Fresno Metro Ministry, Sequoia Riverlands Trust and Tuolumne River Trust have received $150,000 in grant funding for environmental projects from Wells Fargo.

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Fresno Metro Ministry will use $75,000 to develop a three-acre permaculture farm to train three farmers in a non-mechanical, no-till method over a three-year period. After three years each farmer will have the skills to implement the permaculture method as their own farm, and develop a plan to market their business and increase local connections.

Sequoia Riverlands Trust will use its $50,000 grant to test several land management methods that reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide and increase soil organic matter, producing multiple benefits for water effectiveness, forage production and ecosystem health. The project, centered on SRT’s 344-acre Kaweah Oaks Preserve, will include trial compost applications and monitoring methods patterned after the landmark Marin Carbon Project.

Tuolumne River Trust will use the $25,000 funding to provide internships to local college students and recent high school graduates to perform restoration work on areas within the Stanislaus National Forest that were adversely impacted by of the 257,000 acre Rim Fire of 2013. Through this project, ecologically-sensitive areas will be restored, promoting watershed health while also helping to develop future leaders in forest stewardship.

The Wells Fargo Environmental Solutions for Communities grant program is a five-year, $15 million collaboration with National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. Launched in 2012, the program makes grants to local nonprofit organizations to promote environmental stewardship and strengthen communities across the U.S.  Fresno Metro Ministry, Sequoia Riverlands Trust and Tuolumne River Trust are among 61 grantees to receive funding in the final year of the program.   

To date, the Wells Fargo Environmental Solutions for Communities program has made grants to 267 nonprofit organizations for 312 projects, from Alaska to Florida, and from California to Maine. Over the life of the program, grantees will have restored more than 83,000 acres of habitat, planted almost a million trees and engaged hundreds of thousands of community members in environmental protection activities nationwide.