improving watershed and forest health throughout the Sierra Nevada.Each of the selected projects strike at the heart of the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program (WIP), SNC’s large-scale restoration initiative designed to improve ecosystem and community resilience in the Region.
“The projects authorized for funding by our board today will provide community protection and improve forest and watershed health more broadly,” said Sierra Nevada Conservancy Executive Officer, Angela Avery. “These are great examples of the type and kind of work that the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program is focused on implementing with our partners across the region.”
Four of the approved projects are specifically forest health grants funded through Proposition 1 (The Water Quality, Supply, and Infrastructure Improvement Act of 2014) and Proposition 68 (The California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access for All Act of 2018). The Yuba Watershed Institute was awarded $300,000 for its ‘Inimim Forest Restoration Project – Phase 1 to aid in forest restoration and watershed health in Nevada County. Sagehen Creek Field Station, a research and teaching facility of the University of California at Berkeley located in the Tahoe National Forest, was awarded $1 million for its Pushing the Larger Landscape Into Resiliency Through Fire project.
An additional $721,487 was authorized to the Sierra Foothill Conservancy in Mariposa County for the Von Der Ahe Forest Enhancement Project and $506,714 went to the Plumas Audubon Society for its efforts to improve the health of the forests in the Genesee Valley, a significant tributary to the north fork of the Feather River. Finally, $594,350 was allotted for the Blacksmith Project, an undertaking by the El Dorado National Forest to aid in landscape resilience and improve growing conditions for trees in a 6,000-acre area east of Georgetown, Ca. Funding for this project came from CAL FIRE’s California Climate Investments (CCI) grant program, which puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work throughout the state to help improve public health, the environment, and the economy by reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs).
Additional information about these projects and the programs that fund them can be found at sierranevada.ca.gov in the June 2019 Board Meeting materials.
About the Sierra Nevada Conservancy and the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) is a state agency whose mission is to improve the environmental, economic, and social well-being of the 25-million-acre Sierra Nevada Region. The SNC leads the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program (WIP), a large-scale restoration program designed to restore the health of California’s primary watershed and create resilient Sierra Nevada Communities. Additional information about the SNC and the WIP can be found at sierranevada.ca.gov.
Project Title: Von Der Ahe Forest Enhancement Project
PROJECT SCOPE / DESCRIPTION
The Von Der Ahe Forest Enhancement Project (Project) will restore and enhance 250 acres of forestland within the Chowchilla watershed in Mariposa County. The Sierra Foothill Conservancy (SFC) holds a conservation easement on the 1,295-acre Von Der Ahe Property (Property) which is managed for wildlife habitat, grazing, recreation, and aesthetic value. The Property is located approximately 10 miles southeast of the town of Mariposa and nestled between multiple rural communities.
The Property lies at approximately 3000’-3200’ in elevation and supports a diverse mosaic of forest types including Sierran Mixed Conifer forests, hardwood forests, grasslands, and thirty-plus-year-old plantations including Douglas fir, giant sequoia, ponderosa pine, and sugar pine. The Property has been managed extensively in the past with assistance from publicly funded programs such as Natural Resources Conservation Service’s (NRCS’s) Healthy Forests Reserve Program and CAL FIRE’s California Forest Improvement Program and is currently managed under the direction of a Nonindustrial Timber Management Plan. The property has experienced elevated levels of tree mortality in recent years, resulting in high fuel loading throughout the property. Additionally, many of the plantations on the property are overstocked and in need of thinning to promote tree growth and forest resiliency. The Project will remove the majority of the drought and beetle-killed pine trees. It also aims to thin the overstocked plantations to approximately 150 trees per acre and thin trees under 8 inches diameter in natural stands. Slash will be masticated and spread on site or burned. The Project will follow up these treatments with a pruning operation that will raise the canopy and create a more fire safe setting.
The Project is surrounded mainly by private property but also connects to Sierra National Forest lands. Many surrounding landowners actively manage their properties and reduce fuel around their ingress/egress routes in addition to any structures. The Project connects and strengthens a series of completed and planned fuel breaks installed by the Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, CAL FIRE, and the Sierra National Forest.
The Sierra Foothill Conservancy is a non-profit land trust active between and near Yosemite and Sequoia-Kings Canyon national parks. Their focus is to preserve the natural and cultural heritage of the Sierra Nevada foothills for future generations. The Property has been owned and managed by the Von Der Ahe family for many decades, and the family has worked extensively with CAL FIRE and the NRCS to maintain and steward the property. The Property has been co-managed with the SFC since the placement of a conservation easement in 2003.
The Project will leverage resources from NRCS in cost-share contracts and will benefit from in-kind contributions from Point-Blue Conservation Science for pre- and postavian monitoring. The SFC will utilize this SNC funding to leverage future funding through NRCS.
The Project falls in line with the goals of Proposition 1 and the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program. The forest treatments will create a more-resilient landscape better suited to withstand future wildfires, droughts, or pest outbreaks and protect multiple rural communities. The Project is in the upper watershed of the Chowchilla River which flows into Eastman Lake and supports multiple communities and irrigation districts in the San Joaquin Valley.
Source: SNC
