Feedback from the Field
“Your storytelling helps me see what we are doing with fresh eyes. Forest health work is so slow going, but I feel proud again about what we are doing out here.”—Ben Campbell, Forest Health Program Director
I directed editorial strategy and created all storytelling for River News, Tuolumne River Trust’s collection of features, news articles, and impact stories. As a one-person media production unit, I created and edited all writing, photography, and videography seen within River News features. As a teammate, I upheld ethical storytelling practices to co-create stories with those represented in them.
I selected newsworthy stories to align with donor and audience interests, and I also wrote and edited longer-form stories for member magazines and impact reports.
Returns
I easily repackaged these River News articles as media-rich social media posts, e-newsletters, and end-of-year campaign materials. By including key articles in press outreach, I garnered earned media on KQED’s The California Report and saw reposts on Maven’s Notebook.
My long-form writing generated new leads, inspired audiences, and built continued community awareness.
Newsworthy Features:
Stream Work: People-Powered Restoration Returns Water to Boney Flat Meadow
“Wetland meadows are thought to act as sponges, like firebreaks dotting fire-prone lands. Common sense adds up: you can’t burn a wet sponge, and TRT is committed to restoring wet meadows in the Sierra Nevada to slow the spread of catastrophic megafires, protect diverse and unique habitats, provide refuge for sensitive wildlife, and adapt to regional climate change projections.”
Rocks, Riffles & Floodplains: Restoration Creates Salmon Habitat on the Tuolumne
“From 1848 through the 1950s, gold and gravel mining changed the makeup of the Tuolumne River in a flash, and salmon suffered habitat loss that affected the ecological web throughout the entire watershed. The river is now quiet of salmon, whose numbers have dwindled to less than 1% of their historical numbers.”
The Fight for Fish & Flows: TRT Organizes Around New Instream Flow Plan
“I have seen fall-run Chinook in the Lumsden Reach of the Tuolumne many times. They come up from Don Pedro Reservoir, which acts as their ocean since they can no longer reach the Pacific,” shares Cindy Charles, who regularly fishes the Tuolumne’s waters and knows that higher flows mean life. Like the migrating fish, she calls the Tuolumne watershed home, too.”
From Protection to Resilience: How Collaborative Stewardship Transformed Forests This Year
“It might feel like a diversion—a river-based organization doing all this forest health work, but it all connects. The Stanislaus National Forest supports two riparian watersheds: the Stanislaus and the Tuolumne.
Catastrophic fires bring erosion and increased sediment loads that clog our waterways. Preventing catastrophic fire also supports water quality for humans, fish, and the whole ecosystem.”
How Fishing and Play Build Resilience Along the Tuolumne: An Interview with Victor Martinez
“If the kids get tagged out of the salmon life cycle game, they don’t like it, and you can tell they’re visibly upset. But then we remind them, “Hey, you’re a salmon, you have to work hard to survive.”
Healthy Forests Create Watershed-Wide Resilience: An Interview with Madelyn Guillaume
“Change is going to happen, and we can’t just shelter our forest from that. We need to create a landscape that is adaptable and resilient to the changes we know are coming. It’s not an if; it’s a when, and it’s looking more and more soon than previously understood.”
Impact Stories
I conducted interviews and wrote person-centered impact stories for Tuolumne River Trust’s 2024 Impact Report. I also co-designed and wrote select articles for The State of Parks member magazine. Here is a selection.
These impact stories highlight a watershed-wide approach to restoration, advocacy, and education along the Tuolumne River. Seen here are stories that emphasize ongoing initiatives in the Central Valley and Headwaters regions.
I produced all graphic design, interviews, and writing for this article about TRT’s early involvement with Dos Rios State Park. This piece chronicles TRT’s role in transitioning a private ranch into public land that is now California’s newest state park. See the full publication below.
For The State of Parks, I collaborated as the primary designer and was a contributing writer on select articles.
