The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), a California state agency focused on supporting and improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being of the Sierra-Cascade, will host its quarterly board meeting beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday, June 6, in the eastern Sierra Nevada town of Bishop. The day before, June 5, the SNC will host a field tour of recreation and forest resilience projects in the area.
Meeting participation, tour attendance, and public comments welcome
Members of the public are invited to attend the field tour and participate in the meeting in Bishop. A live audio stream of the meeting will also be available, although remote participation will not be possible. The public is encouraged to review project information and submit any comments by May 26, 2024. View detailed tour and meeting information, including information on individual grants and how to submit a public comment.
Board may approve four wildfire recovery and forest resilience grants
Up for consideration are four different grants totaling $6,053,198 million to wildfire recovery and forest resilience projects throughout the Sierra-Cascade. Three of the four projects are being recommended for conditional approval based upon funding availability as of the 2024 Budget Act. If all four grants are awarded, projects will be planned and implemented in Nevada, Placer, and Shasta counties.
North and north-central Sierra-Cascade projects
- 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 is being recommended for conditional approval.
- 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 is being recommended for conditional approval.
- 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 is being recommended for conditional approval.
View more detailed project information on the SNC’s Board Meetings page.
SNC Board may approve new 2024–2029 Strategic Plan
At the meeting, the SNC Board will be presented with the SNC’s Draft-Final 2024–2029 Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan is a guide for the SNC when developing programs, policies, and actions that support its statutory mission of “improving the environmental, economic, and social well-being of California’s Sierra-Cascade Region.” If approved by the Board, the Strategic Plan will outline the main goals and objectives for the next five years for the SNC.