ForestFest 2021 is on! Click for more information!

PROMOTING HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE ECOSYSTEMS

ENRICHING and EMPOWERING RURAL COMMUNITIES

DEVELOPING YOUNG STEWARDS

LEADING RESEARCH and IDEAS FOR LOCAL SOLUTIONS

LEARN MORE _

Screen Shot 2020-03-19 at 11.53.23 PM

Paying For Forest Health: Improving the Economics of Forest Restoration and Biomass Power in California

READ THE REPORT

Screen Shot 2019-03-26 at 3.13.36 PM

Learn more about the process and findings of our Watershed Program Study

READ THE STORY MAP

Screen Shot 2020-01-14 at 3.55.43 PM

Fire, Forests & the Future of Rural Communities

READ THE STORY MAP

OUR MISSION

Promoting healthy and sustainable forests and watersheds by investing in the well being of rural communities and strengthening their participation in natural resource decision making and programs.

FEATURED PROGRAMS

View All

Maidu Forest Parcel Forest Resiliency Project

Learn More
Sierra to California All-Lands Enhancement (SCALE)

Collaborative groups working on landscape-scale forest restoration and community improvement across California

Learn More
WEST SHORE COMMUNITY WILDFIRE PROTECTION PROJECT

Learn More
Community Build

Sierra Institute will help communities manage local forests and create forest-related businesses throughout the Sierra.

Learn More
Indian Valley Wood Products Campus

Addressing both poor forest health and socioeconomic conditions through wood products business development.

Learn More
Socioeconomic Monitoring

Learn More

sierra.institute

Field Season is officially here! If you are still

Field Season is officially here! If you are still looking for an opportunity to work outside, explore the beautiful landscapes in Lassen National Forest, exercise your leadership skills, and receive invaluable on-the-job training in forestry management, then look no further! We are looking for a qualified crew leader to head our Collaborative Forestry Field Crew working in Lassen National Forest! The crew is implementing timber marking which will direct restoration thinning around rural communities and meadow complexes in the headwaters of the North Fork Feather River. The season is currently underway and goes through October. Find out more on our website at www.sierrainstitute.us/jobs
.
.
.
.
#forestry #fieldcrew #restoration #forests #timber #forestmanagment #optoutside #outdoorindustry #sierranevada #lassen #environment #environmentalscience #outdoorjobs #crewleader

Happy Frog Friday! Sierra Institute is thrilled to

Happy Frog Friday! Sierra Institute is thrilled to be one of many local entities working to restore populations of the federally endangered Sierra Nevada Yellow Legged Frogs (SNYLF). Specifically, Sierra Institute has partnered with the Plumas National Forest to monitor a SNYLF population in the Bean Creek Headwaters. This population in this part of the watershed was rehabilitated through a captive breeding program conducted by the San Francisco Zoo and The Plumas National Forest.

Before this captive breeding program the population in this area had fallen to 2 males and 3 females. The population was brought up to just about 100 individual frogs and then released back into Bean Creek where they are now being monitored.

Monitoring efforts help track how SNYLFs move in the watershed, population changes, tadpole and egg mass counts, and any evidence of chytrid (a fungal infection that can cause death in amphibian populations).

.
.
.
#sierranevada #watershed #frogs #endemicspecies #monitoring #wildlife

“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers

“The sun shines not on us but in us. The rivers flow not past, but through us. Thrilling, tingling, vibrating every fiber and cell of the substance of our bodies, making them glide and sing. The trees wave and the flowers bloom in our bodies as well as our souls, and every bird song, wind song, and tremendous storm song of the rocks in the heart of the mountains is our song, our very own and sings our love.”

Excerpt from "Mountain Thoughts", written by Muir during the 1870s, and collected by Linnie Marsh Wolfe, and published in John of the Mountains (1938).

.
.
.
.
#nature #forest #rivers #birds #johnmuir #restoration #sustainability #freshair #publiclands #birds #mountains

Getting our new Optical Level calibrated! Kevin Pr

Getting our new Optical Level calibrated! Kevin Price, our GrizzlyCorps Rural Climate Fellow, helped Virginia Pritchard, a Project Specialist here at Sierra Institute, get the optical level ready for action. By leveling the scope and shooting heights over distances you can determine the slope of a terrain. This level will be used to determine road, culvert, stream and fill slopes. These measurements will help estimate sediment delivery to streams, crossing fill volume, aquatic organism passage, and natural stream grade to aid in crossing upgrades and implementation.

What in the world is the “WUI” and why does it

What in the world is the “WUI” and why does it matter?

The WUI, Wildland Urban Interface, is a line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels such as forests. The threat of high-intensity wildfire is of great concern in WUIs due to the nature of proximity between community structures and ample vegetative fuels in forested landscapes, which can easily feed and fuel a catastrophic wildfire.

Last summer, @pcrew.youth.corps crew members worked on a critical WUI fuels reduction project in Butterfly Valley. Butterfly Valley is a 500-acre forested area, comprised of public forest managed by the Plumas National Forest and 47 privately owned parcels inhabited by Plumas County locals. In addition to its human inhabitants, Butterfly Valley is also home to the Butterfly Botanical Area where you can find the California Pitcher Plant (Darlingtonia californica).

Funding from the National Forest Foundation’s Matching Awards Program, “NFF MAP”, (@nationalforests) enabled P-CREW to advance fuels reduction efforts in Butterfly Valley by building 34 burn piles, supplementing 451 burn piles, clearing ~130,000 square feet of material, and establishing 20-foot buffers along ~5,230 feet of road and property boundaries.

These efforts help protect the community members, their homes, and the unique flora and fauna within the beautiful Wildland Urban Interface of Butterfly Valley!

Interested in wilderness management, trail work, a

Interested in wilderness management, trail work, and active management of ecosystem services!?

Love Working Outside? 

Passionate about natural resource stewardship and exploring the great outdoors?  

Come work with us as a crew member on the Wilderness Trail Crew in Lassen National Forest! 

Work will include benching of trails, maintenance of water bars, brush clearing, and clearing of downed logs and hazard trees. Work will primarily be completed using hand tools and non-mechanized equipment such as crosscut saws!

The season runs June-October. Apply by sending a resume, cover letter, and the contacts for 3 references to jobs@sierrainstitute.us.

#wilderness #trailwork #wildernessmanagement #resourcemanagement #resourcestewardship #ecosystemservices #trails #naturalresources #trailwork #crews #foresthealth #crosscutsaw #lassennationalforest

If you love being outside, enjoy hiking and workin

If you love being outside, enjoy hiking and working in beautiful places, and want to protect the vitality and resiliency of native plant species in the southern Cascades and northern Sierra, then this is the perfect job for you!

This is a unique opportunity to apprentice with an established invasive plant management and restoration program at Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California.

Get paid to learn the plants of the southern Cascades and northern Sierra Nevada, as well as brush up on plant identification skills using dichotomous keys. There will
be opportunities to join other resource management crews and gain experience in numerous other tasks as well. This position will also provide an incredible opportunity for the incumbent to gain critical skills that may lead to future work in national parks throughout the western US!

Read more on our website at www.sierrainstitute.us/jobs. The season runs June-October. Apply by sending a resume, cover letter, and the contacts for 3 references to jobs@sierrainstitute.us.

**The picture features the species Lupinus, commonly known as lupin or lupine, a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae. Accompanying the field of Lupines is Jura, the happiest dog around and a huge fan of fields of flowers and forests.

#wilderness #lassenvolcanicnp #LVNP #resourcemangement #northernsierra #southerncascade #plantmanagement #restoration #nationalparks

We are looking for a qualified crew leader to head

We are looking for a qualified crew leader to head our Collaborative Forestry Field Crew working in Lassen National Forest! The crew will implement timber marking which will direct restoration thinning around rural communities and meadow complexes in the headwaters of the North Fork Feather River. The season starts mid-June and goes through October. Find out more on our website at www.sierrainstitute.us/jobs
(linked in our bio)

At the beginning of May members of the South Lasse

At the beginning of May members of the South Lassen Watersheds Group (SLWG) attended a field tour of the Rock Creek Project. This project is a collaborative effort led by SLWG partners at Collins Pine Company, Plumas Corporation, Point Blue Conservation Science, Sierra Institute, and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to reduce conifer encroachment and restore hydrologic function across the Rock Creek Meadow.

Participants saw pre-treatment conditions of overly dense lodgepole pine stands along the channel, watched a feller buncher remove encroaching lodgepoles from the meadow system, and discussed the upcoming hydrologic restoration treatments. Participants also witnessed the return of sedge (Carex ssp.) and corn lily (Veratrum californicum) to the wet meadow system post-treatment, an early sign of changing hydrology!

Historically, timber management and hydrologic restoration have been planned as separate processes, however, the Rock Creek Project exemplifies a ‘whole system approach’ with sustainable timber harvest, meadow, and stream restoration work occurring side-by-side. Conifer removal treatments in meadows are usually completed in the fall, but due to lack of precipitation, the soils are currently dry enough to perform the work now.

Thanks to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection for funding this collaborative project!

#californiadepartmentofforestryandfireprotection#foresthealth #meadowrestoration#restoration#streamrestoration#timber#timbermanagement#collaboration

Sierra Institute is looking for a Trail Crew Leade

Sierra Institute is looking for a Trail Crew Leader to serve as the field supervisor of our crew performing trail restoration activities within the Almanor Ranger District of the Lassen National Forest.

Work will include benching of trails, maintenance of water bars, brush clearing, and clearing of downed logs and hazard trees. Work will primarily be completed using hand tools and non-mechanized equipment such as crosscut saws, as seen in the video clip.

Qualified individuals with an interest in wilderness management, trail work, and active management of ecosystem services are encouraged to apply.

Apply by sending a resume, cover letter, and the contacts for 3 references to jobs@sierrainstitute.us by May 28th. The full job description can be found on our website at www.SierraInstitute.us/jobs

While scouting locations to conduct training for W

While scouting locations to conduct training for Watershed Infrastructure Assessment (WIA) surveys happening this summer, the Hydrology team put their survey methods to the test and practiced on this crossing on the Dixie Road. On the inlet side, you can see an old headwall constructed from logs to prevent water from eroding the road fill. On the outlet side, you can see where similar erosion prevention structures have failed and the top of the road surface is eroding. This road is located on granite parent material and is very erosive, which can impact the stream as well as make the road impassable if the erosion goes unchecked. These are the types of issues we will be looking for when we conduct WIA surveys in Mill, Deer, Battle, Antelope, and Butte Creek headwaters this summer. Luckily Butte County RCD is helping out the Dixie road as well.

A huge thank you to @gear_forward and all of the

A huge thank you to @gear_forward and all of the generous individuals who have donated so far to help @pcrew.youth.corps gear up for this summer season. While this opportunity to partner with Gear Forward has led to this generous collection of tents, sleeping pads, dry bags, and sleeping bags, this first shipment of gear could be just the tip of the iceberg! So far we have raised 1000.00 dollars but our friends at Gear Forward will donate $12,000 of gear to P-CREW if we raise $6,000! So your donation will go twice as far if you can give before May 21st! We are still hoping to raise the additional money to purchase hand pump water filters, headlamps, overnight backpacking bags, and camp chairs! 
Gear Forward believes, “No child should be denied access to all the outdoors has to offer because they don't have the necessary equipment. Through the collection of gently used outdoor gear and partnerships with amazing gear manufacturers and retailers, Gear Forward works with outdoor-focused non-profit organizations to get donated gear into the hands of youth that need it.”  
Sierra Institute and P-CREW utterly agree with Gear Forward that this gear is crucial for our program to be successful, keep our students safe, and ensure comfort while they sleep, live, work, and play in the outdoors, some for the very first time. Which is why we need your help to make our goal of raising another 5,000 dollars and completing our wish list of gear for our P-CREW youth crews! The video shows Sierra Institute staff ( and pups) unboxing all of the incredible gear we’ve received so far!