The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) Governing Board has approved a new 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. This plan, approved at the latest meeting, serves as a blueprint for the next five years. It will guide the development of programs, policies, and actions it takes to fulfill its mission of improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being of California’s Sierra-Cascade Region.
“The adoption of our new Strategic Plan is an important moment for the Sierra Nevada Conservancy as we chart our course for the next five years,” said Angela Avery, Executive Officer of the SNC. “Climate change, megafires, and Covid have created profound changes in the Sierra-Cascade region since our last Strategic Plan was created in 2019, and this plan reflects the ways that we are adapting, and staying the course, to serve this vital and dynamic region.”
SNC supports four forest-resilience projects
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) Governing Board awarded a little more than $6 million to four different projects to help with the planning and implementation of forest-health efforts. All four projects will promote recovery and resilience to disturbances, such as wildfire, in the Sierra-Cascade.
The projects, in the northern and central Sierra-Cascade will help to improve wildfire and forest resilience in and around vulnerable communities. Three of the four projects were awarded conditionally based on funding availability of the 2024 Budget Act. The projects are located in Nevada, Placer, and Shasta counties.
- Little Deer Creek Landscape Resilience Project (Nevada County)—This $823,500 grant will help to improve forest conditions in the Little Deer Creek watershed about a half-mile outside the town of Nevada City. Project work will take place on roughly 147 acres of land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and 48 acres of nearby private land conserved by the Bear Yuba Land Trust.
- Northwest End Royal Gorge Fuels Reduction (Placer County)—The Truckee Donner Land Trust will utilize $1,280,200 in grant funds to reduce dense forest fuels and improve meadow habitat for the northwest end of Royal Gorge in order to improve water quality to build forest health and resilience to wildfire. The project is about 291 acres, some of which is in the Wildland-Urban Interface of the Serene Lakes neighborhood. The project is part of a landscape–scale effort to protect and improve the forest of the Donner Summit area on both sides of the Sierra Crest. This project was conditionally awarded.
- Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley Fire Protection Project (Placer County)—With the help of a $2,449,498 grant, the National Forest Foundation will implement this project that will strategically reduce fuels within the Wildland-Urban Interface to mitigate wildfire risk for the communities of Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley. Located in eastern Placer County between Truckee and Tahoe City, west of Highway 89, the project will treat at least 764 acres of Forest Service lands near Alpine Meadows. The project is part of a larger 10-year Vegetation Management Plan co-developed by the middle Truckee River Watershed Forest Partnership and is a top–tier priority for forest health and community protection. This project was conditionally awarded.
- Hat Creek Lumber (Shasta County)—An SNC grant of $1,500,000 to the Pit Resource Conservation District will help with the construction of a community-scale sawmill that will process sawlogs from lands managed by the Forest Service, BLM, state lands, and industrial and non-industrial private lands. The new sawmill will have multiple benefits for several disadvantaged communities of northeastern California, not only helping to restore nearby forests, but also providing an estimated 30 jobs when fully operational. This project was conditionally awarded.