Greg Sitter, Senior Manager of Natural Resources and Projects, Conservation Corps North Bay
Our guest speaker for December 11, 2025 was Greg Sitter, Senior Manager of Natural Resources for the Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB). Greg is from France and worked as a Green Building Engineer for the international nonprofit ATD Fourth World when he transferred with ATD to New Orleans. He moved to Sonoma County in 2017 and started a career focusing on natural resources management, including designing and installing school gardens and working as an arborist at a local tree company. He joined the CCNB in 2020.
The CCNB is a non-profit working to develop youth and conserve natural resource for a resilient, sustainable, and equitable community in Sonoma and Marin counties. CCNB offers paid job training programs to young adults in two programs; Natural Resources and Zero Waste. In the Natural Resources program, trainees maintain miles of trails and restore hundreds of acres of habitat every year, often in local regional parks. Greg himself heads 11 crews currently working on 11 projects. Last year these crews reduced fire fuel on 730 acres of public and private land, restored and maintained 59 miles of creek, and restored 166 acres of natural habitat. The Zero Waste program includes 15-20 young people working on the recovery and recycling of e-waste, tires, mattresses, and carpet. Last year they handled 600,000 pounds of e-waste and diverted 8,200 tires from landfills!
The program hires and trains young adults and offers them an opportunity to learn a skill, earn work-based certifications, and access job opportunities. Most are from a low-income background and are unemployed. Nearly half do not have high school diplomas. The majority are Hispanic. CCNB partners with a Marin County high school to offer courses and testing for high school diplomas to corpsmembers who are interested. The skill-based certifications include woodchipper operation, carpentry, restoration, forklift, and many others. The program is also a conduit to other careers, such as firefighting and construction. CCNB provides a career pathways program to support corpsmembers success, including individualized case management, job skills workshops, certifications, and connection to employers. 75% of corpsmembers are employed or in school and earn an average of $22.62 per hour after leaving CCNB.
Thank you, Greg, for the enlightening presentation. Your efforts to tackle natural resources degradation and the employment of young adults are greatly appreciated!
