SNC hosts board meeting and tour in Siskiyou County

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy, 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 Sept. 5 starting at 9 a.m. in the town of Mount Shasta in Siskiyou County. The day before, Sept. 4, the SNC will host a field tour to explore issues and activities related to forest resilience, recreation, and conservation in the area.

Meeting and tour participation and public comment welcome
Members of the public are invited to attend the field tour and participate in the meeting in Mount Shasta. 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 Aug. 30.

SNC to consider cultural burn grant to Nevada City Nisenan Tribe
The SNC Board may award $250,000 to the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project, Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan Tribe for cultural burning and demonstration of traditional ecological knowledge forest management practices near Nevada City.

Located along Deer Creek, this potential SNC-funded project will remove hazardous fuels within the wildland urban interface, greatly reducing the risk of damaging wildfire on tribal land located on the western edge of Nevada City. More importantly, this project will provide the opportunity for hands-on-learning and traditional ecological knowledge transfer to fellow Nisenan tribal members through the design and completion of cultural burn treatments and restoration of culturally important species.

The project is being recommended for funding from the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. Led by the California Department of Conservation, the RFFCP is designed to support leadership to build the necessary capacity to ensure projects focused on protecting communities and landscapes from wildfire are implemented and completed.

The SNC is responsible for allocating RFFCP funds to capacity-building activities across the Sierra-Cascade.

Board hosts tour in expanded service area
In late 2021, SNC’s service area expanded to include parts of Siskiyou and Trinity and Shasta counties. The expansion added just over 1.3 million acres and increased SNC’s total service to nearly 27 million acres across 24 counties.

This expanded service area, which includes critical natural resources and habitat in the McCloud River, Upper Sacramento River and Upper Trinity River watersheds, will be the focus of SNC’s Sept. 4 field tour, as staff highlight key issues affecting this vital part of California. The tour will start at 1 p.m. in the Shasta Inn parking lot and visit nearby Castle Lake and the Gateway Trailhead, two sites associated with SNC-funded projects.

Click here for more information or to RSVP.