Ventura County Resource Conservation District

We are hosting a new Wildfire Webinar! Join us on March 18th to learn about actions that homeowners can do to protect their homes and communities from devastating wildfires. Max Young, Head of Wildfire Safety, at the Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council will be sharing information on home hardening and the Firewise USA program. Register: https://lnkd.in/g2ZD7c-m

Last week the Santa Clara River Watershed Committee featured several presentations from water agencies on how they maintain water supply in the event of wildfires. To learn about the complexities of meeting water demand and protecting our residents please watch the meeting recording on the Watershed Committee's YouTube channel. https://lnkd.in/gbeZPPed

We are excited to announce a new team member! Ikuko (Coco) Nakano is our Agriculture Environment Systems Specialist. She holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering with a focus in Hydrology & Environmental Engineering and a Certificate in Food Studies from UCLA. Before joining VCRCD, Coco was supporting farmers through the operational management of a farmers’ market collective, an experience that sparked her interest in resource access for small-scale producers and sustainable agricultural systems. Her 5 years of diverse nonprofit & engineering project management and hands-on experience on a regenerative, educational farm in has equipped her with a holistic approach to addressing environmental and agricultural challenges. She is passionate about creating scalable opportunities and creatively engaging the public to ultimately foster agricultural resilience and robust local economies. Welcome to the team Coco!

It has been a busy month at the VCRCD. We are happy to announce that the VCRCD was recently awarded a grant from the Coastal Commission's Whale Tail program. Their funding will allow the VCRCD to offer summer expeditions to youth from disadvantaged communities in 2026. We are thankful for this opportunity to serve the residents in Ventura County with engaging experiences that will connect our youth with our coastline. You can read more about this grant, as well as catch up on our monarch butterfly conservation, new extreme weather grants, and more in our latest monthly newsletter. https://conta.cc/4gXFMl6

The VCRCD is offering 2 certification courses for people interested in professional development of firefighting and forestry skills: 1. Fighter Fighter 2 Red Card Cert 2. S212 Chainsaw Sawyer Training Space is limited, to sign up visit the links below. Fire Fighter Type 2 sign up https://conta.cc/41bbTrC Chainsaw sign up https://conta.cc/4gYW0KQ Some prerequisites may apply, for more information email [email protected]

At VCRCD hearts go out to all the people who have been negatively affected by the devastating wildfires in Ventura and LA Counties in 2024 and 2025. Understanding the ecology of our native plants and their relationship to wildfire is one of the ways to empower our communities to become better prepared for future wildfire threats. This is why Ventura County Prescribed Burn Association (VCPBA) will be hosting a guided hike at the Matilija Nursery on Saturday, March 1, 2025 at 9am (9-11 am). The hike will include a discussion on native plant adaptations and responses to fire in coastal sage scrub plant communities in Southern California. The Fire Preparedness Coordinator from VCRCD, Kevin Mason will be giving this tour. Come and join us to learn more about the resilience of native plants and the importance of coastal sage scrub, pertaining to fire safety. Space is limited RSVP at the link below. https://lnkd.in/gTFKjjMB

This Wednesday, GlobalFire donated a water-pump, tank, and skid to VCRCD. GlobalFire is a team of volunteers from Toronto Canada who strive to strengthen the emergency response capacity of underfunded fire stations around the world. This is achieved through the?collection and donation of firefighting equipment; and through the provision of free, professional training workshops. We are hugely grateful to our brothers and sisters from Canada at GlobalFire for making this donation to VCRCD and the Ventura County Prescribed Burn Association (VCPBA). We are hugely grateful to all of the humanitarian aid that GlobalFire provides across the globe. Thanks for all of the work you do, GlobalFire! We will send photos of the water skid at our next VCPBA prescribed burn!

Join us at the Ventura River Watershed Council meeting tomorrow! If you wonder what is being done in the watershed to prepare for wildfires and other climate threats, this meeting is an excellent place to start. Meetings are held every other month and are open to the public, recordings are also made available. To stay informed click the link below and visit the website for the Ventura River Watershed Council, where you can join the Council's newsletter to stay informed of future meetings and view the agenda for tomorrow's meeting. https://lnkd.in/gt-bsety

It was a busy year at the VCRCD. We welcomed a new Executive Director, planted new habitat, helped farms conserve water, and coordinated over 1,000 volunteers. Click the link below to learn about our accomplishments. https://lnkd.in/gr_HkMQ5

This last November, one of our RCD team members, Lauren Zaragoza, was able to attend the Santa Barbara TREX at the UCSB Sedgwick Preserve in Santa Ynez. Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREX) and cooperative burns provide experiential training that builds robust local capacity for fire management and offers fire practitioners a more holistic perspective. These training exchanges (TREX), bring together multiple agencies such as tribes, fire departments, community members, landowners, environmental groups, researchers, etc. to implement community based and effective cooperative burning. She was able to attain her Firefighter Type 1 certification and participate on holding and ignitions team at two prescribed burn sites. Learn about this event and more in our monthly newsletter. https://lnkd.in/gusq9zha