to sharing this new educational model of stewardship with community colleges across the state. In particular, they hope to create a network of community college programs like this one that will carry out student-driven stewardship projects at local levels to preserve corridors and ultimately a statewide system of wild linkages.