About the GrizzlyCorps Program

The GrizzlyCorps fellowship is an Americorps program that launched in 2020, designed by Project Climate at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & Environment in partnership with California Volunteers. GrizzlyCorps fellows serve 11 month terms in rural communities to build capacity, with placements at host sites all over California that focus on wildfire resilience, forest health, and regenerative agri-food systems. Fellows work with community organizations such as UC Cooperative Extension, Resource Conservation Districts, and NGOs to expand ecological practices, reduce the risk of fire, and improve soil and watershed health, ultimately increasing climate resilience across the state.

The RCDGSDC has hosted GrizzlyCorps fellows for three years; this year’s fellows will assist the Forestry and Fire prevention team and the Agriculture Team to help local communities prepare for wildfires and support small farmers and ranchers. This is also the first year that the Agriculture team is hosting a GrizzlyCorps fellow.

For more information on the program and how to apply, please visit https://www.grizzlycorps.org/

Meet Our 2024-25 Fellows

Kirthana (she/her) was born and raised in Houston, Texas and graduated from UCLA with a degree in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, and a minor in Conservation Biology. She has been passionate about the environment for as long as she can remember, but after working on an organic dairy farm for a summer she realized her interest in sustainability extended to regenerative agriculture and conservation. While at UCLA, she was also an Environmental Justice and Sustainability Specialist for ResLife, conducted research on relationships between fungi and oak saplings for the US-101 wildlife overpass project, and frequently volunteered at local restoration efforts. In her free time, Kirthana enjoys baking, reading, and working out. She is excited to serve her fellowship term with the RCDGSDC Agriculture team to help local producers implement more sustainable agricultural practices.

Brian (he/him) is serving his first year with GrizzlyCorps at the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County. While studying Environmental Science at UCLA, Brian worked on wildfire mitigation in the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve in Van Nuys. This involvement led to his interest in wildfire management in greater Southern California, specifically in San Diego County where he grew up. During his term with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County and Fire Safe Council of San Diego County, Brian will be working on supporting the Fire Safe Council’s Home Assessment Program, social media outreach, Gold-spotted Oak Borer education, and many more projects over the next 10 months. When not building wildfire resilience you can find Brian perfecting his caesar salad recipe.

Past Fellows

2023-24

Joe (he/him) is a UCLA graduate with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Geography and a focus in environmental science and geographic information systems (GIS). Born on the central coast and raised in the Temecula Valley, Joe has always had a strong interest in the environment, exploring the hills and creeks behind his childhood home since he can remember. In his undergraduate career, he gained an interest in GIS and its ability to convey environmental and social issues through spatial data. In his sophomore year at Palomar College, Joe assisted a local non-profit (The Alliance for Regional Solutions) in building a map illustrating food insecurity in the city of Poway. After transferring to UCLA, he was privileged to travel across the state conducting research and fieldwork to better understand the impacts of climate change on California’s native vegetation. Following graduation, Joe worked for Esri (The Environmental Systems Research Institute) on their ArcGIS Online team as a support analyst. At the RCD of Greater San Diego County he supported the Fire Safe Council and their initiatives to assist local communities prepare for and prevent wildfires. In his free time, Joe enjoys hiking, cooking, and running a weekly Dungeons and Dragons game with his friends.

2022-23

Ashleyann (she/her) is a Filipina born and raised in Stockton, CA, and she is one of the two fellows that served the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County for the 2022-2023 service year. She assisted with the implementation of the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. This work included outreach, education, project planning, and gathering and organizing data for San Diego’s regional priority plan and community wildfire protection plans. Ashleyann is excited to participate in community work that blends with and builds upon her previous community outreach experiences and the fire knowledge she gained in her master’s program. She received her M.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies: Wildland Management from CSU Chico. It is through this program where she began to better understand prescribed fire and cultural burning practices, and the importance of wildfire education and changing wildfire perception in the state of California. Prior to CSU Chico, she earned a B.S. in Physiology and B.A. in Environmental Studies with an emphasis in the History of Human-Environmental Relations from UC Santa Barbara. She loves exploring California and is most likely making plans for where she should explore and hike next. She also likes to spend her time cooking, baking, crocheting, reading, watching anime, and playing video games.

 Carolina (she/her) graduated from California State University Monterey Bay in 2018 and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology with a concentration in Molecular Biology. Throughout her undergraduate career and postgraduate, she completed an internship at the University of Southern California that focused on microbial ecology, volunteered at homeless clinics, worked as a certified phlebotomist, and a counselor at a Residential Eating Disorder facility for Adolescents. Her background has primarily been in the medical field, until she took an Environmental and Human Impact course at her local community college in the fall of 2020. She decided to transition her career into environmental science and explore what opportunities are out there. She served with the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County and assisted with project planning, outreach, education, and wildfire protection plans. She is passionate about environmental justice, sustainability, and environmental health. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with her dogs and traveling.