The Sierra Fund Transforms with New Indigenous Leadership and Mission

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 18, 2024

The Sierra Fund Transforms with New Indigenous Leadership and Mission

Metamorphosed Organization Advances a Movement for Indigenous-Led Sustainable Conservation and Community Resilience

The Sierra Fund proudly announces that we just elected an Indigenous majority onto our Board of Directors and hired Brian Wallace (Washoe/Nisenan) as our new Chief Executive Officer to become an Indigenous led organization. This bold step and an adopted new mission aim to blend traditional ecological wisdom with western science to restore and protect Sierra lands, waters, and communities through practices that have sustained it for generations. It’s a powerful next phase for such an accomplished and respected organization that has been at the center of conservation serving the Sierra Nevada.

Visionary and Region-wide Indigenous Leadership

At the heart of this transformation is a profound commitment to Indigenous leadership and decision making. By centering the voices of the Sierra Bioregions First Nations, The Sierra Fund seeks to restore and protect the land through practices that have sustained it for generations.

The Sierra Fund Board of Directors at the end of August through a unanimous board vote and voluntary resignations created a board with 75% Indigenous leaders. The new board is comprised of Chair Dr. Lisa Grayshield (Washoe), Vice Chair Joseph Miller (Big Pine Paiute), Secretary Pam Cubbler (Colfax Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe), treasurer Malissa Tayaba (Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians). At large board members are Kris Hohag (Bishop Paiute), Nils Moe, Brenden Mercer,  and Tim Seward. Past board members Robert Meacher, Martha Davis, Alison Harvey, Coleen Shade, and Warren Knox voted unanimously in support of this transition and are being invited to serve on a new Advisory Council being formed. The past board was modeling real support for significant change with their unanimous decision to resign and back Indigenous leaders to replace them. The board put all their chips on the table behind this Indigenous led and centered movement.

In addition, Brian Wallace was hired by the Board of Directors as the new Sierra Fund Chief Executive Officer. Brian, you will recall, most recently served for two years as a Board Member and is a visionary Indigenous leader with a wealth of experience and success in advancing tribal led initiatives. Wallace served as an elected official of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California from 1979-2006, including four terms as Tribal Chair. Wallace secured federal court protection of sacred sites in Lake Tahoe and throughout Washoe homelands, was a key leader ensuring clean-up of the Leviathan Mine superfund site, facilitated a bio-cultural international agreement on restoration with the Republic of Buryatia and the Washoe Tribe, and was a founding member of the Lake Tahoe Federal Advisory Committee. Under his leadership the Washoe Tribe created their first Environmental Protection Department, Development Corporation, Cultural Foundation, Language School, and Conservation Land Trust.

Joan Clayburgh served with Brian for two years to elevate the Tribal Partnership Program. She joyously volunteered to step down as Executive Director and be hired as Executive Officer of Collaborations and Operations by Brian.

Powerful New Mission

The new mission the organization adopted is an adaptation of our prior mission. The revised mission is to invest in and elevate Indigenous place-based wisdom, leadership, and guardianship to achieve reparative justice and resilient Sierra Nevada cultural ecologies and communities for future generations.

“The Sierra Fund’s new mission is about more than conservation,” said A. Brian Wallace (Washoe/Nisenan), new Chief Executive Officer of The Sierra Fund. “It’s a call to action for funders, allies, and partners to join a collaborative journey to a sustainable future. This is an organization reflective of a new movement to center and honor indigenous sovereignty to more effectively promote ecological balance and enhance community resiliency.”

Innovative New Programs

The Sierra Nevada Indigenous-led organization will be working in the next few years to launch five new innovative Indigenous centered programs. Most of these new programs build on the terrific TSF accomplishments and programs of the past, particularly the Tribal Partnership Program and co-hosting with tribes and academic partners an annual Sierra Tribal Summit. The new programs are: 1) Climate Adaptation, Emergency Services and Community Safety. 2) Cultural Ecologies – promoting tribal ecological knowledge, language, food, and data sovereignty and revitalization. 3) Land and Water Guardianship, 4) Workforce and Social Investment Strategies, and 5) Reconciliation and Equity. The organization’s approach will establish and support collaborative tribal efforts, offer technical assistance and mentorship, create knowledge sharing platforms and events, support Indigenous land return and land and water management, and advocate for the centering of tribal voices and rights of nature.

“By centering Indigenous knowledges and tribal ancestral wisdom in promotion of a culture that is founded on principles of collective stewardship, we work together to preserve & restore the rich biodiversity of the Sierra. “We ensure that our future generations can enjoy the natural beauty that defined this region since time immemorial” said Dr. Lisa Grayshield, (Washoe), Chair of The Sierra Fund Board of Directors. “This collaboration is writing a new future, one defined by reconciliation, stewardship, and shared responsibility for the land and our more than human relatives with whom we share this land we call home.”

Staffing Will Expand on Sophisticated Infrastructure, Operations, and Collaborations

“I’ve worked for over forty years in the conservation movement, and I’ve never been this excited about coming to work,” said Joan Clayburgh, prior Executive Director and now retained as an Executive Officer of Collaborations and Operations. “This bold transformation is reflective of a profound commitment to Indigenous leadership and decision making, knowing that centering Indigenous wisdom is needed more than ever to craft solutions for the challenges ahead. I’m not Indigenous and I’m very honored to be invited to serve under this talented and committed new CEO and board.”

The value-driven core, proven operating team of The Sierra Fund will remain the same – providing the infrastructure and capacity to powerfully launch this transformed Indigenous-led organization. In addition to Joan, Beth Bordner remains as Finance and Operations Director and Laura Carroll was promoted to Development and Communications Director. Jenny Michaels will be retained  to support events, special projects, and initiatives.

Nick Graham, Program Director took a position with Mooretown Rancheria starting November 1st joining Carrie Monohan, Ph.D. We are happy to see the Hydraulic Mine Restoration work and other forest and watershed restoration efforts successfully live on under tribal-led protection and conservation initiatives that Carrie and Nick’s are piloting from their new Mooretown Rancheria base. Syd Godfrey, TSF Program Manager, has indicated an interest in a position focused on fire and being in the field more than his past position and remains with The Sierra Fund through the late fall.

We will continue advocacy and support in mining reform, forest and watershed health, and restoration efforts! This work is central to Indigenous protection of critical cultural keystone species and ecologies. Our new program will advance this important work throughout the diverse Sierra bioregion in close partnership, service to, and collaboration with tribal guardianship programs.

The Sierra Fund intends to hire Rebecca Allen Ph.D. as soon as funding is available as our new Executive Officer of Programs. Rebecca has over forty years’ experience collaborating with tribes, leading preservation departments, running small businesses, and launching new programs. The Sierra Funds prioritizes hiring, as we achieve our fundraising goals, four new Indigenous staff to support tribal collaborations, services, and initiatives.

We Invite You to Stay With Us on this Transformative Journey

This movement is Indigenous-Led but not Indigenous only. The Sierra Fund invites the public to be a part of this transformative journey. If you noticed above ‘as funds are available/fundraising goals’ were noted a few times. We just launched a GoFundMe Campaign for you and others to show your support for helping the Sierra bioregion thrive by elevating the stewardship and leadership of Indigenous peoples whose wisdom and stewardship has ensured the natural beauty that has defined this region for centuries.

Donate today and together, we can create a future where Indigenous knowledge and modern science unite to protect our natural and built worlds for generations to come.

Join us for a webinar to learn more!

We invite you to join us for an informative webinar on the launch of this new organization on September 24, 10-11 PST. Click the link here to register!

For more information or to support The Sierra Fund, visit www.sierrafund.org.

News Staff