We are often most impressed by the bigger things in life and our rivers are no exception to this bias. Despite this, I believe if you take some time to understand how watersheds work, you can be convinced that the little trickling mountain creek is just as, if not more, impressive than its downstream relative. […]
Work and Life in a Rural Setting “Must be nice,” I hear from different people in cities when I tell them I work in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The natural beauty, the serenity, the peacefulness, all must be nice they say. Yet it is hard not to note that the population of […]
While driving from Oregon toward Indian Valley and my new position as Watershed Coordinator at the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, I reflected on the circuitous route that finally brought me here. I thought of a childhood in the mossed, temperate rainforests of Oregon’s Willamette Valley, a handful of years pursuing degrees and mountain […]
A wilderness crew from the Sierra Institute will assist with manual fuels reduction activities on Flatiron Ridge in Lassen Volcanic National Park through September.
A feature of working with community members at the Sierra Institute is passion. People, rightly, care a lot about what happens in the natural world just outside their doors. They get passionate, to a point that someone walking into a community meeting might sometimes think we aren’t debating but in conflict. Yet the reality is […]
I arrived at Indian Valley in January this year for a year-long fellowship developed through a partnership between the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment and the Feather River Chapter of Trout Unlimited. One major component of the project and, admittedly, the one which first captured my attention, is an aquatic survey and the formulation […]
Wood utilization in the Sierra Nevada got a big boost when the Sierra Nevada Conservancy awarded $400,000 to Sierra Institute for enhancing local business. The funding will help the Taylorsville-based organization increase use of low-value, small diameter wood, creating both healthier forests and better jobs. At least 10 redeveloped industrial sites will be incorporated in […]
The final report can be found here. Watershed coordinators are key to watershed health. In fact, they have generated seven times the funds state agencies have invested in them. Those are among the findings of an in-depth report two years in the making by Sierra Institute for Community and Environment. “Wading through the Watershed Program” […]
On November 15th, Kyle and I attended a meeting of the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) collaborative group in Sonora, California. It includes a diverse array of stakeholders, such as representatives from Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, Sierra Pacific Industries, Friends of Berkeley Tuolumne Camp, the Tuolumne Group of the Sierra Club, and encompasses much of […]
In recent years, California has been experiencing an increase in large fires due to a combination of factors, including drought conditions and a history of fire suppression. We saw this trend continue this summer with the Carr and Mendocino Complex Fires and even more recently this November with the Camp Fire. Fires tend to disproportionately […]
