By Spencer Lachman Collaborative Forestry Management Apprentice Degraded conditions within the forests and meadows of the northern Sierra Nevada pose complex challenges to land managers looking to prioritize ecosystem health. Historically, these ecosystems were controlled by natural disturbances, but human intervention has changed the severity and frequency of these events. In ecology a disturbance is […]
By Spencer Lachman, Collaborative Forestry Management Apprentice On a recent, brisk October morning, members of the Maidu Summit Consortium, the Sierra Institute, and the US Forest Service gathered just west of Lake Almanor on property recently returned to the Mountain Maidu community. After socially distant introductions, the group gathered around a large sugar pine and […]
As seen in many other workplaces, March 2020 resulted in the adoption of an unusual environment at the Sierra Institute – working remotely during a global pandemic. On March 16th, in the middle of a late season blizzard, we jumped on the phone lines for our (usually in-person) weekly staff meeting, where we discussed closing […]
Before arriving in Taylorsville, I thought I knew what to expect. I had lived in a few small towns and traveled through many others. But in the northeastern Sierra, I found a character all its own. On chilly early morning walks, pouncing pumas are a primary concern. On twilight drives, it’s rare to see fewer […]
How one rural community is utilizing fuels reduction activities and a biomass boiler to increase the pace of forest restoration and promote socioeconomic development. What if I told you the same “hazardous fuels” contributing to California’s catastrophic wildfires may also be one of the state’s largest climate-smart renewable energy resources? Over the past decade, nearly […]
During the summer, P-CREW crew members spend five weeks in the wilderness, working 8-hour days doing physical labor, backpacking, and living in close proximity with 11 other teenagers and two crew leaders. For many, it is their first time having a “real” job, camping, or going an extended period of time without access to the […]
What is necessary to protect local wildlife is also necessary to protect local people. This spring, I found myself driving cross country from coastal southern Virginia to the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains, all on my own (well, somewhat on my own – I had my three cats in tow in my tiny sports coupe). I […]
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 […]
