WHO WE ARE
Grassroots Ecology is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to caring for public lands and waters across Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. In collaboration with public landowners, governments, schools, corporations, and other nonprofits, each year we engage thousands of people in hands-on education and service that improves our local environment.
MISSION
Our mission is to engage and educate the public to restore local ecosystems.
VISION
We envision vibrant, healthy lands and human communities that support and sustain one another and are resilient and adaptable to a changing world.
All people have the right and responsibility to be stewards of their local lands, waters, and communities. We recognize that historical oppression and ongoing social injustice impact all aspects of our lives, including access to the outdoors and meaningful engagement with nature. Grassroots Ecology is committed to our role in addressing the barriers and inequities that exclude people from environmental activities.
VALUES
Stewardship
It is our collective responsibility to take care of our local ecosystems for future generations.
Hands-on Learning
We foster lifelong learning about our natural environment through hands-on experience.
Inclusion
People of all backgrounds, ages, and ability have a place.
Community
We are more effective when we work together and empower one another.
WHERE WE WORK
Grassroots Ecology works in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties on the unceded lands of the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone, Tamien Nation, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, and Muwekma Ohlone. With our mission to engage and educate the public to restore local ecosystems, we believe that restoring native biodiversity requires restoring Native relationships. We recognize their intrinsic relationship with land and water, and we are committed to leveraging our access to their ancestral lands to support the sovereignty of local Native communities.
NEED
The San Francisco Bay Area is a globally recognized biodiversity hotspot that provides habitat for thousands of plant and animal species—some of which exist nowhere else on the planet. At the same time, Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties are home to over three million people and some of the largest tech companies in the world.
This close intersection of urban and wild creates challenges such as increased fire and flood risk, degraded and fragmented habitat, contaminants in our soil and waterways, and the proliferation of invasive species—all exacerbated by global climate change.
To address these challenges, our team engages the community to learn about, protect, and restore nature throughout our region, from the foothills to the bay.
OUR HISTORY
Grassroots Ecology’s first roots were formed in 1997 when Bay Area Action (which would later become Acterra) created the Arastradero Stewardship Program. Over the next two decades, this small program grew to engage and educate thousands of people annually at outdoor sites across the Bay Area Peninsula and South Bay region—ultimately branching off to form Grassroots Ecology, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit, in 2016.