The National Forest Foundation (NFF) and U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region (USFS) have recently awarded $191,500 through nine separate grants to improve landscape conditions, forest health and water quality in California through the Community Capacity and Land Stewardship (CCLS) grant program. The CCLS program helps forest collaboratives and community-based organizations reach agreement on landscape scale restoration and create forest-based jobs.
Grants will be awarded to Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group, Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access Foundation, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, Salmon River Restoration Council, Sierra Forest Legacy, Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, Smith River Alliance, Southern Sierra Integrated Regional Water Management Group, and Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions.
“This program assists us in obtaining our ecological restoration goals while supporting and working together with our community partners.”
The goals of this program include supporting sustainable and diversified job growth that fosters healthy communities, as well as healthy forests and watersheds throughout the region. By working together, communities are able to invest in and advance a shared vision of long‐term ecological, economic and social sustainability.
“This program assists us in obtaining our ecological restoration goals while supporting and working together with our community partners,” said Randy Moore, regional forester. “The health of our forests and communities is paramount to the overall mission of the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region.”
The CCLS program was developed as a partnership between the NFF and the USFS. The program provides capacity‐building support for local collaborative efforts that work toward improving landscape conditions, forest health and water quality. This is the third year of the CCLS program in California.
“Projects funded through CCLS in 2013 are starting to bear fruit and we are receiving high quality and innovative ideas from partners all over the region,” said Vance Russell, regional director of the National Forest Foundation’s California Programs. “We are really excited to see the quality of proposals and impact progressively increase.”
Through this and many other programs, the National Forest Foundation facilitates local involvement and encourages community participation in forest stewardship to enhance the viability of natural resources while considering benefits to, and the involvement of, surrounding communities. Brief summaries of supported projects are provided below.
2015 Community Capacity and Land Stewardship Award Recipients
Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group, Building a Sustainable Future, Eldorado and Stanislaus National Forests— To build capacity of the Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group to effectively carry out its programs and projects while building a stronger organization.
Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access Foundation, Eastern Sierra Recreation Collaborative, Inyo National Forest— To focus on the updating of Region 5 Land Management Plans for "early adopter" forests using collaborative methods identified in the "2012 Planning Rule" and the "Framework for Sustainable Recreation."
Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, Fisheries Restoration Field Exchange, Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests— To use the Fisheries Restoration Field Exchange to facilitate sharing of knowledge, techniques and best practices relating to restoration of Coho salmon habitat amongst collaborative partners in the lower half of the Klamath River watershed in 2015.
Salmon River Restoration Council, Salmon River Collaborative In-stream Restoration Planning Phase II, Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests— To work with multiple project partners on finalizing a collaborative in-stream restoration plan for the Salmon River Watershed and integrating it into the Salmon River Sub-basin Restoration Strategy.
Sierra Forest Legacy, Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council Coordinator, Eldorado, Stanislaus, Sierra, Sequoia and Inyo National Forests – To provide the Southern Sierra Prescribed Fire Council with a coordinator to increase current collaborative capacity for the expanded use of prescribed fire and management of natural ignition in the southern Sierra Nevada.
Sierra Institute for Community and Environment, Sierra-Cascades All-Lands Enhancement, Lassen, Eldorado, Stanislaus and Sierra National Forests – To work with three Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration projects in California to build group capacity, accelerate, success, and draw out lessons to inform policy and other collaborative groups.
Smith River Alliance, Smith River National Recreation Area Restoration, Six Rivers National Forest – To advance landscape-scale restoration within the Smith River National Recreation Area. The goal is to secure funding for priority projects, to collaboratively problem-solve restoration hold-ups and create jobs.
Southern Sierra Integrated Regional Water Management Group, Building Capacity for Southern Sierra Regional Water Management Group, Inyo, Sequoia and Sierra National Forests – To plan and facilitate quarterly meetings for the Southern Sierra Regional Water Management Group and to continue targeted outreach to increase awareness and to obtain new members and develop detailed watershed action plans.
Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, Building Capacity to Increase Restoration Funding and Sustaining the Collaborative, Stanislaus National Forest— To address the fundamental need to identify and secure greater and more reliable funding sources from State, Federal, regional on non-governmental sources, and educate and engage the public and decision-makers.
