Education Associate

Nate Lillge • August 9, 2022

California Newt (Taricha torosa) on Molok Luyuk

Position Title: EDUCATION ASSOCIATE


Founded in 2002, Tuleyome is a regional non-profit organization headquartered in Woodland, CA, with a footprint throughout the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument region. Tuleyome is a Lake Miwok Indian word that means “deep home place”, illustrating our organization’s deep connection to our environment, our communities and our regional lands. Tuleyome’s mission is to provide advocacy and active stewardship to conserve, enhance, restore and enjoy lands in the Northern Inner Coastal Range region. Working with partners we have protected vast expanses of public lands, such as the nearly 340,000 acres of Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, the 31 miles of Cache Creek State Wild and Scenic River and the 160-acre Woodland Regional Park. We are also neighbors, holding title to nearly 3,000 acres, plus an additional 1,200 acres in conservation easements and 640 acres in Williamson Act easements, all of which combine to protect key ecological parcels and enhance access to public lands across the region. Tuleyome’s leadership in the Northern Inner Coastal Range protects, restores, educates and increases access to a growing community that is also inspired to protect, restore and enjoy the region’s natural landscape.


Position Description


 Tuleyome is seeking an energetic and dynamic leader to help design, implement and deliver Tuleyome’s science and education programs. The educational program utilizes a combination of public and school-based excursions, projects and events locally and throughout the Northern Inner Coastal Range of California. The Education Associate works with Tuleyome’s team and local, regional and statewide conservation organizations, local, state and federal agencies, local landowners and businesses, and teachers and schools, to create and enhance educational opportunities for youth and adults locally and throughout the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument region. The Education Associate is an essential part of the Tuleyome team and works under the leadership of the Executive Director. This is an exceptional opportunity for a motivated and creative educator with an excitement for the outdoors to maximize and strengthen Tuleyome and its efforts to defend, protect, expand, and restore the lands in our region. 

The Education Associate will have a love of the environment and outdoor recreation, experience in nature education, knowledge of the local natural environment, as well as an understanding of the importance of public access to public lands. They will also have outstanding leadership and interpersonal skills, the ability to work with people from a range of diverse backgrounds, and to work on dynamic, high-performance teams. The candidate is committed to Tuleyome’s mission, emotionally intelligent and has high integrity.


Position Objectives


  •  Increase knowledge of, and engagement in, our natural environment in diverse and underserved communities.
  • Create and expand outdoor educational opportunities for youth and adults locally and throughout the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument region.
  • Oversee, design and implement engaging nature and science programs, classes and events that meet youth educational standards at Woodland Regional Park.
  • Work collaboratively with partners to ensure and promote a portfolio of educational and outdoor opportunities in the region.
  • Collaborate with Tuleyome team members to implement and expand Tuleyome’s California Naturalist course.


Qualifications of a successful candidate


  • Experience in successfully delivering environmentally focused and related educational content to children and adults.
  • Experienced communicator with excellent interpersonal skills and proven ability to interact with a wide diversity of people.
  • Outstanding organization and project management skills.
  • Experience and skill in using a wide range of social and multimedia tools and channels for outreach to target audiences.
  • A valid driver’s license is required.
  • Ability to travel regionally and work extended hours as needed. Driving, travel, temporary assignments and occasional extended work hours are required.
  • Ability to deliver educational experiences outdoors in a variety of weather and circumstances and to hike on uneven surfaces and terrains for extended distances.
  • Commitment to advancing equity, inclusion, and diversity within the organization and in the environmental movement.
  • Passion, creativity, integrity, positive attitude, and intellectual curiosity.
  • Fluency in Spanish is a plus.


Hours and Salary

This is a 32 to 40 hour per week position.

Salary $36,000 to $58,000 annually at 32 - 40 hours per week, DOE, with benefits.


To Apply



Send a cover letter and resume to information@tuleyome.org. No phone calls, please.


Tuleyome will review resumes as received. The position will remain open until filled.


Tuleyome is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, age, ethnicity, religion, national origin, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, sex, marital status, disability, or status as a U.S. Veteran.


This job description reflects the assignment of essential functions; it does not prescribe or restrict the tasks that may be assigned.


PDF of job description is available HERE.

RECENT ARTICLES

August 7, 2026
Our wildest areas are under threat. In June, the Administration moved to weaken protections for our wildest public lands - those designated as wilderness, Wilderness Study Areas, Lands with Wilderness Characteristics, and recommended Wilderness. What do these areas represent? Millions of acres of untrammeled backcountry. The Department of the Interior, US Forest Service and National Park Service initiated the first step in unraveling these protections. They’ve called for a “review” of eight policies, opening the door to weaken protections and paving the way for short-term extractive industries, commercial development, and resource fragmentation at the expense of long-term conservation management of some of our wildest remaining public lands. Nearly 200 million acres of wildlands across the west could be impacted by this review, including approximately 120 million acres of Wilderness Study Areas and wilderness quality lands, and 75 million acres of designated wilderness areas. This includes the nearly 94,000 acres in Cache Creek, Cedar Roughs and Snow Mountain Wilderness areas in Berryessa Snow Mountain Nation Monument right here in our own region. These policies guide how federal agencies identify, manage, and steward designated Wilderness Areas, Wilderness Study Areas, and lands with wilderness characteristics. Together, they influence the management of millions of acres of federal public lands and translate statutory requirements into day-to-day management decisions. Continuing to protect wilderness qualities is consistent with protecting recreation. In many cases, wilderness-quality land provides the best opportunities for backcountry recreation; a CA outdoor industry responsible for 545,448 direct jobs valued at $38.1 billion. The total value-added worth of CA outdoor recreation is $81.5 billion, 2.2% of our gross domestic product. The Department of the Interior’s actions present a false choice between stewarding wilderness lands and providing opportunities for recreation. Let’s tell the Administration that we oppose these rollbacks and are committed to protecting our wild places. Sign on to the Wi lderness Review- National Sign-on Letter opposing five different actions across the three agencies by August 12th. Together, we can show this administration that we care about protecting these special places today and into the future. Sandra Schubert Executive Director
August 7, 2026
I first heard about Tuleyome when I retired early from UC Davis eight years ago. I was looking for local organizations for volunteer opportunities. I discovered Tuleyome and got connected with Bill Grabert and Nate Lillge. I helped them lead hikes and school programs, then took the CA Naturalist course through Tuleyome. My capstone project was to lead a backpacking trip into the Cache Creek wilderness, which I did just as COVID was descending on us. I was, and still am, impressed at how such a small local non-profit has both ensured preservation of important wild areas and invested heavily in outreach to local schools. Working with kids from Lake County in the Redbud area was eye-opening and extremely gratifying. Some of them had literally never been on a hike in spite of growing up so close to all that spectacular wild land! I donate to Tuleyome to help them keep up the great work!!! I’ve spent countless days hiking in and enjoying the Cache Creek area; what a gem of a local resource! And, only last spring was I able to get up to Snow Mountain…so glad it’s preserved and accessible for camping and hiking. Wow! A wilderness area near my home - that’s amazing. I’m incredibly grateful for Tuleyome’s hard work that resulted in preservation of these important wild places, and I look forward to seeing what’s next.
By Kristie Ehrhardt August 7, 2026
Driving around the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument one rainy day revealed a network of dirt roads that were slick as snnn… well, you probably know. The wet weather made driving less than optimal for the Subaru we were in but for our amphibian friends, the low-riding California newt, the warm, misty conditions were sublime. California Newts ( Taricha torosa ) are endemic to California, which means that they are extra special because they are only found here. They occur below 6,000 feet along the Coast Ranges from Mendocino County south to San Diego County. They are also found in the foothills and western slopes of the Sierra Nevada in the San Joaquin Valley with a few isolated populations in southern San Diego County. They utilize both wetland habitat including natural and artificial pools and ponds, reservoirs, creeks and streams for breeding during winter and spring, and upland areas such as chaparral and woodland habitats where they spend summer and fall. California Newts have stubby little toes attached to short, stocky legs. Adults range from about two and three quarters inches to about three and a half inches long, not including the tail. Their bellies and undersides of their neck and chin are bright golden yellow to orange with a reddish-brown to slate gray back. California Newts reproduce from late fall to early summer depending on rainfall amounts and habitat conditions. Adults migrate from their upland refugia to their preferred wetland to breed. Eggs are attached to submerged vegetation or under rocks and females can lay up to six masses of nearly 50 eggs a day. The eggs hatch in two to six weeks depending on water conditions and temperature. Larvae are aquatic and have gills and fins. After several months the larvae begin to exit the pond and set about metamorphosing into adults and do not return to the pond again until they are ready to breed. Larvae eat small aquatic invertebrates and organic matter; adults eat insects, slugs, snails and worms as well as other amphibian eggs and larvae. Adult California Newts are highly toxic. Like other members of the genus Taricha , adults have glands on their skin that secrete the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin - the same toxin that is found in harlequin frogs and pufferfish. Side note, this makes them poisonous rather than venomous (like rattlesnakes). Tetrodotoxin is hundreds of times more toxic than cyanide and potent enough to kill most vertebrates. The toxin affects sodium channels and makes it so neurons are unable to fire which results in lethal muscle paralysis. One of the only predators of adult California Newts are garter snakes. Garter snakes are one of the very few organisms that have evolved to develop a resistance to the tetrodotoxin produced by the newts. Garter snakes can ingest the toxic newts with limited effects which has created an evolutionary arms race (coevolution). As the garter snakes develop stronger immunity to the toxins only the most poisonous news survive which in turn results in future generations of news with even stronger toxins. This leads to a population of garter snakes that have developed a resistance to the stronger toxin levels and and on it goes. Loads of them were bumbling along the edges of the wet dirt road that rainy day. We made several stops to relocate those that were attempting to cross but seemed to stall out in the middle, always placing them facing the direction they were aimed. I don’t know if they were heading out to their natal ponds to mingle and breed, or on their way back to nap in their upland refugia but they were definitely enjoying the day. The California Newt is currently a California Species of Special Concern due to habitat loss and invasive non-native species introduction which makes seeing so many of these little stumpy legged tetrapods enjoying the Monument even even more groovy!