(L-R) The fire science education team from the Hopland Research and Extension Center and the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council, Maria Esser, Emily Lord and Evelyn George, wrap up for the day at Fort Bragg Middle School in Fort Bragg, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, after collecting students’ worksheets and planning next steps for the March field trip to the Jug Handle Historic Farmhouse and Nature Center. (Mary Rose Kaczorowski via Bay City News)

MENDOCINO CO., 2/18/26 — GrizzlyCorps, an AmeriCorps fellowship program administered by the University of California, Berkeley that serves rural California communities, is back in action after being abruptly terminated last April, cutting three months off the service term of the 2024-2025 cohort of fellows.

And although the new cohort is now on the ground, impacts of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, cuts are still tangible: fewer positions, strained nonprofit partners, and uncertainty about the future of programs that have long supported wildfire prevention, youth mentoring and food security.

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Mary Rose Kaczorowski is a freelance reporter and occasional correspondent for The Mendocino Voice. She originated from the East Coast, and has worked in the nonprofit sector and public policy space from...