The North Yuba Forest Partnership: On being named Partnership of the Year

Written by: Jessica Alvarez, Communications and Content Manager

In late 2023, the North Yuba Forest Partnership (NYFP) earned the title of “Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region’s Partnership of the Year” at the Regional Forester and Station Director Honor Awards for its critical forest restoration work and collaboration on the North Yuba landscape. The NYFP is a partnership of nine federal, Tribal, state, and local government agencies and nonprofits focused on forest restoration across 275,000 acres of public and private lands in the North Yuba River Watershed, including the $25 million, 50,000 acre Yuba II FRB launched in 2021.  

The member organizations of the NYFP include the Tahoe National Forest, Blue Forest, Sierra County, National Forest Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, Yuba Water Agency, Camptonville Community Partnership, the Nevada City Rancheria of the Nisenan, and South Yuba River Citizens League. 

“The North Yuba [Forest Partnership], in my mind, is a result of the Yuba Project,” said Yuba Water Agency General Manager, Willie Whittlesey. “We couldn’t have had the kind of collaboration and teamwork efforts that we have had on the North Yuba watershed without the FRB and without the Blue Forest team coming to us and initiating this whole concept. The Yuba FRB really is a foundation for future large-scale work in the watershed.”

In 2023, Blue Forest announced the successful completion of its pilot Forest Resilience Bond (FRB), the Yuba I FRB, marking five years since the project launched in 2018. The Yuba I FRB laid the groundwork for the formation of the NYFP. Since its formation in 2019, the partnership has attracted over $150 million in funding to continue forest restoration work in the North Yuba River watershed. 

Through ecologically-based thinning, prescribed fire, and other forest treatments, the Partnership aims to protect communities in Yuba and Sierra counties from wildfires and safeguard wildlife, as well as the streams that nourish the North Yuba River and fill the New Bullards Bar Reservoir. 

The Partnership also aims to achieve economic sustainability by creating a local economy centered around the wood and biomass currently cluttering the forest. The nine agencies and organizations involved are developing sawmills capable of processing small-dimension logs and a biomass facility that converts wood chips into clean electricity. Known as the Camptonville Biomass Plant, the proposed facility will have the capacity to process 40,000 tons of woody material per year and will be fueled by the same clean electricity that is being produced from forest biowaste. There are also plans to include workforce development programs to teach students forestry-related skills, using wildfire fuel to generate jobs in one of California’s poorest regions.

“The innovation of the North Yuba Forest Partnership is the key to the future of our forests,” said acting Tahoe National Forest Supervisor Matt Jedra. “It takes all of us to address the wildfire crisis we are experiencing here in the west. The dedication and passion of our partners is crucial to increasing the pace and scale of forest restoration work desperately needed throughout our nation’s forests.”

This award is a testament to the great work and collaboration of all of the partners on the Tahoe National Forest and we are excited for the future successes and continued impact that this partnership will bring in this beautiful and important landscape. Blue Forest is proud to be a member of this partnership and is grateful for all our partners doing great work to protect this watershed! 

Check out this short film by award-winning filmmaker and photographer, Zach Krahmer which tells the story behind the Yuba FRBs. To stay in the know about the partnership, sign up for the NYFP quarterly newsletter here. 

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Land Acknowledgement: The North Yuba Forest Partnership recognizes that the North Yuba River watershed resides within the Ancestral and Traditional homelands of the Nisenan Tribe and intertribal regions of the Mountain Maidu, Konkow, and Washoe. These Tribes exist today and retain their relationships with the forest. We commit to the continued inclusion of their voices in this project.