For two decades, dedicated citizens from our local community
have committed their time, skills, energy and financial resources
to conserve the scenic beauty and quality of life in our treasured
foothill, river and valley floor environments. Three groups
of people, in the Visalia, Three Rivers and Springville areas,
worked separately, but with similar visions for conservation
based on a respect for people, the economy, agricultural resources,
wildlife habitat and the enjoyment of nature.
Our precursor, the Sierra Los Tulares Land Trust was established
in November 2000 as the result of a consensus decision to merge
those three groups: the Four Creeks, Kaweah and Tule Oaks land
trusts. The original groups retain their local identities through
their local chapters, which meet at varied times (see our calendar
under News and Events) to contribute special talents that help
Sequoia Riverlands Trust (SRT) care for our local area.
The Four Creeks chapter focuses on conserving the valley floor
portions of the Kaweah River and Tule River. The Kaweah Chapter
encompasses the foothill portion of the Kaweah River and its tributaries.
Tule Oaks Chapter focuses on the foothill portion of the Tule River watershed.
With the merger of three land trusts, individuals brought expertise
and talents from throughout the county, positioning this new
conservation group, with Carole Combs as the first non-paid Executive
Director, to meet regional conservation challenges and opportunities.
The Board of Directors hired Sopac “Soapy” McCarthy Mulholland
in March 2002 as the first paid Executive Director.
In 2003, the Board of Directors, staff, volunteers and design
experts participated in a facilitated session regarding the “identity” of
the land trust. Our old name, “Sierra Los Tulares Land
Trust”,
had too many words and funny, hard to pronounce words. After
a great deal of creative input, the Board changed our name to
“Sequoia Riverlands Trust”.
Sequoia Riverlands Trust works in the southern
Sierra Nevada and San Joaquin Valley in the Kings, Kaweah,
Tule and Kern River watersheds, and into the Tulare Lake Basin
of Kings, Kern, and Tulare counties. It is a private, community-based
non-profit organization that serves landowners who are interested
in voluntarily conserving their land and works to educate those
community members interested in conservation. Currently, SRT
holds conservation easements on 10 properties, totaling
2,211 protected acres, and we own and manage six preserves,
totaling 3,431 acres.
We would like to recognize the contributions
and leadership of the following individuals in each of our chapters
who began the conservation and land trust movement in Tulare
County:
Four Creeks Chapter
Greg Collins
Dan Dooley
Dick Dooley
Do Dooley
Carole Frate
Alan George
Rob Hansen
Bill Hobbs
Jim Kautz
Nancy Jenner
Greg Kirkpatrick
Irene Lindsay
Mike Lozito
Brian Newton
Susan Silva-Treadwell
John Slaven
Scott Spear
Ginger Strong
Jose Velesco
Ernie Vierra
Richard Webb
Jeanne Wheaton
|
Kaweah
Chapter
Gordon Bergthold
Howard Blielie
Carole Combs
Susan Darsey
Garry Kenwood
Rick Kimble
Caroline Loeb
George Loeb
Annette MacGregor
Kathleen McCleary
Stan Pavlou
Jean Replogle
Trudy Schuckert
James Seligman
Elizabeth Scott-Graham
Bill Tidwell
Bill Tweed
Jim Wells
Mary Becker Wells
Elizabeth Wilcox |
Tule Oaks
Chapter
Gary Adest
Barbara Brydolf
Billie Chandler
Robert Krase
Carol Manning
Terry Manning
Elli Norris
Joan Stewart
Gay Ver Steeg |
