SLV Native Habitat Restoration Program Welcomes AmeriCorps

The Valley Women’s Club, SLV Native Habitat Restoration Program, and Santa Cruz County Parks are pleased to announce the return for the 5th year of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). They will be in the San Lorenzo Valley February through April 2020. The team will engage in the ongoing effort to restore native habitat throughout the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed by removing invasive, non-native plants such as ivy, vinca and blackberry, creating demonstration gardens and assisting with maintenance of our community buildings.

The 2020 project sights will include: San Lorenzo Valley Museum, The Nature Discovery Park at the new Felton Library, Highlands Park, Quail Hollow Ranch, the Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek Libraries, Camp Joy, Henry Cowell Redwood State Park, and the Santa Cruz Estuary Re-vegetation Project site on the lower San Lorenzo River. Monarch Butterfly Nectar demonstrati0n gardens are planned at Mountain Community Resources, the Senior Citizens Center, and the Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek Libraries.

This year the team is being sponsored by our past co-sponsor, Santa Cruz County Parks. The Valley Women’s Club and the Native Habit Restoration Program will continue its collaboration with County Parks.

This is a unique opportunity for County Parks to extend habitat restoration into county parks located in South County as well as address infrastructure projects at those parks. The team will be working at Pinto Lake County Park and Bert Scott County Park initially.

NCCC AmeriCorps is a national program that enlists young adults from across the country to spend 10 months serving communities and developing leadership skills through direct, team-based national and community service. Their work focuses on disaster relief, infrastructure improvement, environmental stewardship, energy conservation, and urban and rural development.

The 2020 team consists of 12 team members – ages 18 to 24 – who will be known as Team Gold 7. Donations of food, tools, and entertainment for the Team would be greatly appreciated by all. For further information contact Linda Skeff at: lindaskeff@gmail.com

The Native Habitat Restoration Program would like to thank the SLV community, Supervisor Bruce McPherson and Assembly Member Mark Stone for their ongoing support of the Program as well as the following local businesses and organizations for their generous donations in support of the ongoing efforts to restore the San Lorenzo Valley Watershed: