Sierra Institute Partners with High-Road Training Projects for Wildfire Mitigation Projects

A key focus is on advancing training for those interested as well as helping tribes launch crews. Training events will be listed on the Sierra Institute website and advertised through local channels. The program starts in June with a kick-off soon after. Shasta Community College, Feather River College, Big Sandy Rancheria, and Greenville Rancheria are also involved as training partners. CHIPS currently runs forest restoration crews in partnership with a number of tribes, and Sierra Institute runs its youth crews, wilderness fuels modules, and new swamper crews for which we’re still advertising for participants this summer. CHIPS’ crews are staffed mostly by tribal members from the central Sierra region and from Paradise and Magalia area, while Sierra Institute crews are staffed by youth, young adults, and others from our local communities and beyond. A strategic goal of the partnership is to increase skills and opportunities for those who have faced barriers to employment due to historical injustices including Tribal members, residents of low-income rural communities, and those with previous justice system involvement.

The Sierra Institute focuses on projects with a triple bottom line—community, environment, economy— making them an ideal partner in this venture. The program is part of the California Workforce Development Board’s High Road Training Partnership, which is funded through California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health, and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. www.sierrainstitute.us