Skills: Permitting, conservation on agricultural land, illegal dumping prevention.
Fun Fact: Eagle Scout, former member of the University of California Marching Band, aspiring birder, and a Contra Costa native raised in Southern California.
Ben started working with Contra Costa RCD in January 2017 after receiving two Masters degrees from Indiana University in Natural Resource Management and Environmental Policy following undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley. Ben manages the Voluntary Local Program, the EcoStewards Program, and other conservation programs focused on agricultural lands.
Skills: Water conservation, Irrigation Audits, Data interpretation/analysis, Soil conservation.
Fun Fact: As a toddler Ishai lived on a cut flower farm. His first word was tractor. While working as a gardener, Ishai learned to backcountry ski, because being in the snow is much better than being in the rain.
Ishai has over 20 years’ experience in the landscape field, with 8 of those as an irrigation specialist. He is also a licensed landscape contractor. In 2016, Ishai returned to school as a returning adult student, first earning a Certificate of Achievement in Nursery Management at Diablo Valley College, and then transferring and graduating from UC Berkeley in 2022 with a BS in Conservation and Resource Studies, earning the departmental citation.
After graduating from Cal, Ishai worked as a Scientific Aid in the Groundwater Permitting Unit at the Regional Water Quality Control Board, reviewing groundwater discharge monitoring and reporting data.
Ishai has a deep interest in all things grass, soil and irrigation and has focused his studies on those fields.
Skills: Critical Thinking, Environmental Education, Community Engagement, Qualitative Data Analysis.
Fun Fact: I consider myself a “micro-hiker”, or someone who notices and admires the tiny details and mini ecosystems all around (leaves, bugs, the interesting pattern on a rock, wildlife, fungi, moss, etc.).
With a B.S. in Society and Environment from UC Berkeley and a minor in Food Systems, Nat is a critical thinker; a passionate believer in collective liberation; and dedicated environmental steward. In the Berkeley community, they have been involved in many projects toward food justice and agroecology such as Pour Out Pepsi, the Berkeley Student Food Collective, the UC Gill Tract, and Berkeley Student Farms. From these spaces/efforts, their passion for sustainable food systems grew. They are excited to be part of the Urban Agriculture Team and help actualize sustainability goals that CCRCD and partners are striving toward!
Skills: Environmental stewardship, relationship building, community composter & gardener, aspiring homesteader, native grasslands enthusiast, loves working with animals, grazing systems, tree hugger, watershed restoration steward.
Fun Fact: She grew up in Connecticut and although once partial to the Autumn season, understandably so having grown up surrounded by vibrant colors and foliage, has since made the East Bay her main home for the past 10 years, and has grown to appreciate every season, and the diversity of biomes present throughout California with vibrant colors of its own.
Genna comes to Contra Costa Resource Conservation District (CCRCD) as an early career professional who’s background in environmental sciences and food systems gives her a holistic lens in which to assist land managers across Contra Costa county. She recently completed serving in a Sustainable Agriculture & Water Technician role at Mendocino County Resource Conservation District through a UC-Berkeley AmeriCorps program called GrizzlyCorps, and also worked on rangeland carbon monitoring with Point Blue Conservation Science based in Petaluma, CA and Quivira Coalition based in Santa Fe, NM, where she partnered with farmers & ranchers across the continental Southwest. With CCRCD’s growing Agriculture team, Genna is the point person working on livestock and rangeland conservation projects including the Voluntary Local Program to restore habitats and protect the state threatened California Tiger Salamander and Alameda Whipsnake and federally threatened California Red-Legged Frog, and many additional rangeland management projects.
