There were no January or February meetings as the ABC is deferring to the County and Forest Health Community Working Group which has been hosting a series of meetings on forest health and resilience, the Community Wildfire Protection Plan etc. In the meantime, this blog will be published once a month or so if you have any message that relates to the ABC mission statement that needs distributing, please let me know at dGriffith.9@gmail.com.
WIP Conference: The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is hosting its annual Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) conference in Sacramento from 9 am to 1 pm on March 8th. For details or to register go here. The conference connects California policymakers to Sierra-Cascade issues that resonate across the state. The annual WIP conference is always well attended by senior officials from federal and state agencies as well as all the non-profits working on forest health, watershed, and economic issues in the Sierras. If anyone else intends to attend and is interested in carpooling please contact dGriffith.9@gmail.com.
Biochar Conference: Don Hittenmiller was able to attend one day of the 2024 North American Biochar Conference In February. Although there are many types and subtypes of biochar, it is essentially fine- grained charcoal. It is used as a soil amendment and can be converted into activated carbon to be used in water treatment and other industrial uses. It is an important primary product or byproduct of converting biomass into synthetic natural gas for use in small electric generation facilities.
Eastern Sierra Climate & Communities Resilience Project (ESCCRP): To the South of us, in Mono County, the Whitebark Institute has been making great progress on what used to be called the Mammoth Lake Doughnut project. Originally conceived as a 56,000 acre fuels reduction project in the Inyo National Forest to protect the town of Mammoth Lakes, it has now been expanded to include a biomass utilization facility (probably bioenergy) and local workforce development. It essentially includes all the Inyo National Forest managed lands between the Town of Mammoth Lakes and neighboring Wilderness Areas. To learn more go here. It’s a great example of a community that cares about its environment taking the initiative to protect themselves from catastrophic wildfire by doing what is necessary to restore forest health and resilience.
Alpine Biomass Collaborative 