![\"informal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sarah_Edwards_informal_portrait-731x1024.jpg\")
Sarah Edwards, the Calaveras County counsel, earned her law degree at UC Berkeley. She sees a range of benefits when students from rural communities study at Berkeley and return home. <\/p>\nRicky Satomi did not set out to work in the wild forests of the Western Sierra. He grew up outside of Los Angeles in what was once citrus country, and after arriving at UC Berkeley, he settled on studies in forestry. Today, a routine morning might find him on a hillside evaluating forest health, or working with community leaders on wildfire prevention.<\/p>\n
At an urban campus such as Berkeley, Satomi\u2019s career path is not typical. Graduates usually end up in cities, where there are greater concentrations of power, wealth and opportunity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And yet, he\u2019s deeply engaged with communities in four rural counties that extend from California\u2019s Central Valley east to the high mountains, and he believes the work will shape the well-being of those communities far into the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt Berkeley, we are often trained to tackle the big picture issues, to do big things in high places,\u201d Satomi says. \u201cAt the same time, you can have so much more impact at the local scale. \u2026 Rather than trying to fix the entire state\u2019s wildfire problem in one swing, you can build momentum by focusing on one community at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Edwards, the Calaveras County counsel, earned her law degree at UC Berkeley. She sees a range of benefits when students from rural communities study at Berkeley and return home. <\/p>\n
Photo courtesy of Sarah Edwards<\/p>\n
Sarah Edwards tells a similar story. She grew up in the mountains of Calaveras County, and came down to Berkeley for a bachelor\u2019s degree and a law degree. Today, a lot of her old friends and classmates are in the Bay Area, Sacramento or Washington, D.C. But she returned home and now serves as Calaveras County counsel, a critical role for the county and its 45,000 residents.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear often about people leaving areas like this, going out and getting an education and never coming back,\u201d she says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say that people should never leave. But I think it\u2019s good when people leave, gain these experiences and then come back. They bring their experience to these communities, and there\u2019s an interplay. And then maybe all of us can realize that the divide between cities and rural areas isn\u2019t as big as we sometimes think it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edwards got her degree from Berkeley Law in 2009; Satomi received his master\u2019s degree in forestry in 2016. They\u2019re emblematic of a little-known alumni cohort: They move to the Central Valley to work in agriculture, or to the mountains to work in forestry; they help run small towns or provide health care in rural areas. And in time, they emerge as leaders who contribute to the strength of their communities, while creating a bridge that links campus, city and countryside.<\/p>\n
One powerful example: Brent Holtz<\/a> received his master\u2019s degree in plant pathology in 1989, and his Ph.D. in 1993. As a UC farm adviser for 32 years and director of the UC Cooperative Extension office in San Joaquin County for 15 years, he has helped revolutionize almond growing in the Central Valley.<\/p>\n Another example: Rey Le\u00f3n\u2019s work as a social activist in the Central Valley began even before he graduated from Berkeley in 1997. Today, he\u2019s the mayor of Huron, a tiny city an hour\u2019s drive south of Fresno, working to bring economic, health and educational development to one of the poorest cities in the state.<\/p>\n \u201cBerkeley was like a cocoon for me,\u201d says Le\u00f3n. \u201cIt was instrumental in my development as a thinker, as a leader, as a human being \u2014 and as a doer, a fixer and a maker.\u201d<\/p>\n Each of the four works in a different field and a different region, but their experiences have striking parallels: Berkeley built their knowledge and shaped their values. In their new communities and jobs, they sometimes have had to navigate mistrust that arises from Berkeley\u2019s reputation as a liberal bastion. But they worked hard, built relationships and in time earned positions of leadership \u2014 they evolved, but held on to their ideals.<\/p>\n \u2018Where do you think your food comes from?\u2019<\/p>\n Despite their accomplishments, each also says that their work is not often recognized by the campus community. But that reflects a statewide phenomenon, says James Gallagher<\/a>, the top Republican in the California Assembly.<\/p>\n Courtesy of Assembly Member James Gallagher<\/p>\n Gallagher was raised in Sutter County, graduated from Berkeley in 2003 with a degree in political science, and now farms rice and walnuts north of Sacramento. In a political culture dominated by city-centric politicians and policymakers, he says, California\u2019s rural residents are \u201cvery much overlooked.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI do meet other Cal graduates,\u201d he said in a recent interview, \u201cand there\u2019s always a great sense of camaraderie. We say, \u2018Go Bears,\u2019 and we reminisce on the time we spent there.<\/p>\n \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t say there\u2019s a lot of them in rural California \u2026. Berkeley just doesn\u2019t touch us a lot. We don\u2019t hear, \u2018Hey, here\u2019s what we\u2019re doing to better your lives,\u2019 or \u2018Here are some new things that we think could be helpful to your community.\u2019 Berkeley just doesn\u2019t focus much on rural parts of the state.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy of the UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education<\/p>\n Historically, UC Berkeley was a major presence in the state\u2019s agriculture, forestry and mining regions, said Karen Merritt<\/a>, an affiliate of Berkeley\u2019s Center for Studies in Higher Education. The university farm was founded in Davis in 1908, and Berkeley scholars for decades led its ambitious education and research.<\/p>\n But the mining school closed after World War II and Davis became a fully separate UC campus in 1959. Merritt said Berkeley\u2019s connection with rural California did a slow fade.<\/p>\n Merritt served for two decades as director of academic planning and program review in the office of the UC president. In the early 2000s she helped guide efforts to establish a UC campus in the Central Valley at Merced, and during that project, she sometimes noticed a condescension toward rural California.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a coastal attitude that people in the Valley were sort of unsophisticated country cousins, barefoot, chewing on a piece of straw,\u201d she explained.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n She recalled walking across campus with her husband, the late film professor Russell Merritt, and meeting a colleague who complained that the money for Merced would be better spent at Berkeley.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018There\u2019s a problem with students going to UC in the Valley \u2014 send them to Berkeley,\u2019\u201d the colleague told them. \u201cThey don\u2019t need to be in the Valley anymore.\u2019 Well, that was a silly thing to say. And Russell gave the obvious answer: \u2018Where do you think your food comes from?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n To be sure, some Berkeley programs have ongoing commitment to rural California. Gallagher acknowledged the importance of the forestry program<\/a> in addressing wildfire risk and recovery. The Berkeley Food Institute<\/a> has a focus on rural food systems. The Rural Health Innovation Program<\/a>, founded in 2023, is quietly winning national attention.<\/p>\n Berkeley grads who choose careers in California\u2019s rural areas and small towns find that the journey sometimes has challenges, but also deep rewards.<\/p>\n Leading an almond revolution<\/p>\n For some, the move to rural California is a natural evolution \u2014 they\u2019re simply going home.<\/p>\n Holtz grew up in the San Joaquin Valley, moving back and forth between his parents\u2019 home in Escalon and his grandfather\u2019s farm just outside of Modesto. His grandfather worked at a\u00a0 local nursery, and plant diseases were a constant concern. So Holtz was attracted to farming at an early age.<\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to study plant pathology so that I could help cure nursery and tree fruit diseases, helping local agriculture in some manner,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI wanted to make an impact in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n Courtesy of Brent Holtz<\/p>\n When his grandfather could no longer run the farm, Holtz\u2019s father stepped in. Over the years, he watched his father feed fallen limbs and tree prunings into a chipper, and then saw how the chips would compost and turn into rich black soil around the trees.<\/p>\n Holtz went to Berkeley for his master\u2019s and Ph.D. in plant pathology. His dream for the future? To work as a farm adviser for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR).<\/p>\n In 2003, a new California law banned farmers from burning their old trees in the southern San Joaquin Valley where the air was polluted. The law aimed to control smoke and pollution, but because it challenged longstanding agricultural practices, many farmers were furious. But Holtz remembered his father\u2019s approach, and initiated a research study that showed how enriching orchard soil with wood chips from old trees could help the next generation of trees produce more fruit, with less water and little risk of transferring plant diseases.<\/p>\n He called the approach \u201cWhole Orchard Recycling,\u201d and as a farm adviser, he had a solid platform for promoting this practice. Despite resistance, he persisted \u2014 and gradually, over a span of years, his ideas won wide approval.<\/p>\n Today, Holtz holds leadership positions in a variety of San Joaquin Valley organizations: the Agricultural Advisory Board, the Farm Bureau Federation board and the California Clean Biomass Collaborative.<\/p>\n In 2024, the Almond Board of California honored him<\/a> with its Almond Technical Achievement Award, saying that his pioneering work \u201crevolutionized how almond growers approach orchard sustainability.\u201d In the same year, UC ANR awarded Holtz <\/a>its distinguished service award in outstanding research.<\/p>\n Holtz credits his Berkeley years with a major role in his innovation. \u201cThe classes at Berkeley just got my mind thinking in terms of sustainable practices,\u201d he recalled. \u201cRecycling a whole orchard back into the ground is about as sustainable as you can get.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018I never wanted to be a politician\u2019<\/p>\n Le\u00f3n spent most of his childhood in Huron, a flat, fertile, sunbaked hub of lettuce farming an hour\u2019s drive south of Fresno. As a youth, he was quiet, a self-described nerd. Which is hard to believe, because today, as the mayor of Huron, he is vocal and high-energy, identifying problems and proposing solutions that are by turns idealistic, practical and visionary.<\/p>\n His parents arrived from Mexico in the 1950s. His father had a fourth-grade education and his mother left school after third grade. He is, at his core, a son of Huron. He seems to know almost everyone \u2014 teachers, farm workers, politicians. He sees how limited educational resources, public transportation and health care lock people into poverty.<\/p>\n For Le\u00f3n, Berkeley in the 1990s was a turning point. He arrived intending to become an environmental scientist, but the climate of ideas and political commitment woke something in him. He joined the 1993 Third World Strike, a student movement demanding that ethnic studies at Berkeley be preserved and improved. He changed his major to Chicano Studies.<\/p>\n Even before graduation, he was bringing his organizing energy back to Huron. In 1994, he ran a survey of families for a local health clinic, and the same year organized a health fair. After that fair, a clinic doctor pulled him aside with some unsettling news.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Huron Mayor Rey Le\u00f3n <\/p>\n \u201cHe told me, \u2018Hey, if you would not have done this, at least one person would have died,\u2019\u201d Le\u00f3n said. \u201c\u2018One woman, her blood pressure was so high she would not have woken up tomorrow morning.\u2019 This just blew my mind \u2014 so I organized the fair for the next three summers, for free.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Assembly_member_James_Gallager_farming-1024x585.jpg\")
UC Berkeley graduate James Gallagher has risen from Sutter County politics to become the highest-ranking Republican in the California Assembly. Rural Californians are routinely overlooked in state affairs, he said, and he suggested that Berkeley could do more to provide support outside of urban areas.<\/p>\n![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Karen_Merritt_CSHE_810x630-797x1024.jpg\")
Karen Merritt, an affiliate of UC Berkeley\u2019s Center for Studies in Higher Education, said the campus a century ago had a robust presence in rural California. But, she said, that engagement has faded in recent decades.<\/p>\n![\"an](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/University_Farm_Creamery_and_Horticulture_buildings-1024x632.jpg\")
The Creamery and Horticulture buildings at the University of California farm in Davis, Calif., in the early 1900s.<\/p>\n![\"Brent](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Brent_Holtz_open_field_chips-1024x585.jpg\")
Berkeley graduate Brent Holtz developed an innovative strategy for almond growing: Instead of burning old trees, put them in a chipper and use them to enrich the orchard soil. The idea has revolutionized almond growing in the Central Valley. <\/p>\n![\"Twelve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Rey_Leon_bridge_2019-Large-1024x585.jpg\")
Huron Mayor Rey Le\u00f3n (right) and California Assembly member Dr. Joaquin Arambula (left) flank a group of staff and family members celebrating the completion of a major bridge on the Huron\u2019s main road. A flood on the road left six people dead in 1995, and Le\u00f3n worked for nearly two decades to win funding and then helped steer the project to completion in 2019.<\/p>\n
![\"Ricky](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ricky_Satomi_by_tree_7x4-1024x585.jpg\")
Ricky Satomi said UC Berkeley graduates are a robust presence in California\u2019s forestry community, both as forest managers and in the timber industry. <\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sarah_Edwards_on_dais_2026-1024x585.jpg\")
Sarah Edwards, the Calaveras County counsel (at left), works regularly with the county\u2019s Board of Supervisors. She said that leaving home to attend UC Berkeley and years of experience in the Bay Area expanded her horizons and helped her to be a better lawyer when she returned home to work.<\/p>\n