Participants will have an opportunity to build relationships with the Tribe, agency and community partners working to protect the Foresthill Divide and explore how cultural fire practices can contribute to wildfire resilience and forest health. Photo courtesy of Placer County

AUBURN, CA (MPG) - After nearly two years of collaboration among Tribal leaders, local agencies, landowners, and community partners, Placer County’s Regional Forest Health Division, Sierra Business Council and Indigenous Futures Society will host a community gathering to celebrate the Foresthill Divide Community Protection Plan and look ahead to its implementation.

The event, scheduled Nov. 18 at Owl Creek in Foresthill from noon to 2:30 p.m., will bring together the Foresthill Divide community, wildfire protection agencies, land stewards and Tribal partners to reflect on the planning process and explore how the community can continue working together to build wildfire resilience and a healthier relationship with the land.

At the heart of the effort has been government-to-government engagement with the Colfax–Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe and an ongoing effort to integrate Tribal ecological knowledge into community wildfire resilience planning. That work has been complemented by engagement with a collaborative of wildfire protection agencies and the broader Foresthill Divide community.

The resulting Foresthill Divide Community Protection Plan provides a framework for how future wildfire resilience projects will be evaluated, prioritized and advanced. 

“This process has been about more than developing a list of projects,” said Sarah Isabel Moe, project lead from Sierra Business Council. “It has been about building relationships, listening to different forms of knowledge and creating a framework for making decisions together. The work we’ve done with Tribal partners, agencies, landowners and the community gives us a stronger foundation for protecting the Foresthill Divide while caring for the forest.”

The final community gathering in the project’s plan development phase will celebrate the inclusive planning process while creating space for participants to consider what comes next.

Participants will have an opportunity to build relationships with the Tribe, agency and community partners working to protect the Foresthill Divide and explore how cultural fire practices can contribute to wildfire resilience and forest health. They will also learn how the framework developed through the Community Protection Plan will guide the future project pipeline, and what’s coming next in phase II.

Experience a cultural burn led by the Tribe and learn firsthand about the role of cultural fire in caring for the landscape

If weather allows, the cultural burn will provide an opportunity for participants to experience cultural fire as an active land stewardship practice and to better understand its potential benefits for forest health, ecological resilience and community protection.

“This is an opportunity to come together not just to mark the completion of a plan, but to celebrate the relationships that made the work possible,” Amanda Brenner, Placer County forest health coordinator said. “We hope people leave with a deeper understanding of the land, the value of Tribal stewardship and a shared commitment to continuing this work together.”

The event is open to Foresthill Divide residents, landowners, community members, agencies, Tribal partners and others interested in wildfire resilience and traditional ecological land stewardship.

The Foresthill Divide Community Protection Plan is led by Placer County’s Regional Forest Health Division in collaboration with Sierra Business Council and Indigenous Futures Society, with participation from the Colfax–Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe, wildfire protection agencies, landowners and community partners.

As the Regional Forest Health Division looks ahead to implementing projects identified in the plan, it intends to pursue a broader environmental review for them through a California Vegetation Treatment Program, or CalVTP, that would allow them to move forward more quickly than if they were permitted individually. Division staff anticipate additional community outreach after securing a contract for environmental support services to seek that review.