Historical Time Line
Continue on our historical journey with Bill Kortum and SCCA
In 1990, California League of Conservation Voters organizer Mark Green had an idea: a county-scale canvass organizing operation to save Sonoma County from urban sprawl and loss of its rural character and rich ecologies. Mark pitched his idea first to County environmental icon former Supervisor Bill Kortum, and then to a gathering of environmental leaders from throughout the county that Kortum convened, including Dick Day, Juliana Doms, and Allan James. This group began to raise seed money for the operation and hired Mark as the organization’s first executive director.
In 1991 Sonoma County Conservation Action was launched, recruiting and training canvass organizers and then reaching out to more than 60,000 households throughout Sonoma County each year. Ever since, SCCA has used door-to-door canvassers to educate individuals about current environmental issues and environmentally progressive politicians in one-on-one conversations. Over 35 years of canvassing, we’ve covered a wide range of environmental issues and helped elect dozens of progressive candidates.
SCCA has had a significant impact on limiting wastewater discharge to the Russian River, preventing the privatization of Petaluma’s sewer plant, securing Urban Growth Boundaries around the county’s cities and vineyard development regulations, winning the Parks for All initiative campaign, and organizing for more than a decade to bring the SMART train to Sonoma and Marin counties.
Arguably, our greatest accomplishments are in the work to create and maintain city council and board of supervisor majorities that have been for the environment. Each election cycle our canvassers, staff and board are interviewing candidates for public office, making endorsements of those that we feel will be strong voices for the local environment, and then actively campaigning to help get these endorsements elected by the local constituency.
At SCCA we have also worked to build coalitions and work for environmental quality that will benefit ALL members of the Sonoma County Community. We collaborate with other environmental organizations including Sierra Club and Greenbelt Alliance. We were founding members of the North Bay Organizing Project and have promoted an understanding that environmental policies must be beneficial to marginalized members of our community and that all members of our community must have an equal voice. Environmental quality is critical to workers and SCCA regularly collaborates with labor leaders to ensure we support policies and regulations that benefit workers. Local clean business and sustainable agriculture is essential to Sonoma County’s residents as well as the economy, so their needs are also a part of our deliberations as we advocate for Sonoma County’s conservation, preservation, and quality of life.