Unveiling a Hidden Solution: How the Sierra Nevada’s Forests Can Help Solve Climate Change, Rural Economic Decline, and the National Housing Crisis

Tags: forest health

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ashley Beck, Director of Communications

September 12, 2024

Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation

ashley@ttcf.net

(Sierra Nevada, CA) – In the heart of California’s Sierra Nevada, a transformative and scalable climate change solution is unlocking financial resources to address some of the most pressing issues of our time: the wildfire and housing crises, forest health, and rural revitalization.

Climate change presents challenges worldwide. In the Mountain West, the threat of catastrophic wildfires is among the most severe. Wildfires can devastate built and natural environments and threaten the health of forests and the watersheds on which most Californians rely. They also produce dangerous smoke that compromises human health in both rural and urban areas. 

Responding to this urgent need, the Sierra Institute for Community and Environment and the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF) have formed a pioneering partnership. This partnership is making a major commitment to the future of regenerative forest practices and the revitalization of rural economies. TTCF’s Forest Futures campaign, a testament to their commitment, has awarded the Sierra Institute and its Mosaic Timber operation a $1 million grant to advance this ambitious goal. 

This investment leverages $3 million in grants from CalFire and the U.S.D.A. Forest Service and is aided by the work of Mass Timber Strategy. It culminates a two-decade vision to transform unhealthy, overcrowded forests—essentially tinderboxes— into the bedrock of a thriving, regenerative economy. This renewed forest-based economy mitigates wildfire risk, supports recovery efforts post-wildfire, and simultaneously offers an affordable housing solution. 

This partnership exemplifies how philanthropic funding can be nimble and catalytic, driving innovative solutions for complex challenges,” said Stacy Caldwell, Chief Executive Officer at TTCF. “We’re not just protecting our forests; we’re building a future where rural communities thrive economically while contributing to broader climate solutions.

Central to this vision is establishing small-scale manufacturing operations that use wood removed from overgrown local forests and properties to produce Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT). CLT is an innovative building material that offers a carbon-smart, fire-resistant, and seismically sound alternative to traditional construction methods. CLT is derived from “woody biomass”—small and mid-sized trees, alive and dead, many of which traditionally hold little to no market value.

Recent forest and landscape restoration efforts facilitated by entities like TTCF and Sierra Institute have focused on removing this biomass to reduce wildfire risks. The lack of local processing facilities has meant that massive subsidy is needed to move this material out of the forest to distant processing facilities, or it’s left in the woods, dramatically increasing the risk of catastrophic wildfire. CLT production offers a pathway to utilization that can help restore forest health and provide a carbon-smart building product.   

This project will not only reduce disposal costs and create well-paying local jobs but also lay the groundwork for sustainable economic development. By reintroducing small-scale, localized manufacturing and milling operations, it will provide a significant boost to the local economy. The facility, located in Taylorsville, will help the North Tahoe-Truckee region process timber from its overcrowded and high-risk forests, offering an additional place for woody biomass processing.

We intend for this to be a template that can be used elsewhere. There are many locations where we see that this approach of using a community-scale CLT plant can make a difference on the landscape, in communities, and in the market,” said Steve Marshall of Mass Timber Strategy, a project partner.

Philanthropy plays a significant role in making large projects pencil. If you’re inspired, please consider donating to Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s Forest Futures Campaign and help us reach a $2 million match this year.

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Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation is dedicated to a capital absorption capacity framework. For more than 25 years, it has served the people and places of North Tahoe-Truckee. It uses blended capital to inspire and catalyze solutions for rural mountain communities and beyond. For more information on the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, visit www.ttcf.net. 

Sierra Institute for Community and Environment has spent over 20 years developing innovative, place-based programs by engaging rural stakeholders through applied research, pilot studies, and collaborative problem-solving. Recognizing the direct relationship rural communities have with forest landscapes, the Sierra Institute strives to promote sustainable social, environmental, and economic approaches from both human and ecological perspectives. For more information visit www.sierrainstitute.us