Forest Flash: Rising Resilient in a Time of Crisis

In Pacific Forest Trust’s e-newsletter, Forest Flash, we send you the most recent PFT news and updates on forests, clean water, climate, and wildlife, no more than once or twice a month. Subscribe here.

Dear Friends:

Over the last few weeks, our office has been closed and our staff members have been working from home as we all seek to control the spread of COVID-19. Even as all our lives have been up-ended, please be assured your team at PFT is continuing to work hard to help conserve the forests that sustain us, providing clean water for us to drink, wood for our homes and buildings, and homes for myriad wildlife and fish. Thank you to those who have been thinking of us, checking in, and sending donations to further this critical work. Together, we will get through this challenging time, which is why it is so important that we stay connected every chance we get. This Flash shares some of the exciting, positive work we are doing with your support. Please feel free to send us a message with your questions, or give us a call at 415-561-0700, ext. 33. Thank you!

A Dream to Restore a Resilient Forest Bordering Lake Shasta

Salt Creek pours through Lightning Canyon Ranch, forming the Salt Creek Arm of Lake Shasta

When two devastating wildfires of 2018—the Carr and Hirz fires—burned around the city of Redding, California, one forested ownership separated them, the almost 2,100-acre Lightning Canyon Ranch. Originally the site of a poorly planned subdivision, prime for Wildland-Urban interface problems, this property was painstakingly assembled by Bob and Catherine Hixon from 24 parcels! Their dream is to convert these small parcels into a thriving forest, lush with streams and abundant wildlife, instead of houses across the land.

Lightning Canyon Ranch

Restoring and conserving this forest is Bob and Catherine’s vision for their dramatic Lightning Canyon Ranch on Sacramento Mountain, a few minutes from Lake Shasta, so they turned to Pacific Forest Trust to help their dream become reality. A conservation easement we crafted will knit together more than 24 parcels into one big 2,080-acre property, preventing the development of at least 23 homes and associated outbuildings, roads and utilities encroaching on the Lake Shasta National Recreation Area. Preventing the expansion of building into wildlands and commercial timberland is crucial to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfire to communities. Conserved and well-managed, this forest will serve as a barrier to fires spreading into adjacent US Forest Service and private industrial forestlands.

The Hixons are committed to managing the property to reduce fuels and enhance habitat, while supplying wood to the local mills. They plan to reinvest the proceeds from the conservation easement into creating a more climate resilient landscape for the benefit of people and wildlife.

Learn more and help PFT conserve this strategic, beautiful property.

New Charitable Giving Incentives to Help One Another Weather the COVID-19 Storm

In the new CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act (read bill here) passed by Congress last week, there is an invitation for us all to sustain, and even expand, our charitable giving to help non-profit organizations as they continue to provide essential services for people and nature. Everyone will be able to claim a $300 tax deduction for charitable gifts, even if you don’t itemize your deductions. And if you do itemize, the cap on making tax deductible charitable gifts has been increased from 60% of your taxable income to 100%. Corporation limits have also increased from 10% to 25% of taxable income. To learn more, consult your tax advisor.

We at PFT are so grateful for your help in supporting our work on behalf of forests, forest communities, climate solutions, and water security throughout this calamitous time.

Rising Resilient: Restoring Yosemite’s Forests

In 2018, the Ferguson Fire ripped up the Merced Canyon, threatening to burn into Yosemite National Park at Chinquapin. The fire was stopped on the Henness Ridge, right in the middle of PFT’s Henness Ridge ownership. Almost half of our roughly 1,000-acre ownership was burned (we acquired these lands, part of John Muir’s original proposal for the Park, to protect them from further development and help buffer the Park). In 2019, we got ready to restore these burns, planting back over 125,000 seedlings with a natural mix of species. In early-mid April, when the nourishing snows that fell in March melt, we plan to get these trees in the ground, and restart a vibrant, thriving forest! Learn more about this exciting project in our next ForestLife and 2019 Annual Report! You can help restore this beautiful forest by donating here. 

PFT’s Henness Ridge property has commanding views of Yosemite National Park

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