Assessment of the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act
The Secure Rural Schools and Community Self Determination Act (2000) restores and stabilizes county revenue payments from national forests and BLM Oregon and California lands for six years. The act stabilizes roads and schools payments, promotes employment and infrastructure maintenance to enhance and restore forest ecosystems and watersheds, and strengthens cooperative relationships between local communities and government land management agencies. With support from the US Departments of Agriculture and Interior, The Sierra Institute is evaluating effects of Title II and III projects, including the success of the Act for promoting innovative approaches for social and resource management objectives on the ground. A key outcome of the assessment is to determine how implementation can be improved. The assessment will inform congressional reauthorization discussions.

Western Center of Forestry
The Sierra Institute has launched the Western Center of Forestry to show how ecological, economic, and community well-being in the northern Sierra Nevada region can be enhanced through sustainable forestry. The Center with its local partners will 1) be a model for 21st Century forestry; 2) offer diverse educational programs about state of the art forestry and watershed management; 3) offer programs about the importance of communities and rural people as partners in resource management; 4) showcase the excellent forestry and watershed work in the region; 5) leverage resources to support individual projects and improve land management; 6) develop and offer resource management and nature-based tourism opportunities; and 7) increase economic activity around resource management and nature-based tourism and thereby provide additional local work and jobs.

Plumas Latino Healthcare Access Project
In November 2004, the Sierra Institute launched a participatory research and assessment process in our local county (Plumas County) to understand and improve the responsiveness of community healthcare and wellness systems to the needs of a growing Latino population. The two-year project focuses on building the capacity of Latino community members to identify their own visions of health and to work with healthcare systems to seek collaborative, community-based solutions to supporting those visions.

Crescent Lake Mushroom Monitoring Project
The Crescent Lake Mushroom Monitoring project helps diverse, low-income mushroom harvesters monitor the social and ecological impacts of a major wild mushroom harvest and promotes collaboration among mobile harvesters, the US Forest Service, local community residents, law enforcement, and other stakeholders. The purpose is to integrate harvesters¹ knowledge, experience, and concerns into grassroots and institutional decision-making processes, toward the goal of protecting harvesters' livelihood and the forests upon which they depend.

Assessing Farm Worker and Community Well-being
in Response to Land Fallowing
In 2003, Southern California's Imperial Irrigation District and the San Diego County Water Authority reached the largest agriculture-to-urban water transfer agreement in US history. While the agreement holds promise for addressing environmental and human needs, it also means idle farmlands and lost jobs in one of California's richest agricultural production areas as well as highest poverty and unemployment locales. The Sierra Institute is partnering with a unique and diverse group of social and environmental organizations to assess the community-scale impacts of the agreement's land fallowing on workers, families, and local communities, and to recommend actions for remediation.

Almanor Basin Advisory Committee
Lake Almanor, the headwaters of the California State Water Project, is one of largest reservoirs in California. Scenic beauty, recreation opportunities, and development in and around the lake make it a primary economic driver in the Northern Sierra Nevada. In 2003, the Sierra Institute studied priorities of stakeholders and institutions in the Basin and offered recommendations for advancing a sustainable future in light of diverse interests, pressures, and needs (see Publications). In 2004, the Sierra Institute facilitated a process to identify principles for establishing a Lake Almanor Basin Advisory Committee that will be staffed by a watershed coordinator. The coordinator, based at the Sierra Institute, will work with the local Advisory Committee and the county to ensure water quality and effective coordination and management of the Lake Almanor Basin.

Building Capacity for Participation Among Latino Natural
Resource Worker Communities in Region 6
The Sierra Institute is working to understand and build capacity among Latino natural resource worker communities in Washington and Oregon (Region 6 of the USDA Forest Service). The project is working to:

• Provide a forum for participatory analysis, research, and action among Latino natural resource workers and harvesters
  
• Lead collaborative initiatives to promote policy that stimulates or advances effective action to address issues of representation, decision-making and participation
  
• Build the capacity of Latino communities to plan and carry out community-based projects that have a positive ongoing impact on their respective local communities
  
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