$1.75 Million Awarded to Sustainable Land Initiative

As part of a historic partnership between the University of California and the state of California, the University today announced on August 23rd that it is awarding over $80 million in climate action grants. The grants will spur implementation of solutions that directly address state climate priorities.

The California Climate Action Seed Grants and Matching Grants will fund 38 projects that collectively involve more than 130 community, industry, tribal, and public agencies, as well as 12 University of California (UC) locations, 11 California State University (CSU) campuses and two private universities. Seed grants were awarded to 34 teams totaling $56.2 million. Four teams received matching grants totaling $26.9 million to support larger projects that could leverage additional funding from non-state sources. The $83.l million total is part of $185 million allocated by the state for UC climate initiatives advancing progress toward California’s climate goals.

Cal Poly's ICLR and the Upper Salinas Las Tablas Resource Conservation District were together awarded $1,759,870 for their collaborative program, the Sustainable Land Initiative. The Sustainable Land Initiative (SLI) works in the San Luis Obispo County to:

(a) help local farmers overcome impediments to the adoption of CSA practices aimed at sequestering carbon, reducing water consumption, decreasing fertilizer use/runoff, increasing economic yield, and making farms more resilient to climate change, and
(b) implement precise quantitative monitoring of the effectiveness of these practices. Practices include application of biochar, cover crops, compost and use of no-till drills, keyline plows, and waterjet stingers. Impediments to be overcome include lack of strategy, funds, expertise, equipment, and labor.