Robert & Patricia Switzer Foundation

The Pinchot Institute for Conservation has been awarded a third year of funding for Amy Rogers as Project Director, continuing to develop a conservation program for the Mache-Chindul Reserve in Ecuador focusing on reforestation and, this year, testing the concept of environmental mortgages.  Amy has established a conservation program in the Esmeraldas Province in Ecuador focusing on two primary goals:  to understand forest regeneration ecology in the Choco Forest, and to undertake reforestation and conservation strategies in a way that also supports local stewardship and economic development so that forest-based livelihoods can be sustainable and meet forest conservation goals.  This year, Amy will work with Switzer Fellow Josh Donlan of Advanced Conservation Strategies, to test the concept of 'environmental mortgages' as a way to create these sustainable livelihoods.

Susannah McCandless will work as full-time International Program Director to strengthen the Global Diversity Foundation's capacity to deliver grassroots conservation initiatives.  The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), a UK-based organization, develops programs in partnership with local and international institutions framed around biodiversity and community.  GDF has a rich history of building community-based conservation projects in Malaysia, Mexico and Morocco working with government institutions, NGOs, academic research scientists to train local community members in protecting biodiversity while also respecting local livelihoods and traditions. Susannah will direct the organization's U.S. office from her home base in Vermont, thereby building its administrative capacity in addition to her programmatic work.  She will assume supervision of the organization's Regional Coordinators in Meso-America and Southeast Asia.  Susannah also works as an Adjunct Professor in the University of Vermont's Department of Geography, teaching about the social and ecological impacts of conservation.  This project builds directly on her experience in human-environment geography.

The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has hired Doreen Stabinsky as a consultant to advise the organization on a range of issues involving climate change and agriculture.  Doreen's expertise will elevate IATP's capacity to provide substantive leadership on the links between agriculture and climate change leading up to and during the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa in November/December, 2011.  Doreen will advise the organization on the Durban process and how to engage governments and other NGOs on the impact of UNFCCC proposals on small-scale farmers and rural communities, and on agricultural soil carbon markets and initiatives to develop these markets.  Doreen's past experience includes a number of years with Greenpeace as Science Advisor and Campaigner.  She is currently a professor of global environmental politics at the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Mark Tompkins will continue his consultancy with American Rivers for a second year as technical and policy advisor on the finalization of California's Central Valley Flood Management Plan (CVFMP).  The CVFMP is a multi-year process to review the status of flood management infrastructure in California's Central Valley and to develop guidelines for effective flood management.  Mark has participated in the process as a consulting engineer for the past year under a Switzer Leadership Grant.  He will build on the progress from the first year's grant, and on the expertise and relationships he has built over the year, to influence how ecologically based strategies can be incorporated into long-term flood planning.  American Rivers's goal is to ensure that California's new flood management system includes fundamental improvements that integrate and restore ecological processes specifically through floodplain restoration and reconnection.  Mark Tompkins is an integral part of the Flood Management Team that has been making the case for alternative flood management to stakeholders, policy makers, and the public.

Under this Leadership Grant, Doug Johnson, Executive Director of the California Invasive Plant Council (Cal-IPC), will spend a portion of his time acting as Chair of the California Invasive Species Advisory Committee.  The Committee is the working group of the Invasive Species Council of California, created in February, 2009, comprised of the secretaries of six state agencies.  Under Doug’s direction, the Committee will develop a comprehensive list of invasive species currently found in California as well as those expected to arrive in California, and to draft the strategic plan for managing them based on input from a 24-member Advisory Committee which includes diverse stakeholders from government agencies, farming groups, NGOs, universities and nursery growers, among others.

Dr. Michael P. Wilson received a second year of funding to continue his role as a public interest research scientist in chemicals policy at UC Berkeley.  Mike will serve in his new role as Executive Director of UC Berkeley’s new Center for Green Chemistry.  He will continue to play a leadership role in the adoption of Green Chemistry as a discipline and as a unifying concept for applied science and practice at Berkeley.  Mike’s objectives for the second year will include providing leadership for the Center for Green Chemistry’s institutional structure, curriculum development and research initiatives; strengthening relationships with labor, business and NGOs on worker-training curriculum and chemicals policy reform; providing technical support to California EPA and the state legislature and serving on scientific advisory panels and legislative committees; and continuing his outreach role in public speaking, publication, and media engagement.

Beckie Menten will work as a consultant with the California Public Utilities Commission in researching and developing energy efficiency implementation strategies to incorporate the goals of the recently adopted Energy Efficiency Strategic Plan into state and local government policies.  Beckie will work closely with city and county officials in California to help them design, implement, and finance building energy efficiency programs.  In the absence of Congressional action on climate policy, California has been a national leader in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, passing the Global Warming Solutions Act (AB32) which requires the state to reduce GHGs to 1990 levels by 2020.  Energy efficiency improvements in the building sector represent a significant untapped reservoir of energy savings and GHG reductions.  With the combination of AB32 requirements, stimulus funding, and new municipal financing programs, California is poised to launch the nation’s largest building retrofit program and achieve dramatic energy savings.  Beckie will take the lead role within the Energy and Efficiency Planning Section to monitor and facilitate local government participation in retrofit programs.