A local non-profit focused on restoring resiliency in the Sierra Nevada region is getting some help from the California Natural Resources Agency and Proposition 68. The Sierra Fund is the recipient of a 344 thousand dollar grant to continue work on the Phase 2 of the Nisenan Preserve Project. Sierra Fund Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth Martin, says the funds will be used to enhance a 32 acre property along Deer Creek west of Nevada City that was recently purchased by the Nisenan.

Martin says the grant proposes three phases of support. The first is forest management of the property to help increase the health of the forest as well as reduce widfire fuels. The second is to work with CHIRP and the NIsenan to create a development plan.

The third purpose is to secure areas that have safety hazards from legacy mining operations which include mine air shafts, and soil contamination.
Martin says the entire project is important to restoring the Nisenan Tribe, which lost its offical designation as a recognized tribe in the 1960s.