August is Adventures Month

P-CREW–the Plumas Conservation, Restoration, and Education in Watersheds program–is a youth stewardship program that Sierra Institute delights in offering every summer to rural and urban teens from across the country.  P-CREW is a unique opportunity for 16-18 year olds to live, work, and play in the woods.  At the end of the summer students emerge confident, capable, and with a wealth of experiences you can only get outside, with your hands in the dirt. 

In addition to equipping students with tangible skills  like how to use tools for trail maintenance, principles of fuels reduction, beaver dam analog construction, invasive species identification, basic wilderness first aid, we also prioritize exposing students to the abundant recreational activities available on our natural landscapes.  This summer our P-CREW students plunged in alpine lakes, took 2am hikes to watch the sunrise from atop the 6,000ft Cinder Cone in Lassen Volcanic National Park, rock climbed, took in the sulphur smells of Bumpass Hell, hiked miles of trails, disconnected from technology, and much, much more.  This time of year it’s exciting to send our youth home with memories, calluses, tan lines, stronger muscles, and a well-informed enthusiasm for land stewardship.

In July, Sierra Institute’s hydrology team met with the Meadow Advisory Group for the Lassen Tributaries Project to visit several meadows that were assessed for potential restoration actions during the 2024 and 2025 field seasons. These visits included meadows affected by the 2021 Dixie Fire and 2024 Park Fire as well as some that have not burned in recent megafires. Large project work requires coordination and collaboration with project partners like ours at Point Blue Conservation Science, Symbiotic Restoration, and Forest Creek Restoration. Site visits are a vital starting point for restoration plan development, offering insight into current conditions and helping us to envision future, healthy natural spaces.

In the Shasta Trinity National Forest the Pit River Tribe's Natural Resource crew is currently implementing hand thinning on the McCloud East Side Fuel Break Project. This project was developed through a partnership agreement between the Pit River Tribe, California Deer Association and Sierra Institute's workforce team. Sierra Institute's Tribal Workforce Training Program has provided crew members with training and certificates in fuels reduction, saw skills, fire fighting and more. We are so excited to see how the Pit River Tribe is implementing these skills on the landscape.

Our second P-CREW session of the summer is coming to a close.  This session our crew has learned important lessons about proper tool usage and safety--and put those tools into practice through fuels reduction, habitat restoration, and trail maintenance.  They worked in the Plumas Eureka State Park with professional sawyers to build piles for winter burning.  They used hand thinning methods alongside Sierra Institute’s Wilderness Fuels Module crew in Lassen Volcanic National Park. In the Robbers Creek Watershed they restored meadow habitat by removing lodgepole pine saplings and constructing beaver dam analogs.

P-CREW is also a unique opportunity to explore and connect with our National Forests and Wilderness areas.  This CREW plunged into the crisp waters of Crystal Lake on the slopes of Mount Hough.  They hiked up Little Jamison Creek to Rock and Wades Lakes. From the Sierra Buttes Fire Lookout they took in panoramic views spanning miles of Tahoe National Forest.  At the Collins Pine Museum they met with forester Terry Collins and learned about the evolution of sustainable forestry practices.  They experienced the sunset and the moonrise from the Summit of Lassen peak, explored Paradise Meadows, and experienced the sulfur-scented pools at Bumpass Hell. It's been a full and unforgettable five weeks!

This month, Executive Director, Jonathan Kusel, presented at several events focused on wood utilization with collaborators including the Tahoe-Truckee Community Foundation and met with Secretary Tomiquia Moss the California Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency . These meetings demonstrated the growing state-wide enthusiasm for building with cross-laminated timber (CLT) as a fire-resistant, sustainable option for diverse building projects from housing to commercial centers. Capital investment in developing regional CLT manufacturing has been slow to catch up with market interest in the material. Sierra Institute’s Mosaic Timber continues to address that challenge as a community-scale, housing-focused operation that aims to be producing affordable, locally-sourced CLT panels next year. We are currently seeking conversations with interested collaborators as we build out this project.

If you know of a former commercial or industrial site that needs clean-up we want to talk to you! In addition to two assessments already underway, the Sierra Institute has capacity for 3-4 new brownfield assessment projects this year and is accepting proposals now through September 30, 2025. We are looking to collaborate with anyone in Butte, Glenn, Lassen, Modoc, Plumas, Tehama, Trinity, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou Counties who owns a brownfield or a vision to revitalize one in their community.  Review and final decisions will be issued in December.

On July 24th and 25th, Sierra Institute hosted its annual Sierra to California All Lands Enhancement (SCALE) annual in-person conference.  For years, SCALE has been bringing together collaboratives, agencies, and individuals from across the state to share and explore the challenges and successes of resource management work. This year’s conference had over 90 registrants including representatives from groups like USDA Forest Service, California Deer Association, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, Maidu Summit Consortium, California Department of Conservation, Cal Fire, Karuk Tribe, Butte County Fire Safe Council, and many more.  With shifts in funding priorities on the horizon and structural changes at the agencies we work with, one of the key takeaway from this year’s conference was the critical importance of collaboration and creative resource management to sustain landscape-scale forest management.

Your support helps us to sustain our work in our forests, our watersheds, and our rural communities.  Thank you!

P.O. Box 11, 4438 Main Street
Taylorsville, CA 95983

530-284-1022 phone
530-284-1023 fax
info@SierraInstitute.us