AAUW Panel Focuses on the Environment “Think Globally, Act Locally” on April 15

GRASS VALLEY, Calif. April 10, 2017 – “Think Globally, Act Locally” is the topic for the April 15th American Association of University Women (AAUW) Nevada County Branch meeting.  Especially timely with Earth Day coming up on April 22nd, the focus is on what local environmental organizations are doing to protect natural resources and public health, and what everyone can do to help.

Guest speakers are Marty Coleman-Hunt, Executive Director, Bear Yuba Land Trust; Rachel Hutchinson, Science Director, South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL); and Elizabeth “Izzy” Martin, CEO, The Sierra Fund.

Coleman-Hunt has been Bear Yuba Land Trust Executive Director since 2007, and she has been working to protect the environmental quality of Nevada County since moving here in 2001.  Serving on the boards of the Land Trust Alliance Commission, SYRCL, and the Northern Foothills Partnership, she is also president of the Sierra-Cascade Land Trust Council.

A Land Ethics Leader with the Aldo Leopold Foundation, Coleman-Hunt received the Leadership Award from TWIN (Tribute to Women in Industry) and the 2020 Vision and Leadership Award in 2003.

Hutchinson is SYRCL’s Science Director and is responsible for SYRCL’s conservation, restoration, monitoring, and education programs. She joined SYRCL in 2013 from the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences where she worked as a riparian ecologist for almost ten years. Hutchinson received her master’s degree in Water Resources from the University of Idaho where she studied how plant communities on restored river floodplains responded to changes in hydrology and invasion from non-native species.

Martin, The Sierra Fund CEO, is an organizer and advocate with some 35 years of experience working in rural communities to promote economic and environmental justice.  She has worked with farm workers, farmers, and environmentalists to develop pioneering programs to promote organic agriculture and reduce community exposure to pesticides.  While serving as Nevada County Supervisor, Martin led the fight in the legislature to put the Yuba River into California’s wild and scenic river system, spearheaded the effort to clean up an abandoned mine in her district, and began a five-year campaign to establish the Sierra Nevada Conservancy.  She conceived of and directs The Sierra Fund’s Headwaters Restoration Program.  Her accomplishments were recognized earlier this year when she received a James Irvine Foundation Leadership Award.

The meeting will be held at Peace Lutheran Church, 828 West Main Street, Grass Valley, on Saturday, April 15th, at 9:30 – 11:30 am (program begins at 10:00 am).  It is free and open to everyone.

AAUW membership is open to individuals with an associate, baccalaureate or higher degree from a qualified educational institution. For individuals interested in participating in branch interest groups and other activities, but who have not had the opportunity to complete a degree, the Nevada County Branch offers “Friends of AAUW” membership.  For more than 75 years, the AAUW Nevada County Branch has been striving to advance equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research.  For more information:  nevadacounty-ca.aauw.net or call 530-470-9395.