The Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation announced it has raised more than $1 million for the launch of Forest Futures, a multi-year campaign to stimulate the region’s economy, ensure a safer and more secure future for the Tahoe area, and create an actionable path forward to healthy forests everywhere.

“After four years of convening experts, building community awareness and developing a systematic strategy, the Forest Futures campaign is prepared to take immediate action to protect Tahoe’s forests,” said Stacy Caldwell, CEO of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, in a news release. “The impacts of this campaign will reach far beyond the Tahoe region and across generations of our community and California. Our approach is holistic and our strategy is emergent, recognizing the interconnectedness of community with our environment and our economy; and the importance to engage and collaborate with all stakeholders.

“The Sierra Nevada is not just important to those who live and recreate here … we are home to one of the world’s most diverse watersheds, providing nearly 60% of the state’s water,” Caldwell continued. “When the Tahoe forests burn, the impact to our community and to the climate are devastating and will be felt far beyond the borders of our region.”

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In 2020, more than 4 million acres of land burned in California. This year, due to drought conditions, the fire season began 60 days earlier than in previous years and the largest fires in the state’s history continue to burn in the Lake Tahoe region. The impact of these catastrophic fires is felt statewide – in water quality and quantity, biodiversity, carbon and climate outcomes, human health, community, ecological resilience and much more.

The areas of impact the campaign will target are: Ensuring forests are healthy and protected from catastrophic wildfire by continuing to invest in restoration projects; strengthening the community by establishing the infrastructure and industry to utilize hazardous forest waste; demonstrating that local, collaborative climate action can scale and speed sustainable forest management; establishing a model which can be replicated in other global mountain communities; and creating a self-replenishing and forest-specific fund to ensure that future generations of the community will have the adequate resources to manage the forests in a sustainable way.

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To learn more about this campaign or to donate, visit ttcf.net/projects-programs/forest-futures.