South Fork of the American River Collaborative

Our organization is a collaborative comprising of approximately 14 charter signatories and numerous partners. The South Fork of the American River (SOFAR) Collaborative was established in 2014 as a mechanism for implementing the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy by making steady progress towards three goals: Restoring and maintaining resilient landscapes – Landscapes across all jurisdictions are resilient to fire related disturbances in accordance with management objectives. Creating fire-adapted communities– Human populations and infrastructure can withstand a wildfire without loss of life or property. Responding to wildfires – All jurisdictions participate in making and implementing safe, effective, and efficient risk-based fire management decisions. Our organization brings to the table our ongoing efforts and resultant findings as we braid together as many of the resources, initiatives, etc. to create a comprehensive strategy for the development of a resilient biomass infrastructure within El Dorado County that ultimately would link with other regional efforts to create this regional economic engine centered around forest management, watershed restoration, and wood byproducts within the forest industry sector. Through this effort, we have identified supply chain challenges and are evaluating applicable solutions as wood fiber flows from the forest to the marketplace. Additionally, there is an opportunity to develop workforce development strategies to address forest sector workforce needs through our partnership with local educational institutions. Finally, having a regional resilient biomass infrastructure will be a catalyst for economic, environmental, and social benefits for many rural and diverse communities in our region.