2023-08-07T14:19:24-07:00 2022-12-31 811489821 HEALY AND ASSOCIATES 1200 CONCORD AVE STE 250 CONCORD CA 94520 990 2022-01-01 680485725 The Sierra Fund SIER 5302658454 204 Providence Mine Rd 214 Nevada City CA 95959 Joan Clayburgh Executive Dir. 2023-08-07 true Joan Clayburgh 999009999 true Suzanne R Healy P00533689 9256030800 0 AAL1 IAL1 FAL1 2022 2023-04-26 12:10:37Z Joan Clayburgh 204 Providence Mine Rd 214 Nevada City CA 95959 790823 false X www.sierrafund.org X 2001 CA The Sierra Fund mission is to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada. We rely on the principles of science, stewardship, environmental justice, and policy advocacy to promote headwater resiliency for the environment and communities impacted by the California Gold Rush. We identify, articulate, assess and implement ways to address these lasting impacts as demonstrated in the body of work that we have developed since our founding in 2001. 7 7 9 0 841690 734253 166083 54048 4543 2348 140 174 1012456 790823 14500 20000 0 576345 585010 0 9531 353577 335491 944422 940501 68034 -149678 777146 491472 156417 47572 620729 443900 The Sierra Fund (TSF) is a non-profit organization with a mission to restore ecosystem and community resiliency in the Sierra Nevada. false false 785198 20000 54048 Celebrated The Sierra Funds 20th Anniversary: The Sierra Fund celebrated an impressive track record! Over 20 years, the organization attracted over $100 million in public and private investments; was a critical leader in helping to establish the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, which has to date leveraged over $120 million in state funding; won a moratorium on suction dredge mining, a practice that pollutes our rivers and streams; and advanced policies and reforms that better protect our health and environment from past minings toxic legacy. An evening reception in Sacramento on April 6 appreciated all donors, legislative partners, fellow conservation leaders, and supporters who made this possible, and The Sierra Fund honored retired CEO, Izzy Martin, with a golden pinecone award.Developed New Approach to Address Wildfire and Mine Remediation: The Sierra Fund is creating an innovative new approach to restore hydraulic mine sites, reduce fuel load to address wildfires, store carbon, and prevent mercury runoff. Currently, fuel load reduction projects avoid thousands of acres of hydraulic mine-impacted areas in the Sierra because of the difficulties assessing these historically impacted sites. The Sierra Fund, in 2022, partnered with Tahoe National Forest to integrate hydraulic mine remediation into fuel load reduction for wildfire protection, piloting a new approach at the Grizzly Creek Mine site. Staff designed and conducted applied research using biochar a filter-like charcoal product made from small-diameter trees. The Sierra Fund completed the installation of test plots and conducted rainfall simulations to quantify how effective biochar is at trapping and storing sediment, including particulate-bound mercury, that would otherwise flow off of mine sites during storm events into downstream water sources. This approach also restores soil health and captures carbon and is cost-effective to do in tandem with the fuel load reduction work. Partnered with Tribes to Advance Priority Projects: The Sierra Fund partnered with Tribes on some of their priority projects on their ancestral homelands. In prior years The Sierra Fund had a series of listening sessions and this year The Sierra Fund focused on advancing projects that our Tribal partners requested our time and effort on for fundraising or project design. The Sierra Fund continued design and permitting work on the Tribute Trail with our partner California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (Nisenan) and have hopes to celebrate completion in 2023. The Sierra Fund wrote grants and secured half a million in funding this year for the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project and the Colfax Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe for water access improvements and cultural activities, including fuels reduction and native plant propagation.Trained Restoration Leaders in Nature-Based Solutions to Meadow Restoration: The Sierra Fund is leading efforts to train up restoration practitioners in best practices for restoring degraded meadows. Meadows are critical natural areas that, when healthy, help retain water longer into the season and benefit many species. Meadows can even help slow fires, giving firefighters a better chance of protecting a community (as evidenced in 2021 near Markleeville). Finally, healthy meadows store more carbon per acre than forests important as we work to avoid catastrophic climate change. In 2022, The Sierra Fund was the lead organizer for two region-wide meadow restoration-related training opportunities. The Sierra Fund organized two three-day Sierra Meadows Wetland & Riparian Area Monitoring Plan Protocols field trainings (one in Yosemite) and co-convened the first-of-its-kind training on process-based restoration with over 50 tribal members, conservationists, and students attending. One fun element of our nature-based approach is training others on how to install beaver dam analogs (man-made beaver dams) to rewet meadows and restore healthy meadow function. True success is when beaver dam analogs allow willows to regrow, and real beavers show up at that point to take over.Connected Cities and Counties to Resources to Clean up Abandoned Mine Lands: The Sierra Fund reached out to connect cities and counties to needed clean-up funding for mine-impacted lands, to better protect our health and the environment. The Sierra Fund identified the best contacts in cities and counties throughout the region and researched potential brownfields projects related to abandoned mine lands. Abandoned mine brownfields are sites with potential chemical and physical hazards that could be reused or redeveloped if assessed and cleaned up. To support cities and counties in cleaning up brownfields for reuse, The Sierra Fund created a factsheet and webpages to share funding information and other brownfields resources. The Sierra Fund helped organize a public meeting with partners in Nevada City and Grass Valley that highlighted resources by the U.S. EPA, and called and emailed cities and counties in the Sierra to alert them to these resources. The Sierra Fund look forward to continuing this work to expand the number of clean-ups that cities and counties take on.Advocated for Increased State Investments to Scale up Wildfire Protection Work: The increased severity of fire threatens our communities safety, water supply, wildlife habitat, carbon stores, Native American sacred sites, recreation, and local economies. This year The Sierra Fund partnered with Sierra Forest Legacy, Sierra Institute for Communities and the Environment, and American River Conservancy to hire an advocacy team in Sacramento to champion increasing the scale of our response to progressively intense and large wildfires and to incorporate best practices focused on building wildfire resilient ecosystems and communities. The Sierra Fund wants wildfire prevention efforts to be more holistic and employ community-scale approaches. As part of this, The Sierra Fund championed increasing the state budget allocations for prescribed fire training centers, landscape conservation and improved fire mapping, more funds for a prescribed fire liability fund, and grants for community-scaled wood utilization and ecosystem management. The Sierra Fund and partners did not get everything we asked but will continue to push for increased investment in smart forest health approaches and fuel treatments that include hydraulic mine remediation. 785198 true true false true false true false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false false true 21 0 true 9 true false false false false false false false 0 false false false false false false false X 7 7 false false false false false false false true true false false true true true true true true true true false CA X X X The Sierra Fund 5302658454 204 Providence Mine Rd 214 Nevada City CA 95959 Carrie Monohan Program Dir. 40.00 0.00 114327 0 0 Joan Clayburgh Executive Dir. 40.00 0.00 X 111696 0 0 Adrienne Alvord President 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Alison Harvey Secretary/Treas 1.00 0.00 X X 0 0 0 Robert Meacher Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Martha Lennihan Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Tim Seward Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Martha Davis Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 Brian Wallace Board Member 1.00 0.00 X 0 0 0 226023 2 false false false 0 344300 389953 734253 Fees for Service 900099 54048 54048 54048 2348 2348 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Other Income 900099 174 174 174 790823 56570 20000 20000 0 0 0 121441 87427 29345 4669 0 360672 303147 51979 5546 0 64433 58741 5604 88 38464 30799 6835 830 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 281 281 1637 1353 284 19267 10078 9189 0 32201 26818 5383 13763 12855 908 0 0 1093 166 754 173 0 0 4049 2003 2046 Contractors and Consultants 211096 197737 13359 Technical and Field Work 25953 25910 43 Facilities and Food 10066 129 11993 -2056 Recruitment expense 6660 4275 2385 9425 3760 5384 281 940501 785198 145772 9531 335018 42819 57359 0 96720 143043 7274 0 0 0 0 30 0 23053 12840 10213 10213 275434 285751 0 0 0 2372 2372 777146 491472 154720 47572 1697 156417 47572 X 127349 237928 493380 205972 620729 443900 777146 491472 -149678 -27151 X false false false X 1110885 708822 909537 840505 734253 4304002 167498 305792 153411 154583 54048 835332 0 0 0 1278383 1014614 1062948 995088 788301 5139334 0 22092 22092 22092 22092 5117242 17306 5052 3198 4493 2348 32397 0 17306 5052 3198 4493 2348 32397 0 14250 45126 14629 11500 174 85679 1309939 1064792 1080775 1011081 790823 5257410 0.97330 0.98030 0.00620 0.00550 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED false false 11220 11220 919215 930435 164565 41141 false 164565 164565 246848 11220 11220 41141 41141 61712 1 8360 12000 285751 true true 23053 12840 10213 10213 false Community Environmental Advoc PO Box 972 Cedar Ridge CA 95924 943352465 8000 0 Green Corps 1543 Wazee St STE 300 Denver CO 80202 232687791 6000 0 1 1 Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b All directors are provided with an electronic copy of the completed 990 with ample time for review prior to filing. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c We provide in the Board of Directors packet annually the requirement to disclose conflicts of interest. If a board matter arises that could present a conflict of interest for a board member, the board member recuses themselves from participating in discussion and voting on the item at the board meeting. During 2022 no board business arose that presented a potential conflict of interest at the board meeting. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15a The Board of Directors determines and approves the Executive Directors compensation as part of a Board Meeting. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 We make the 990 available on our website at https://sierrafund.org/publications/