Meet Our Community: Eric Lynch

Paige Combs - KCCB
1 day ago
3 min read

As part of our seasonal spotlight series, we’re celebrating our incredible employees, partners, and volunteers who help make the work of Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) possible. In our Earth Day Blog, we talk about the ‘Ripple Effect’ and how all it takes is one person to inspire many to make a change in their community. Today we’re excited to introduce Eric, our partner and friend at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory and Bay Restoration. Eric has a passion for the outdoors, hiking, backpacking, and discovered his love for habitat restoration.

Role: Partner, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory; Bay Restoration

With KCCB: For 7 years!

Fun Facts 🌟

Happy place: Mojave National Preserve 🏞️
Unusual creek sightings: Muskrat 🌊
Favorite hobbies: Hiker / Backpacker 🥾
Favorite food to eat: Likes cooking a lot! 😋
Favorite color: Chartreuse Green 🌈

When asked about his favorite hobby, Eric said, “I am horribly addicted to hiking and backpacking. Whenever I have free time, I go. I’m pretty obsessed with the canyon country of southern Utah and have been doing a little bit of the Grand Canyon too.”

How it All Started 🌱

Eric is one of KCCB’s nonprofit partners working with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. They have been working together for 7-8 years around Alviso in northern San Jose. What drew Eric to KCCB initially was the connections in the community, most especially their enthusiastic volunteers.

Eric wasn’t always working in the outdoor industry, though. He started an office job after he received his undergraduate degree in English. He worked with Facebook as an application developer, and quickly realized that this wouldn’t make him happy.

Eric said, “I had a boring office job for 4 years, and it dawned on me that I should be working outside because I like spending more of my time there. I have been pretty committed since I made that choice, and it keeps me coming back and motivated.”

He was especially motivated by the changes he had seen over time.

He described, “Even though I’m pretty early in my career, I see some really positive effects from the work that was done here. It was super motivating meeting people outside enjoying the places that we’re working in.”

Impact on the Community 🌎

Eric reflected on some of his favorite memories in the community, one being Efren. He said, “I don’t know how many events you’ve gone to, but if you’ve been to a few you have probably met Efren. At every volunteer event he’ll disappear into the weeds for a minute and just come up with a big arm full of weeds…he’s a really impressive guy.”

Being outdoors with different folks allows for curious minds to make connections and ask questions. Eric reflected on how it was great seeing people show interest in the community about the impact they were having. He also noted that one of their major organizational goals is to be able to enjoy the creeks and outdoor spaces in the city just as much as the backcountry or woods.

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

Having a future where creeks in the cities are just as enjoyable as creeks in state or national parks would be a dream for folks involved in cleaning the creeks and restoring native plants.

Eric said, “I would really love to see the creeks continue to get cleaner and healthier. I live not far from Coyote Creek… coming back from a backpacking trip, it’s always sad to come home and see a stream that doesn't look safe or is full of trash.”

Eric loves seeing wildlife, and since he’s been working with KCCB and other urban waterways, he said, “you begin to appreciate how teeming with life they are despite all the challenges they face… the brutal side of it is I see on the bay how it flushes all the garbage and residues into the storm drains and creeks…so that’s really tough to see.”

Maybe one day, we might see the same beautiful waterways and streams in cities that we might see in less traveled spaces. One can only dream.

Final Thoughts ✨

It doesn’t take much to have an impact in your community. All it takes is some commitment, curiosity, and grit to get yourself out there and involved.

Eric said, “We definitely need rainforests, glaciers, all of it... but there is a lot of value in acting locally or going to your local conservation and conserving your local natural resources.”

Eric inspires us to see the possibility that with some care, we can see wildlife in our local nature and outdoor spaces in cities, as long as we restore and protect the habitats they live in.