Fort Ross Conservancy

Outreach - FRC staffs a bookshop and two visitor centers, publishes brochures and website content related to our parks, and funds two interpreters to share their knowledge with visitors. Our annual Fort Ross Dialogue conference, an independent forum which encourages collaboration, promotes our parks internationally.Youth Programming - FRCs outdoor education Environmental Living Program, aligned with 4th and 5th grade California standards, provides hands-on learning to allow students to directly experience 19th century history. Our Marine Ecology Program teaches students how to identify species and learn data collection with the Sonoma coast as their classroom. Covid-19 continues to impact the number of school groups who attended onsite programming in 2021: we served 28 school and scout groups in person at Fort Ross, and we were able to serve 60 students via remote distance learning.Land Stewardship - FRC believes land stewardship is core to our organizations mission. We coordinate marine mammal census work to track the populations of Steller and California sea lions on the offshore rocks at Fort Ross, with data distributed to scientific institutions. We are currently coordinating a multi-year grant to track the health of the endangered Behrens spotted butterfly. Both projects include both FRC staff and trained volunteers.FRC supports California State Parks in maintaining the cultural resources at our parks. We steward 9,400 acres from intertidal habitat to redwood groves; preserve 15 historic buildings and cultural features, staff two visitor centers, research and write books, pamphlets and interpretive panels, and engage over 300,000 visitors annually.