On September 24, during the brunch session of the RCRC Annual Meeting, RCRC honored Yana Valachovic, Forest Advisor and County Director of Humboldt and Del Norte Counties for UC ANR, with the 2026 RCRC President’s Award for her exceptional service to rural California. The annual award recognizes individuals who exceed their professional duties to support and strengthen the state’s rural communities.
Valachovic was recognized for her partnership in sustaining and restoring California’s forests, stewarding our natural resources, retrofitting our homes for fire resistance, and safeguarding our communities from the impacts of catastrophic wildfire. Her expertise in wildfire mitigation, restoration, and climate-resilient community building has been invaluable. RCRC also expressed immense gratitude for her technical assistance and policy advice on Zone 0, Assembly Bill 2494 (Rogers), Golden State Natural Resources, and numerous other wildfire and forest resilience initiatives.
A registered professional forester and forest scientist, Valachovic’s work spans a wide range of natural resource disciplines. In addition to her role with UC ANR and as a county department head, she serves as co-lead of the Northern California region of the California Fire Science Consortium and serves many roles with the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force.
See the full press release HERE.