Riverside nonprofit envisions city as future oasis
Since 1997, Citizens United for Resources and the Environment has worked to empower local communities to shape government decisions affecting natural resources and land use. By promoting planning that balances economic stability with sustainable growth, CURE strives for food security, community health and species preservation.
During the pandemic, CURE has focused its work close to its headquarters in Riverside. The organization hopes to spearhead projects that will demonstrate how climate change can be addressed through land use and planning.
On Oct. 7, Gov. Gavin Newsom advanced an executive order outlining a goal to conserve 30% of the state’s land and coastal water by 2030 to fight species loss and ecosystem destruction. CURE wants to help Riverside be one of the first cities to embrace the concept.
“We still have a sufficient amount of water and a desperate need for trees,” CURE Executive Director Malissa McKeith said. “Our first defense to climate change is the planting and defense of trees.”
CURE also has sponsored legal research to support litigation that will enforce parts of the government earmarking water for tree planting in an effort to reduce air pollution and heat. According to CURE, research links air pollution and respiratory disease to increased susceptibility to COVID-19 and planting trees can offset pollution, improve quality of life and protect public health.
Recently, CURE commissioned the design for its Victoria Urban Forest on a 10-acre parcel adjacent to Poly High School. CURE hopes to lease the parcel, owned by Riverside Unified School District, and transform it into an urban forest with 2,000 oak and pine trees planted on 7 acres of the parcel.
Work on the forest will include experimenting with irrigation techniques, measuring carbon capture, soil replenishment and exploring innovative ideas to address climate change.
Working with the school district and Riverside Food Systems Alliance, CURE hopes to create an innovative after-school program that will introduce students to skills useful for jobs in climate-related fields including arboriculture, water management and agriculture.
“I think it’s an exciting time to be doing projects like this,” McKeith said. “If we can educate our youth in these careers, we could see normative change.”
CURE is primarily a volunteer-run organization and depends on contributions of time and funding to pursue its mission. Recently, the organization received a grant from the Riverside County Nonprofit Assistance Fund through Inland Empire Community
Foundation. The organization is poised to expand, is focused on capacity-building and will require more community support as it grows.
McKeith believes that conserving land has benefits beyond available open space and environmental protection. The organization also is committed to retaining Riverside’s 5,000-acre Greenbelt, which was zoned in the 1970s for agriculture. Urban agriculture can be used for job training, providing jobs to those in need, and addressing local food scarcity. Preserving and using this open space also can create a buffer between home and wildlands, adding a layer of protection from floods and fires, McKeith said.
CURE currently is forwarding a proposal for leasing the property that would be home to the Victoria Urban Forest.
For McKeith, that is one of the steps in ensuring that the city of Riverside will be a coveted place to live when California is facing climate change and higher temperatures.
“When people ask what I do, I say social engineering,” McKeith said. “When 25 years from now other places are barren and we are green, it’s going to make the city more desirable.”
For more information, go to curegroup.org or call 213-300-3550.