3:00 pm Check-In

3:00 pm - 4:30 pm Settle in, explore the lake, meet new friends

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm Welcome Plenary
• Laurel Harkness, RVCC, Coalition Director
• Lisa Lien-Mager, California Natural Resources Agency, Deputy Secretary for Forest and Wildfire Resilience
• Dan Johnson, USDA Rural Development, Deputy State Director of California
• Rosalie Herrera, Deputy Forest Supervisor, Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Dinner

7:30 pm Socializing, star gazing, bonfire, optional short film screenings

7:00 am - 8:00 am Breakfast

8:00 - 10:00 am Morning Plenary
Keynote
• Don Hankins, California State University Chico

“Political Realities” Panel
• Leslie Neu-Lamping, RVCC (moderator)
• Brett Fulcer, Brumidi Group
• Michael O'Casey, Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership
• Kathleen Rutherford Riggs, Kolibri Consulting Group
• Pete Nelson, Overstory Strategies

Stewardship Economy: The Stewardship Economy framework is shaped by the need, and responsibility, to manage for the sustainability of both land and communities. The framework is rooted in shared place-based values, equity, and collaboration. We’ll explore the narrative, context, and utility of the Stewardship Economy framework alongside other rural economic development models.
• Laurel Harkness, RVCC (moderator)
• Nils Christoffersen & Larz Stewart, Wallowa Resources
• Chris Estes, Aspen Institute
• Nicole Manapol, International Economic Development Council

10:30 am - 12:00 pm Concurrent Sessions

1. Attainable Housing for the Stewardship Workforce: Attainable housing is critical for our stewardship workforce and overall community well-being in the West. We’ll have a solutions forward conversation focused on existing and emerging partnerships, shared-equity models, and policy levers to increase housing supply in rural communities.
• Laurel Harkness, RVCC (moderator)
• Katie Egland Cox, Kaniksu Land Trust
• Jacob Stock, Tahoe Regional Planning Agency
• Lydia Lopez, California Community Land Trust Network
• Chase Janvrin, Placemate

2. Non-governmental Support of Tribal Natural Resources Management: Two of the only things that can be generalized across almost all native groups in the US is that they do good work, especially in natural resources management, and that there are gaps in the support they would need in order to scale up that work that government is not effectively filling. Within this context, how can non-governmental and community based organizations, like those that make up the core and majority of RVCC’s coalition, fill those gaps in support for Tribal natural resources management for the benefit of all?
• Cole Jenson, RVCC (Moderator)
• Jonathan Martin, NAU Ecological Restoration Institute
• Brian Wallace, Sierra Fund
• Belinda Brown and Marko Bey, Lomakatsi
• Hank Copsey and Bob Christensen, Organized Village of Kake, AK / Sustainable Southeast Partnership

3. Innovations in Community-Led Burning: From prescribed burn associations to certified burn manager programs to Indigenous-led burning to prescribed fire councils, communities across the West are stewarding their lands by reclaiming their relationship with fire. Come hear from fire practitioners and community leaders about these innovations in community-led burning.
• Leslie Neu-Lamping, RVCC (moderator)
• Don Hankins, California State University Chico
• Neil Fleckenstein, Tall Timbers
• Jack Rinck, Montana Department of Natural Resources
• Aaron Krikav, Rogue River Valley PBA
• Lenya Quinn-Davidson, University of California Extensions

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Concurrent Sessions
1. Supporting Regional Small Wood Utilization: Why and How: An exploration of how networks of community scale infrastructure for small diameter wood utilization that access regional or local markets can and should fit into the North American wood industry for the benefit of rural communities and the climate.
• Cole Jenson, RVCC (moderator)
• Bob Christensen, Sustainable Southeast Partnership
• Georgia Reid, Wisewood Energy
• Matt King, Heartwood Biomass
• Temra Costa, Regenerative Forest Solutions
• Jeremy Fisher, Forestree Collective

2. Applying Outcome-Based Frameworks: To advance stewardship practices that are community, landscape and climate-positive, we need clear outcome-based frameworks that can measure performance and define a relationship between vision, goals, strategies, and initiatives. How do we lift up local and traditional knowledge in defining, measuring, monitoring and communicating outcomes?
• Laurel Harkness, RVCC (moderator)
• Katherine Wollstein, Oregon State University
• Chris Estes, Aspen Institute
• Nic Enstice, California Department of Conservation

3. Sustained Funding for All-Lands Stewardship: Whether for complex wildfire, forest, water, or climate concerns, all-lands work is attracting new non-traditional funding sources to place-based and collaborative efforts. Come learn about the innovative ways communities and organizations are building sustained funding models with new all-lands stewardship partners.
• Leslie Neu-Lamping, RVCC (moderator)
• Robin Hanson, California Rangeland Trust
• Nick Goulette, Watershed Research and Training Center
• Brittany Covich, Sierra Nevada Conservancy

3:00 pm - 3:30 pm Break

3:30 pm - 4:15 pm Concurrent Sessions

1. Producer-Centered Climate Markets: A conversation with three ranchers about what a market that was designed to work for producers might look like, how our current system looks different from that ideal, and how we might get closer.
• Cole Jenson, RVCC (moderator)
• Breanna Owens, Cobblestone Ranch
• Alex Karol, Western Landowners Alliance/California Grazing Lands Coalition
• Nathan Boies, Boies Ranch

2. Community Benefit Agreements: What is a Community Benefit Agreement? We’ll explore the mechanics and outcomes of this important approach with a focus on equity, justice, and long-term community well-being in climate and infrastructure development.
• Chelsea Pennick, Policy Analysis Group, University of Idaho

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm Policy Roundtable / no-host "Happy Hour"

6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Dinner

7:30 pm ** Live music - Preacher’s Pickers** + socializing, star gazing, and bonfire jam

7:30 am - 8:30 am Breakfast

8:30 am - 9:00 am Room check-out (store bags)

9:00 am - 10:30 am Storytelling
Sharing stories of place through the lens of stewardship economy
• Caressa Nguyen, Conservation X Labs
• Leslie Neu-Lamping, RVCC
• Chloe Schneider, Environmental Defense Fund

10:45 am - 11:45 am Closing Session and Reflections
• Cole Jenson, RVCC (facilitator)

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm Lunch or sack lunch pickup + depart

1:00 pm END