Host: County of Sacramento – Office of the County Executive
Region: Northern California
Openings: 1
Project Focus: Climate Adaptation, Climate Mitigation, Waste Management
Skills Needed: Public Speaking, Relationship Management, Marketing, Stakeholder Engagement, Communication, Self-Motivated

Service Needs & Plans

The CivicSpark Fellow would serve under the direct supervision of the Sacramento County Sustainability Manager in the Office of the County Executive. The Fellowship would support organizational capacity needs for additional staff knowledge and time to devote to working with Sacramento County farmers and ranchers, to educate, network, build trust, and provide assistance in the development of Carbon Farming Plans to reduce GHG emissions. The Sacramento County Carbon Farming Project would directly support the implementation of measure GHG-01 of the County’s Draft Climate Action Plan.

Project Description

The Sacramento County Carbon Farming Project will help address Sacramento County’s Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions goals, improve support for Sacramento County farmers and ranchers, and improve community resilience by developing a program to educate farmers and ranchers on the importance of carbon farming and provide incentives for program participation including development of carbon farming plans and incorporation of locally generated compost from landfill organics diversion into Sacramento County’s working lands.

Under the direct supervision of the Sacramento County Sustainability Manager in the Office of the County Executive, the Fellow would lead outreach and education with local farmers and ranchers and assist with development of carbon faming plans and other agricultural-related GHG reduction measures as outlined by Draft Climate Action Plan measure GHG-01.
GHG-01 states, in part:

PROMOTE AND INCREASE CARBON FARMING

Measure: The County will work with local farmers, ranchers, and land managers, as well as resource conservation districts and other partners (e.g., Carbon Cycle Institute), to promote and increase carbon sequestration on agricultural lands through the development of carbon farming plans.

Implementation: Develop a program by 2024 that, through targeted outreach and peer-to-peer learning, provides carbon sequestration education and resources to relevant stakeholders (e.g., farmers, ranchers, and land managers). The program will focus on educating stakeholders about the co-benefits of implementing carbon sequestration practices and the variety of financial and technical resources that are available to assist farmers and ranchers in implementation. This program may be coordinated with industry groups and nonprofits, such as the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts. Funding and implementation resources that could support the program include but are not limited to the following:

The California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CDFA’s) California’s Healthy Soils Program, CDFA’s Alternative Manure Management Program, the Strategic Growth Council’s (SGC’s) Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program, Zero Foodprint’s Restore CA Program, the University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems Program, and the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service.

GHG Reduction Potential: 146,934 MT CO2e per year by 2030

Target Indicator: Implementation of a variety of carbon farming techniques and practices on agricultural land in Sacramento County, including:

 application of compost instead of synthetic fertilizer to 22,000 acres of cropland by 2026 and 44,344 acres of cropland by 2030;

 grazing management to improve irrigated pasture conditions applied to 2,500 acres by 2026 and 4,965 acres by 2030;

 decrease in fallow frequency or addition of perennial crops to rotations applied to 13,000 acres by 2026 and 27,515 acres by 2030; and

 tillage reduced, eliminated, or changed to strip tilling on 2,000 acres by 2026 and 4,557 acres by 2030.

A secondary project, when the Fellow is not working on the primary Carbon Farming project directly, will be to support the County’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force with outreach, education, research, and data collection on an as-needed basis and approved by the Sustainability Manager. In particular, the Fellow will provide support to and coordination with the agricultural member of the Task Force in areas related to carbon farming and soil carbon sequestration, in general.

Desired Skills

We are looking for a Fellow with experience or roots in the agricultural community. Building trust and understanding the issues facing farmers and ranchers will be a lynchpin to the success of this project. Natural resources experience and a basic understanding of the carbon cycle and soil chemistry are also desired. The fellow should also be experienced in community engagement and possess good writing, presentation, and organization skills. The fellow should be outgoing and able to calmly listen to the opinions of others while at the same time be able to highlight and incentivize potential alternatives in an apolitical and non-confrontational manner.

Organization & Community Highlights

The Sacramento County workplace culture is improving under the leadership of a new County Executive and new priorities from the Board of Supervisors. The County’s leaders continue to engage in cultural change training and have developed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion cabinet. The Sustainability Manager, to who the Fellow would report, supports the County Executive’s cultural change vision as a member of the Culture Shift Coalition, as a facilitator in the County’s leadership development academy, and as a facilitator for the Thought Patterns for High Performance curriculum. This comes on the heels of Sacramento County’s successful adoption of the Environmental Justice Element and the successful establishment of a new Public Safety and Justice program.
Placement in this Fellowship will provide the candidate exposure to the highest levels of governance in the County. It will provide an opportunity to observe and interact with the County’s top leaders in a highly professional and supportive environment while working on one of the most pressing and important topics of today- – Climate Change. Located in Downtown Sacramento, the County Executive’s Office provides ready access to the State Capitol, the American River Parkway, and the Sacramento Kings Arena – AKA the Golden One Center (G1C).

Remote or On-Site Placement

On-site