WRC Opens California Office, Staffed by Russ Pinto

Western Rivers Conservancy is doing more and more river protection work in California. Our Big Chico Creek project established a 4,000-acre preserve along five miles of Big Chico Creek, now managed by California State University, Chico. Our Goose Creek project on the Smith River is our first initiative in California's north coast region.

In February, we took the exciting step of opening our California office in Sebastopol, north of San Francisco. The office, at 313 North Main Street, will be led by new staff member Russ Pinto. Russ has more than 20 years of experience in conservation land-buying, beginning in the Wood River Valley of Idaho. Later he worked with the Trust for Public Land for 3 years, focusing on the Columbia River Gorge. For the past 14 years Russ has been the Director of Land Protection for The Nature Conservancy in Oregon, serving as their chief negotiator on all real estate transactions, public and private. Russ has dedicated his career to ecosystem protection, working with a wide range of partners. He sees his new position with WRC as a chance to protect outstanding rivers throughout the Sierra Nevada, the redwood coast, the Central Valley and other beautiful regions of California.