2020 in the Rearview Mirror
I know I am not the only one glad to leave 2020 in the dust. At Sierra Business Council we talk a lot about turning challenges into opportunities, about implementing actionable steps that don’t just temporarily solve one-off problems but offer alternative ways of doing business, interacting with the environment, and existing in the Sierra to eradicate what causes those problems in the first place. As an organization, we’re proactive rather than reactive, and our goal is to build a region that is as well.
No one saw 2020 coming, though. Over the course of the last year, everyone has been asked to react to the unexpected, the unimaginable.
Wildfire Strategy
Wildfire risk is increasing in size, intensity, frequency, and duration across a broader range of communities and landscapes. Wind-driven fires as a result of Diablo wind patterns (rather than fuel-dominated wildland ground and crown fires) are also increasingly common, leading to structure fires in urban communities that originate in the wildland urban interface (WUI) or wildlands.
Healthier Forests, a Stronger Workforce, and Reduced Wildfire Risk: A Win-Win-Win.
The scale required to meet California’s wildfire crisis is massive. Millions of acres are in need of forest restoration, millions of homes are in need of retrofitting, millions of Californians are threatened by unprecedented wildfire risks.
And yet, the state does not have the workforce capacity to meet that scale, not even close.
The Sierra’s National Forests: Critical to the State yet Critically Underfunded
Did you know that approximately 20% of California’s land — a total of 31,250 square miles— is managed by the U.S. Forest Service? For the Sierra Nevada region served by SBC, the share of Forest Service land reaches nearly 90% in places such as Alpine County.
You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone: Honoring Nevada City’s Independence Trail
This old saying perfectly describes my realization of how special the Independence Trail was for our community. Lighting struck repeatedly throughout the night on August 17th, igniting dry fuel in our foothills refuge of Nevada City and across the state of California.
A Seamless Fit
When I decided to attend graduate school to study natural resource policy, I didn’t exactly foresee graduating in the midst of a global pandemic. Instead, I imagined harnessing my freshly-gained knowledge to dive straight into a new career where I would build and advocate for resilient ecosystems and communities in the Mountain West.
Forest Health, Wildfire Mitigation, and Rural Jobs: A Look at SBC’s New Biomass Report
Forest Health, Wildfire Mitigation, and Rural Jobs: A Look at SBC’s New Biomass Report Biomass in the Sierra Nevada: A Case for Healthy Forests and Rural Economies is the result of years of SBC work, from technical research to on-the-ground projects and interviews, to helping revitalize a local Sierra facility now used as a beacon […]
Biomass in the Sierra Nevada: A Case for Healthy Forests and Rural Economies
The State of the Sierra 2007 report represents the third edition of the Sierra Business Council’s indicator project to identify trends affecting the social, natural, and financial capital of the Sierra Nevada.
Here’s How Californians Can Help Reduce Wildfire Risk and Improve Watershed Health
The Public Policy Institute of California came out last week (July 25, 2018) with poll results showing that Californians are more concerned about the environment today than they have been at any time in the past 12 years.
Giant Sequoia National Monument Support Campaign
Giant Sequoia National Monument Campaign