The Sierra Fund conducts a variety of projects working to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada, as well as increase investment & capacity in the region.
Ecosystem Resiliency Projects:
The Sierra Fund’s Ecosystem Resiliency Projects aim to address the ongoing impacts of legacy mining in the Sierra Nevada.
Malakoff Diggins
This project, started in 2011, works to assess and address legacy mercury pollution at Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park, in order to clean up the watershed and provide a model for similar sites across the Sierra.
Combie Reservoir Sediment and Mercury Removal
This project, led by Nevada Irrigation District, promises to serve as a model for restoring water storage capacity while removing mercury from Sierra reservoirs.
Debris Control Dam Assessment
The Sierra Fund is identifying, characterizing and prioritizing debris dams for an inventory of hydraulic mine features using LiDAR.
Clover Valley Ranch
A pilot project to restore resiliency to a Sierra Nevada montane meadow.
Fish Passage at Englebright
A project to restore volitional fish passage to the Yuba River.
Reclaiming the Sierra Conference
The Sierra Fund’s biennial conference is the state’s primary venue for collaboration and action addressing ongoing effects of historic mining.
Capacity Building Projects:
Nisenan Cultural Reclamation Corridor (NCRC)
A project to support realization of Nisenan cultural land management priorities on a 32-acre parcel in Nevada City.
Get the Mercury Out Campaign
The goal of The Sierra Fund’s “Get the Mercury Out” campaign is to increase public funding for the cleanup of legacy mines in the California.
Mining Reform
Advocacy to protect Sierra Nevada lands and waters from irresponsible mining.
Establishing the Sierra Nevada Conservancy
The Sierra Fund has played a key role in the vision, establishment and continued support of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, a new California state agency dedicated to the region.
Past Managed Projects:
Deer Creek Tribute Trail
The Sierra Fund administers this collaborative project to build a trail system and two bridges in downtown Nevada City – working with over 10 partner organizations.
Rice’s Crossing Preserve
The Sierra Fund assisted numerous partners in acquiring funding for an important 2,706 acre parcel that spans 9.5 miles of the Yuba River, and was a high priority target in the partners’ vision for a 25-mile Yuba River Parkway.
ART OnSite
Premiering in the summer of 2013, the ART-OnSite/Tribute Trail project was a juried art exhibition of environmental art that celebrated the history, culture, and ecology of the Deer Creek Tribute Trail in Nevada City.
Mammoth Lakes Trails Fund
The Mammoth Lakes Trails Fund promoted the establishment of a vision of trails and public access in the Eastern Sierra community of Mammoth Lakes now known as the Mammoth Lakes Trails and Public Access Foundation.
Breast Cancer Research Project
The Sierra Fund was fiscal sponsor of this project to provide breast cancer support groups locally to women via video-conferencing in rural Sierra Counties.
Saving the Sierra, Voices of Conservation in Action
The Sierra Fund served the financial needs of the award-winning project telling stories that document community efforts to conserve the environment, culture, and economy of the Sierra Nevada.
Community Resiliency Projects:
The Sierra Fund’s Community Resiliency Projects aim to improve overall community health by preventing public exposure to legacy mining contaminants.
Environmental Health Outreach
This ongoing campaign aims to raise awareness about legacy mercury pollution, and help Sierra residents understand how to avoid exposure.
Environmental Health History Surveys
In 2010, The Sierra Fund, in partnership with California State University Chico, developed a project to pilot test environmental history forms at clinics in the region.
Recreational Trails and Abandoned Mines Assessment
The Sierra Fund’s 2009-10 study to learn whether a public health threat exists on trails that pass through abandoned mine sites.
Due Diligence for the Acquisition of Mine-Scarred Lands
The goal of the project is to create a model pre-acquisition assessment for evaluating both cultural resources and environmental impacts on properties that contain historic mines.
Grass Valley Brownfields Outreach
The Sierra Fund is assisting the City of Grass Valley with community outreach activities for the Brownfields program to assess and clean up potentially contaminated properties.
BLM Deer Creek Project
The Sierra Fund has provided local outreach and community involvement around this project, which worked to investigate the lasting impacts of historic mining on Bureau of Land Management property along Deer Creek downstream of Nevada City.
Gold Country Angler Survey
Starting in 2009, The Sierra Fund has conducted surveys of people fishing at regional water bodies, to learn whether they are being exposed to mercury from eating locally caught fish.
Posting Fish Consumption Advisories
A project to post state-issued fish consumption advisories at Sierra reservoirs.
Disadvantaged Community Needs Identification
TSF is working in the local region of Grass Valley to understand the water quality, water access, stormwater and sewerage needs of our region.
Fiscally Sponsored Projects:
The Sierra Fund serves as fiscal sponsor and managing organization in order to provide needed capacity for projects in the Sierra region. Click here to read more about our fiscal sponsorship services. Current projects include:
Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership
The Bodie Hills Conservation Partnership is a coalition of organizations working toward the permanent protection of the Bodie Hills, an American treasure with exceptional scenic, historic and recreational values.
Bear Creek Watershed Group
The Bear Creek Watershed Group works to gather and integrate existing information of the physical, cultural, and demographic variables, which characterize the Bear Creek watershed at present and in the past.
Local Water Stays Local
The mission of Local Water Stays Local is to safeguard the availability of fresh water and clean air and to maintain the quality of life in and around Shingletown, CA.
