ENVIRONMENT
was a new rural economy , grounded not in resource extraction but in resource restoration .
Out of those conversations came Calaveras Healthy Impact Product Solutions in 2004 , a nonprofit based in Calaveras and Amador counties , led by Wilensky , which hires and trains people to do field restoration work , such as tree thinning , invasive plant removal and prescribed burns . The group secures contracts with landowners to do this work . Sixty percent of California ’ s 33 million acres of forest land is publicly owned ; private landowners such as families , tribes and timber companies make up 40 percent . CHIPS employs 50 people from Yosemite in the south up to
Chico in the north . The majority are Native Americans from eight tribal groups .
“ It ’ s a pretty comprehensive program that is doing really amazing work connecting tribal knowledge and tribal cultural practices but also working in today ’ s world where they ’ re creating long-term sustainable work ,” Avery says . Efforts are underway to establish at least five similar groups throughout the Sierra Nevada by later this year .
Additionally , CHIPS bought an old mill site and has a power purchase agreement to produce renewable energy from wood waste . The organization is exploring other value-added products that can be derived from the biomass material . “ And that sort of completes the cycle ,” Wilensky says .
By 2020 , CHIPS had secured $ 5.5 million in grants and was preparing for its big expansion year when the pandemic hit and caused delays , which it is just now coming out of . A much deeper challenge remains , though — pandemic or not . “ Recovering forests and watersheds has clear prescriptions and good science ,” Wilensky says . “ Recovering communities that have been left for dead for two generations is a much harder thing . How do you gear up a workforce ? How do you get people off their addictions ? How do you get people who are in poverty transported to work sites far away from where they live ?”
40 comstocksmag . com | May 2021