North Coast Forest Biomass Strategy Final Report and Appendices
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Report Appendices
Appendix 1 – Task 1 Deliverables
Steering Committee Members
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- Rex Bohn, Humboldt County Supervisor
- Nancy Ogren, Siskiyou County Supervisor
- John Anderson, Mendocino Redwood Company
- Elicia Goldsworthy, Green Diamond
- Leaf Hillman, Karuk Tribe
- Gregg Foster, Redwood Regional Economic Development Council
- Ryan Heitz, Humboldt County Economic Development Department
- Kathleen Moxon, Redwood Forest Foundation
- Josh Harrison, FABRICS
- Yana Valachovic, UC Extension Advisor
- Christy Prescott, USFS
- Dan Blessing, Shasta Valley RCD
- Jason Wells, Sonoma RCD
- Raymond Baltar, Sonoma Biochar Initiative
- Giselle Nova, Fire Safe Council of Siskiyou County
A Vision for North Coast Resilience: Priorities for Enhancing Watershed, Forest, and Community Resilience in the North Coast Region
Appendix 2 – Task 2 & 3 Deliverables
Appendix 3 – Task 4 Deliverables
Appendix 4 – Task 5 Deliverables
Webinars:
Regional Meetings:
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- NCRP shared information at multiple quarterly meetings attended by hundreds of regional partners, including panels focused on this initiative and the findings from the initiative. NCRP and WRTC shared this information with all sub-regional pilots and the steering committee.
- NCRP organized and hosted a 2-day event focused on Climate Resilience in the North Coast of California, sponsored by the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria and held on January 29 and 30, 2025 at the Graton Rancheria Casino and Event Center. The Meeting Agenda included presentations and panels on Climate Resilience Tribal Leadership, Sonoma County Climate Resilience Initiatives, California’s Fifth Climate Assessment, California’s Climate Future with State Agency Leadership and Strategic Initiatives, Collaborative Action on Climate Resilience, and the Siskiyou Climate Collaborative. Speaker topics are detailed in the Meeting Agenda. The event included a Resource Fair with 50 tabling groups with posters and other educational materials to share information and network. The NCRP, WRTC and the sub-regional pilots shared information regarding the NCRP-WRTC regional woody feedstock initiative during the resource fair tabling. The 420 total participants that attended included 18 members of local, state and federal agencies, 45 members from 22 Tribes, 53 representatives from 11 cities and counties, 27 Resource Conservation District staff, 8 University and UC Cooperative Extension faculty, and representatives from 64 non-governmental organizations and 18 consultant firms. A complete list of presenters and partner attendees, and resources, is provided at the Climate Resilience in the North Coast of California – January 2025 NCRP Event webpage. The North Coast Resource Partnership also developed a Climate Resilience Priorities Survey for the event intended to collect input to identify the North Coast region’s climate vulnerabilities, current resilience strategies, and support needs for building a more climate-resilient future.
- Outreach to sub-regional partners during NCRP Quarterly Meetings in 2023 & 2024
- Learnings from this effort shared at the August Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force meeting in Sacramento
Local Meetings:
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- Lake County Board of Supervisors
- Community Economic Resilience Fund kickoff meeting held in Ukiah on September 20, 2023
- WRTC was part of a Climate & Disaster Resilience panel at the “State of the Redwood Coast Regional Conference: Our Elemental Economy” on September 21, 2023, to speak about forest stewardship economy and the need for wood product markets.
- Maintained constant engagement in the Forest Business Alliance
- NCRP co-sponsored a biomass symposium in Sacramento hosted by Conservation Strategies Group. WTRC presented the topic of biomass utilization and represented subregions at the event.
- NCRP & WRTC co-sponsored a Biomass symposium in May 2023 in Hopland at the UC Hopland Research Station.
- WRTC engaged and represented the LCI pilot subregions to interested groups such as the California Center for Cooperative Development, the Buckeye Conservancy, Redwood Region CERF sector tables, and Cal Poly Humboldt.
- Maintained communication on and participated in sector round tables on building a stewardship economy within the North Coat with special interest in representing the subregion’s interest. Connected the subregions to sector leads
- Forest WRX (formerly called CalForestWRX) engaged Sonoma and Mendocino subregions and brought them into their regionwide strategy.
- Kickoff meeting for the Mendocino Forest Collective Pilot Project on November 4th, 2023. Called the Forest Extravaganza, a region-wide stakeholder group got together to discuss the multi-million-dollar implementation project occurring in the Ten Mile Watershed.
- Kickoff meeting in Willow Creek on November 8th, 2023, to launch the process for the Community Wildfire Defense Grant occurring in the Lower Trinity and in partnership with the USFS.
- Engaged and facilitated a capstone research project with Cal Poly Humboldt’s engineering department to look at portable co-gen bioenergy conversion systems in an attempt to look at low-tech options for biomass utilization in Willow Creek.
- Held conversations with foresters, loggers, utilities, compost facilities, and chip facilities regarding best practices when procuring wood from operations operating under Environmental Impact Reports (EIR) (rather than the Forest Practice Rules) and the legality of wood donations when setting up a feedstock aggregation yard.
- Attended Redwood Coast Energy Authority’s (RECA) Biomass Technical Advisory Group meeting and monitored RCEA community discussions on biomass to electricity use on the North Coast.
Cohort Meetings:
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- The NCRP woody feedstock pilot has participated in four subregion cohort meetings organized by WRTC and one statewide cohort meeting organized by LCI.
- The NCRP and WRTC woody feedstock team attended the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force meeting in Grass Valley, the Joint Institute for Wood products Innovations meeting, the California Ad Hoc Biomass Utilization Working Group, and has participated in numerous Regional Forest and Fire Capacity webinars and meetings where this initiative was discussed.
- The NCRP team has continued to participate in the California Ad Hoc Biomass Utilization Working Group and has participated in Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force meetings and Regional Forest and Fire Capacity webinars and meetings where these and similar initiatives were discussed.
- Coordinated, developed, and facilitated discussions on OPR’s Round 3 funding. This process was time-consuming and required regular conversations with up to 6 different contractors on scope development and alignment. As a component of this, Clarke developed a visual systems diagram to explain the contracting pathways, subcontractor responsibilities, and various features included in the Digital Marketplace. The Digital Marketplace will be further developed through R3 funding and will be available for community workshops in 2025.
Sub-regional Pilot Project Outreach:
Regenerative Forest Solutions
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- Held monthly working group meetings with key partners on strategy
- Held 4 community stakeholder workshops to announce or update the community on the vision and goals of the project and to solicit feedback
- Presented at the Sonoma Mendocino Economic Development Department (SMEDD) Biomass Symposium
- Presented at
- Attended the Rural Voices for Conservation Coalition (RVCC) to discuss sawmill business structure
- Engaged public agencies– State and Regional Parks, Permit Sonoma, Public Infrastructure and the Water Agency – on woody material resources for procurement from public lands (e.g. Title 11, liability, and bidding process for haulers and subcontractors) is ongoing
Forest Reciprocity Group
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- Held monthly working meetings with up to 10 different regional partners on the development of their concept
- Hosts a radio show on a regular basis which focuses on wood utilization
- Hosted a demonstration workshop at Tan Oak Park
- Hosted timber frame building workshops displaying their material
- Engaged the California Center for Cooperative Development on entity formation
- Engaged county staff on site development and zoning
- Showcased their product line at Big Time event in Mendocino
- Entered into a partnership with Cal Poly Humboldt’s engineering department to look at sustainable and local energy design, including a mobile kiln, for their aggregation depot
RAAF and the Dinsmore group
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- Have participated in WRX alliance meetings and attended the NCRP quarterly meetings on behalf of their concept
- Participated in local group meetings for the Volunteer Fire Department and Fire Safe Council
- Hosted a 100+ community event to announce their final plans for reinvigorating the local FSC
RFS, FRG, and Dinsmore attended the Hopland Biomass Symposium Conference and the NCRP event Climate Resilience in the North Coast of California.
