About three hours' drive north of San Francisco, the four small school districts of the North Coast Rural Challenge Network are geographically isolated and diverse in population: long time residents and newcomers, loggers, winegrowers and bed and breakfast owners, Anglos, Hispanics and indigenous tribes, high-tech wizards and back-to-the landers, the wealthy and the poor.
The bioregion contains several ecosystems:- The Pacific shore, where uplifted land has produced dramatic coastal cliffs
- River valleys that are prone to flooding in the region's heavy rains
- Coast redwood and fir forests on mountain slopes
- Oak woodlands in inland coastal valleys
