STW updates

Saving The West (now Living Forests) continues to move forward with its goal of creating a small wood industry to restore ecological function to western forests. Some recent developments include:

• A new website is under construction.
• The Center for the Study of the Force Majeure was recruited this fall to submit a $100-million STW grant proposal to the MacArthur Foundation's 100&Change program. The proposal passed administrative review, and the foundation will announce semi-finalists in mid-January. Newton Harrison is also in conversation with the Buckminster Fuller Institute about STW; in 2014, the organization awarded a Fuller Challenge honorable mention to the Harrison's art project at Sagehen.
• We are applying for grants to fund a LiDAR and Landsat analysis to determine the quantity and quality of woody material that would be removed should the STW demonstration area in central CA and western NV be treated to restore ecological function. This analysis applies the "8-Emphasis-Area" approach developed in the Sagehen Forest Project collaboration. Quantifying the available supply over the time spans required for investment capital repayment is traditionally the major stumbling block to moving forward with new markets. Due to the realities of implementation cost, the Forest Service currently designs projects around what they can sell on the current commodities market, which is not useful for making financial projections.
• The Sagehen Forest Project model is now being implemented in the Lake Tahoe West Shore collaborative project, a big scaling up of the concepts.
• We continue meeting with all kinds of people already working at the intersection of industry and forest management in CA and NV, creating synergies and opportunities. One interesting idea we are discussing with the Burning Man people is the use of Sagehen Project slash for the construction of structures like the Man or the Temple, as a way to spread these concepts to a global audience.

Project begins!

8-22-14: Mastication begins in the Donner Fire plantations.

10-years of study and planning are finally reaching implementation!

And here's some more great project news from the National Forest Foundation:

"Folks, 

We were successful in securing funding for 7 projects on the Truckee River Treasured Landscapes site from Wildlife Conservation Board. WCB awarded $775,100 to implement the following restoration projects: Prosser fish habitat restoration, Outback watershed restoration, Jammer Chair stream & aspen restoration, Sagehen Creek fen restoration, Phoenix watershed improvements, Johnson Canyon restoration and Sagehen Sensitive Species Restoration. The Little Truckee River fish habitat project that was originally included in the proposal had to be delayed to November due a board member conflict of interest and subsequent lack of quorum to approve it but we expect to receive $188,800 for that project later this year. For the recently approved projects NFF, USFS, Truckee River Watershed Council and Sierra Nevada Conservancy contributed an additional $1.9 mn to implementation. WCB BOD members praised the project for its scale and cooperation among such a diversity of partners.

I’d like to thank Kim Boyd of the Tahoe RCD for being especially gracious to be the lead agency on the CEQA work that we had to complete in rapid order as well as the Forest Service and all the partners that made this grant successful. Hopefully there is much more to come. Nice job all! 

Best,

Vance 

Vance Russell | NATIONAL FOREST FOUNDATION | 530.758.2609 | 803 2^nd St., Suite A | Davis, CA |  vrussell@nationalforests.org  | www.nationalforests.org/ca "

Contract awarded! Grant received!

From Joanne...

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I am very pleased to let you all know that the Tahoe National Forest was able to award our first contract implementing the decisions made for the Sagehen Project.  This is a wonderful and exciting step.  Everyone who participated has helped us get to this point.   We are also very pleased to announce that on March 12, 2014, the National Forest Foundation was awarded a $349,140 grant by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy that will allow implementation of the next phase of this project, as well.

I need to say that I am very proud of everyone who helped us get here.  This was truly a meeting of the minds. We started with a variety of ideas and through a great deal of good, hard work, came to an amazing place.  Everyone brought their passion but then took time to hear and understand everyone else.  I know there are still some different viewpoints, but this project is so much better today for the energy and effort that everyone put into the understanding that has developed. Thank you!

I need to say as proud as I am of everyone who participated, that I am particularly proud of the core team who put in so many hours and worked so hard to be sure we captured all the ideas and found ways to fit them together, who read and re-read the science until it could be incorporated into the design, who helped us craft a great project and then helped us explain it in the NEPA document.

I know that the implementation is our next opportunity and challenge but I welcome it and hope you do as well.  We have learned so much getting to this point, but I know that learning will continue.  Jeff Brown has told me so many times to get on with the implementation so the next group of scientists can watch us work, see the results and help us learn more.  Well, here we go….

Please accept my gratitude for your support.

Joanne

Joanne B Roubique
District Ranger
Truckee Ranger District
10811 Stockrest Springs
Truckee, Ca 96161
530-587-3558 x 232
jroubique@fs.fed.us