Posted by: John_Hamilton on 09/19/2013 01:20 PM
Updated by: John_Hamilton on 09/19/2013 01:41 PM
Expires: 01/01/2018 12:00 AM
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NFF and Forest Service Announce $113,000 in Grants to Support California Watersheds and Communities Including Amador/Calaveras & Stanislaus
DAVIS, Calif. —The National Forest Foundation (NFF) and U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region (USFS) have announced the recipients of $113,000 in grants to improve landscape conditions, forest health and water quality in California. The Community Capacity and Land Stewardship grant 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, Camptonville Community Partnership, Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, The Watershed Research and Training Center and Yosemite Stanislaus Solution.
From forest restoration around the Rim Fire to a forest biomass center near Tahoe, important community conservation efforts get a boost thanks to grants funded by the USFS and administered by the NFF. 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.
“Sustaining healthy forests and healthy communities is a primary goal of the U.S. Forest Service,” said Regional Forester Randy Moore. “This program builds capacity across the landscape and helps us reach our land management goals while supporting and working together with our community partners.”
The Community Capacity and Land Stewardship 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.
“We are honored to work with such great partners to implement this innovative capacity building program for the benefit of community forests, water and wildlife,” said Vance Russell, regional director of the National Forest Foundation’s California Programs. “We hope this program will be scaled up and replicated in other regions across the country.” Supporting a shared commitment to collaborative efforts further enhances California’s natural resource and watershed restoration, and helps to build sustainable economic capacities in local communities.
The NFF and USFS plan to continue the partnership, further building upon collaborative conservation successes throughout California. Proposals for the next grant round should be submitted prior to December 4, 2013.
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.
2013 Community Capacity and Land Stewardship award recipients
Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group, Capacity Building Project, Eldorado and Stanislaus National Forests—To address the needs of local job development, forest stewardship and fire prevention through collaborative partnerships.
Camptonville Community Partnership, Forest Biomass Business Center Economic Development Plan, Tahoe and Plumas National Forests—To build community capacity to develop an economic development plan for a forest biomass business center in Camptonville, Calif.
Mid-Klamath Watershed Council, Western Klamath Mountains Partnership, Klamath and Six Rivers National Forests—To convene a series of facilitated workshops and workgroup meetings with a diverse group of stakeholders in the Western Klamath Mountains to collaboratively identify, plan, and prioritize landscape level upslope restoration projects.
The Watershed Research and Training Center, Trinity County Collaborative, Shasta-Trinity National Forest—To complete a forest and recreation assessment for Trinity County. Seventy-Two percent of the landscape is managed by the U.S. Forest Service and recent efforts have brought over 60 stakeholders together to collaborate on natural resource issues.
Yosemite Stanislaus Solution, Yosemite-Stanislaus Collaborative Capacity Building Stanislaus National Forest—To build organizational capacity in order to continue the collaborative process, advance projects which promote local job creation, improve the health of the national forest, and promote the societal integrity of a community.
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