CA Reforestation Bulletin

Winter 2026

In this edition:

Highlights from The Understory (RPP Fall Gathering)
2025 California Squirrel Award Winners
Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force: December Meeting Takeaways
Surplus Seedlings Seeking in-ground Homes
Readings and Resources to Root for
Upcoming Events
Job Openings
Branching Off

Editor's Note

Greetings Forest Friends,

The darkest days of winter are behind us now as the daylight lengthens. I hope your end-of-year celebrations and holidays were enjoyable in ways meaningful to you. In this issue of the CA Reforestation Bulletin, I'm excited to share with you highlights from last month's 'The Understory' fall gathering of the California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership that, at least for me, was a highlight of the year. We were truly in good company, and I am always so impressed by the knowledge, talent, humility and good humor you all bring to these events! In collaborative work, I have found it to be true that there is simply no replacement for exchanging ideas, lessons learned, frustrations, laughter, and life updates together in person.

Our team is working on pinning down dates and locations of in-person 2026 RPP events, including Cone Camps (June-July), field tours (July, October), and the fall gathering (October TBD). We're also excited to be launching the Reforestation Science huddle to offer virtual and in-person opportunities for learning and discussion. We'll be sharing those out as soon as possible, and likely on Slack first, so that you can plan ahead to join your reforestation community peers as much as makes sense for you this year.

And speaking of our team, I want to wish a warm farewell and hearty thanks to Ruby Beauchamp (pictured below left alongside myself and Kelli Oelrichs at The Understory), our departing RPP Coordinator, who has come to the end of her Sierra Nevada Alliance forestry fellowship. Ruby positively thrived in a multi-faceted role that had her supporting cross-boundary cone collection, planning events, helping train folks and do climbing demonstrations at Cone Camps, and even leading the design of this very newsletter. She will be missed, but we wish her all the best for what's ahead!

Hibernate a while longer if you can, spring will be upon us before long 🌱

Highlights from The Understory, RPP's Fall Gathering

We are still basking in the afterglow of an incredible fall gathering that would not have been possible without the support and participation of 150+ practitioners, researchers, industry professionals, Tribes, and representatives from state and federal agencies.

Presented by the California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership and hosted by American Forests, The Understory spanned three days and included a tour of the CAL FIRE State Reforestation Center in Davis, CA and two conference days in Roseville, CA.

Designed to provide space for honest collective conversation about the state of fire-impacted forests in California, The Understory encouraged participants to overcome differences, exchange knowledge, and work together to remove bottlenecks along the reforestation pipeline. Furthermore, The Understory provided space to discuss cutting edge reforestation science, policy, landscape history, and workforce issues relevant in addressing the reforestation backlog and keeping up with present-day fires, climate change, drought stress, and pest threats to our forests.

There is much work to do and we all play a critical role in shaping what comes next for fire-altered forests in California and their stewards. Together, we are well positioned to do the work that needs doing. Keep at it!

Click Here to View the Key Themes & Program Outline from the Event

Click Here to View Squirrel Award Nominees and Winners

2025 California Squirrel Award Winners

Let's congratulate our seven Squirrel Award Winners! These folks demonstrated unparalleled commitment to cone collection this season whether they spent long days on the road surveying for crops and transporting cones, climbed the most trees, or worked behind the scenes coordinating collections across the state.

Road Warrior - Jack Stewart & Robert Ochoa, Cone Corps, Southern Sierras
Rookie of the Year - Reiley Allison, Cone Corps on the Stanislaus NF
Squirrel of the Year - Colt Langstaff, Sierra Cone
Cone Squad of the Year - New Growth Forest Management
Bushel Bagger – Stanislaus National Forest (Nell Cook, Jacob Baker, Ryan Murdoff, Cynthia Harmon, Kristin Meyer, Lia Jigour, & Vincent Camp)
Cone Hunter of the Year - Spencer Lachman, CAL FIRE
Hidden Champion - Olivia Roe, US Forest Service, Sierra NF

Spencer Lachman (center left, CAL FIRE Reforestation Services) accepts the 'Cone Hunter of the Year' California Squirrel Award from 2024 winner, Marisol Villarreal (center right, CAL FIRE Reforestation Services) at The Understory on Dec. 4, 2025.

Reiley Allison (center, CA Cone Corps/American Forests/Stanislaus National Forest) accepts the 'Rookie of the Year' California Squirrel Award from RPP staff at The Understory on Dec. 4, 2025.

Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force: December Meeting Takeaways

The year-end meeting of the Task Force, held at the CA Natural Resources Agency headquarters in Sacramento, reflected on statewide landscape treatment accomplishments and annual investment outcomes, and projected goals for 2026. The Task Force also announced progress on the 2026 Action Plan, a draft framework for mobilizing coordinated regional forest resilience action.

View meeting archives here...

Readings and Resources to Root for

U.C. Davis Ecology Ph.D candidate Nina Venuti in her lab. (Jael Mackendorf / UC Davis)

Finding that Ripe Cone Sweet Spot

by Emily C. Dooley

UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences research aims to model cone ripeness to help collect seed for use after fires

Read the story...

Braiding Indigenous and Western Knowledge for Climate-Adapted Forests: An Ecocultural State of Science Report

Indigenous Peoples stewarded lands throughout North America for millennia. Today’s forests continue to require respectful, proactive stewardship that fosters economic and ecological values such as clean water, fertile soil, food, material resources, and stored carbon.

This report provides five recommendations that weave together Indigenous Knowledge and western science to promote healthy ecocultural outcomes that address the challenges our forests face today.

Read the full report...

Dr. Cristina Eisenberg, co-author of the Braiding Sweetgrass Report, speaks at The Understory during the "History in the Making: Indigenous Knowledge and Restoration After Fire" session on Dec 4, 2025 in Roseville, CA.

Advancing Wildfire Resilience Workforce & Career Development in California

Researchers from Sierra Business Council and The Watershed Research and Training Center studied the current wildfire resilience workforce and drafted seven recommendations for hiring and retaining staff in the sector. The report covers a wide range of topics from work culture and human resources to mentorship and education.

Read the full report...

Allison Jolley, co-author of the Workforce & Career Development report presents key findings at The Understory during the "Workforce Germination" session on Dec. 4, 2025.

For the first time, California has a single wall-to-wall picture of forest and vegetation conditions.

California Releases First-ever Statewide LiDAR Maps

NASA Ames Research Center in partnership with the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force announced the release of new datasets on forest and vegetation conditions built from LiDAR, offering detailed three-dimensional maps of the landscape.