Healthy Headwaters

At 257,000 acres, the 2013 Rim Fire was the largest wildfire in the history of the Sierra Nevada at that time. This mega-fire struck in the heart of the upper Tuolumne River watershed, impacting a landscape affected by historic drought conditions and followed by an unprecedented tree mortality event. 

Since then, we have worked closely with the Stanislaus National Forest, Tuolumne County, and the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions (YSS) forest collaborative to identify and secure millions of dollars in funding to implement small and large scale restoration projects,  that invest in our local communities, and build resilience back into our region’s forested landscape. 

TRT has found that comprehensive planning activities must occur first, ranging from landscape-level forest health planning to prioritizing meadows most in need of restoration. We work with our collaborative partners, while utilizing cutting edge technologies as well as local field-based knowledge to find the best ways to accomplish unique projects and to create restoration strategies that have cumulative effects, allowing us to leverage dollars and support to have the maximum impact possible on the ecological health of the central Sierra Nevada. 

Our restoration work in the Headwaters of the watershed falls largely into two programs: Forest Restoration and Meadow and Wildlife Habitat Restoration. We are currently involved in many efforts under these programs in the Stanislaus National Forest, in partnership with the Wildlife Conservation Board, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, CalFIRE, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, AmeriCorps NCCC, and an array of other partners.

To learn more about our project sites, use the interactive map below:

Click here for a full screen version of this map.