Join MidCoast Watersheds Council for an engaging panel discussion featuring Annie Marion, Shavonne Sargent, and Natalie Schaefer, as they explore the valuable NRCS programs available to landowners. This session will include an insightful case study from Yakona Nature Preserve, offering a unique opportunity for landowners to understand these programs before application season opens this fall.
Natalie will introduce the Yakona Nature Preserve—sharing its origin, mission, and the key partnerships they've formed, including collaboration with Shavonne from Silva Saunterra and Annie from NRCS, to achieve their habitat management goals. Annie will outline the technical and financial assistance NRCS provides to small woodland owners and managers, equipping them to successfully implement conservation projects on their properties. Shavonne will shed light on the role of foresters in aligning landowner visions with actionable strategies. She will detail a collaboration with NRCS, covering forest management planning, project design, cost-share applications, and implementation processes.
We encourage landowners to come hear about how NRCS programs can help shape their own land management journey. We hope to see you there!
About the speakers:
Natalie Schaefer was raised in the wilds of the Humboldt County coastal redwoods. Her career spans K-12 teaching and program administration; nonprofit administration; corporate philanthropy; higher education development; and real estate (of all things!); but, she started her career as a park ranger - first in Lassen County, then in Monterey County, California. She earned her undergraduate degrees in Geography and American Indian Studies; her master’s in Environmental Science; and her doctorate in Learning Analytics in Higher Education. She and her husband of 33 years raised one son who they are very proud of, and they have three grandchildren who live in northern California. Natalie finds joy through hiking, reading murder mysteries, and working in her yard.
Annie Marion grew up in the Santa Cruz mountains on the Central Coast of California. After earning a BS in Biology at the University of Oregon, she worked a series of seasonal field biology and organic farming jobs that took her from NM to Europe to western PA and back to CA before joining the Peace Corps as an Environmental Education volunteer in Nicaragua for two years. Upon returning to the States, she earned a MS in Horticulture & Agronomy from UC Davis and then began working for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. She now has 15 years with the agency, the last 5 of which have been in the Waldport Field Office, serving as the District Conservationist for Lincoln and west Lane Counties. As the mother of a soon-to-be 4- year-old, she doesn’t have a lot of free time, but enjoys gardening, hiking, and camping with her Family.
Shavonne Sargent is a mother, a forester, and the founder and principal of SilvaSaunterra, LLC. Born and raised on the east coast, she became interested in forestry through her high school’s maple sugaring operation. She achieved a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resources at Cornell University and a Master of Forestry at the University of Maine. She first practiced consulting forestry in New England right out of graduate school. When her husband’s naval career moved them west, she began working in Weyerhaeuser’s corporate offices and later took a field position as an Area Forester in Oregon. After 7 years with Weyerhaeuser, she left her job and took a 6-month sabbatical, eventually leading to the creation of SilvaSaunterra, LLC in 2018. She currently works with a wide variety of forest landowners and their diverse needs. She is the fierce mama bear of two daughters and is always pursuing a life that more closely reflects the spirit of sauntering and invites others to do the same.