Former Calaveras County Supervisor, Steve Wilensky, discussed the Calaveras County CHIPS Program. CHIPS is a collaboration of Economic/Resource Development, American Indian, Social Service, Job Training, and Forest Health agencies that was created to improve local economic and community conditions after the closure of lumber mills and other economic and environmental problems. By 2016, CHIPS will have an annual budget of almost $1Million and 55 employees working on forest thinning, forest rehabilitation, and a Biomass electric generation project. Rosemarie Smallcombe, Mariposa County District 1 Supervisor, reported on the recently-established Mariposa County Tree Mortality Disaster Mitigation Committee. Ms. Smallcombe noted the critical importance of this issue and the need for citizen volunteers to participate in the Tree Mortality Committee meeting on July 22, 2015. Autumn Hutchings, Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) presented the Sierra Nevada Watershed Improvement Program Grant Guidelines. SNC was allocated $24 Million for watershed improvement from Proposition 1 that was passed by California voters in 2014.
MCCA members provided updates on the various local projects including invasive species removal, Merced River Canyon trail improvements, Yosemite fisheries study, Mariposa Biomass project, Stockton Reservoir trails, Midpines Park area forest health, National Resource Conservation Service projects, and various past and future workshops.
In addition to volunteering for the Tree Mortality Committee, folks can also volunteer for trail building, bird counts, invasive species management (bullfrogs), and water quality monitoring on the Merced River.
For More information, please contact Ed Temple, 209-742-4918 or email at ert504@gmail.com or Jim Evans, 209-966-3431 or email at mcrdc@sti.net.
