Renée Rhodes
WATER Institute Associate Director of Development & Communications
Renée Rhodes (she/her) is the Associate Director of Development and Communications with the WATER Institute. She is a communications professional, multimedia storyteller, and nonprofit program manager with extensive experience working in environmental and cultural nonprofits. Her commitment to watershed-scale restoration and storytelling is informed by years of hands-on ecological education and land stewardship throughout the dehydrated West.
She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in multimedia arts and certificates in Professional Writing, Ecosystem Restoration Design, and Compost and Garden Education. Additionally, she has completed hands-on training programs in regenerative farming, meadow and prairie restoration, and community-powered good fire and forestry work.
In her previous roles, she acted as Commissioning and Outreach Editor with Greenhorns for The New Farmer’s Almanac, Vol. VI, coordinated communications for Yosemite Rivers Alliance and Creativity Explored, and led program management with arts and education organizations such as Root Division and San Francisco Art Institute.
On Staff Since: 2025 Email Phone: x140
In Their Own Words
My work at OAEC:
I create responsive writing, visuals, and development materials to build capacity for the WATER Institute’s visionary, watershed-scaled projects and campaigns. My work includes creating timely communications such as quarterly newsletters, blog articles, and grant reports; stewarding editorial processes for print publications; and developing strategies that inspire engagement in new WATER Institute campaigns and projects.
My work connects community members, collaborators, and funding partners to the WATER Institute’s innovative advocacy, training, and research projects.
My passions:
My passion is telling stories and building capacity for socially just ecological resilience. Working at the WATER Institute is a wonderful manifestation of those passions in my professional life.
In my personal life, you might find me creating multimedia projects about ecological histories of the Bay Area, writing essays about native grasslands, participating in fire stewardship in Sonoma County, or tending to a small oak understory meadow with friends in my urban San Francisco neighborhood.
Why my work matters:
Having spent the past 16 years in California, I have seen how watershed degradation adversely affects the health and functioning of whole ecosystems. The WATER Institute team works collaboratively to establish a thriving culture of beaver restoration and coexistence, process-based restoration, and holistic watershed recovery at the nexus of fire and water. My part in that, is in building capacity for these initiatives by creating strategic communications content and stewarding program support.
My favorite resiliency resource:
My favorite resiliency resource is putting my hands in the soil whenever I can. I collaboratively steward three land projects in the broader San Francisco Bay Area: an oak understory meadow, a coastal prairie, and a neighborhood community food garden. My weekly care-taking of these places is a restorative practice for me, just as I hope it is for the land and all the species that call these unique habitats home.
