By the Sierra Nevada Conservancy
Over the last 21 years, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) has funded and supported essential projects that drive nature-based solutions (NBS) across the Sierra-Cascade region.
California’s NBS climate targets are organized around seven land types. Although the SNC supports projects across all the different terrain in its service area, two decades of focused work in forests have built region-specific expertise and strong partnerships. Working collaboratively with partners in the Sierra-Cascade uniquely positions SNC to continue to advance forest-focused and wildfire risk-reduction NBS climate targets.
Restoring resilience to California’s forests through NBS enhances the region’s ability to durably and sustainably store carbon. The SNC region is mostly forested and contains 50 percent of the state’s forest lands. That’s why investing in forest restoration, conservation, and wildfire risk reduction in the Sierra-Cascade is essential.
Nature’s Toolkit for Wildfire Resilience
Fire is a natural and essential process in forests across the Sierra-Cascade. However, the accelerating impacts of climate change, a legacy of fire exclusion, and disconnection from traditional land-management practices has led to larger and more damaging wildfires across the region and the state. To protect and enhance the resilience of Sierra-Cascade forests, the SNC routinely funds NBS projects to reduce wildfire-risk.
California’s Wildfire Risk Reduction NBS climate targets call for 800,000 acres to be treated annually with beneficial fire and 700,000 acres annually with fuel-reduction activities starting in 2030. From 2019 to 2024, SNC advanced 85 projects, treating approximately 64,000 acres—funded by a one-time California General Fund investment. These strategically selected projects, developed with local expertise, aimed to reduce wildfire damage, improve forest health, and protect Sierra-Cascade communities.
The following project demonstrates what these SNC-funded wildfire-risk-reduction efforts look like on the ground. Projects that advance the Wildfire Risk Reduction NBS climate targets include activities like expanding beneficial fire through prescribed broadcast and cultural burning, as well as strategic fuel-reduction work that reduces the buildup of small trees and brush.
NBS Climate Target Category: Wildfire Risk Reduction
NBS: Beneficial Fire & Other Fuel Reduction Activities
The French Meadows Forest Restoration Project covers 28,000 acres of public land around French Meadows Reservoir west of Lake Tahoe. This project is conducting 6,000 acres of ecologically based forest thinning and 7,600 acres of prescribed fire.
These treatments strategically reduce tree density, which returns the forest to an ecological condition that can support naturally occurring fire regimes. Lower tree density also supports the growth of larger, older trees which can durably store carbon as they mature.
Reducing wildfire risk also supports biodiversity, regulates local climate, protects watersheds, and prevents soil erosion – all benefits to advancing California’s NBS climate targets.
These efforts in the French Meadows area, spearheaded by the Placer County Water Agency, Tahoe National Forest, SNC, The Nature Conservancy, and others, were some of the first to be launched at a landscape scale in the Sierra-Cascade.
When completed, the French Meadows Forest Restoration Project will restore forest health to the upper headwaters of the Middle Fork American River and help protect communities, resources, and vital water infrastructure including the French Meadows Reservoir, which supplies water to Placer County, Folsom Lake, and feeds into the federal Central Valley Project.
Benefits beyond timber
The SNC has been meaningfully contributing to restoring resilience to the Sierra-Cascade through forest focused NBS.
Beginning in 2030, California as a state aims to conserve and restore about 595,000 acres annually of the state’s forests. Between 2019 and 2024, the SNC conserved and restored almost 38,000 acres through 28 projects. SNC’s grant programs are regularly oversubscribed, which means there are a number of projects and partners ready to plan and implement more work across forested landscapes, including large “Ready Landscapes.”
Activities that contribute to the Forest NBS climate targets include conservation of working and non-working forest lands, restoration and post fire reforestation, and planting native oak woodland trees where they were found historically but have been supplanted. The following project is a prime example of work advancing the state’s Forest NBS climate targets.
NBS Climate Target Category: Forests
NBS: Working Forest Conservation
Another powerful NBS is conservation and responsible management of working forestland. The SNC advanced these activities through a $1.4 million grant to the Pacific Forest Trust for the Conserving the Trinity Headwaters for Watershed & Community Benefit project. Combined with funding from the Wildlife Conservation Board, a federal grant, and an investment by the original owners, Acer Klamath Forests, the Pacific Forest Trust was able to acquire 10,600 acres of working forestland in the upper Trinity River watershed.
The property will be transferred to the Watershed Research and Training Center for ecological management under a working forest conservation easement. They will steward the land to ensure the forest remains fire and drought resilient by extending harvest rotations and maintaining uneven age timber stands. This will also enhance carbon storage by reducing competition, increasing productivity, and increasing forest health.
A unique aspect of this acquisition is the significant riparian forest ecosystem it protects along the Trinity River and its tributaries. These waterways are vital salmon and steelhead runs, provide wildlife corridors and migration pathways for native species, and provide significant carbon storage. Conserving this land demonstrates how NBS provide an incredible suite of benefits, such as supporting economies, recreation, and biodiversity, in addition to storing carbon.
The Sierra-Cascade region has potential to leverage the power inherent in properly functioning forests to durably store carbon, reduce wildfire risk, and meet the environmental challenges California faces head-on. Home to 50 percent of the state’s forests, the SNC is uniquely positioned to advance vital forest-health and wildfire-risk-reduction activities through the expertise and knowledge of regional partners.
