About

Mission, history, governance and more

Mission statement

The Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group is a community-based organization that works to create fire-safe communities, healthy forests and watersheds, and sustainable local economies.

Our Vision: The economies, natural environments, and communities of Amador and Calaveras County are healthy and sustainable.

Description: The Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group is a community-based collaborative. Its members include state and federal agencies, business owners, nonprofit organizations, elected officials and private individuals. The group focuses on a triple-bottom-line approach to environmental, economic and community issues. It makes decisions by consensus and works primarily in the upper Mokelumne River and Calaveras River watersheds east of Highway 49.

History: Milestones, Achievements & Awards

The ACCG was first convened in December 2008 by Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky, Sierra Nevada Conservancy Executive Officer Jim Branham and Sierra Business Council President Steve Frisch. The initial meeting brought together loggers, environmentalists, business owners, and local residents with federal, state and local officials, who decided to form the Calaveras Consensus Group. The group originally worked to find common ground on forest, economic, and community issues in northeastern Calaveras County, where the collapse of the timber industry decades before ago had led to chronic unemployment and poverty along with unhealthy forests and struggling local economies. In 2009, the group was broadened to include Amador County. Below are some of ACCG’s milestones, achievements and awards.

 

Year Activity
2008 First meeting convened by Calaveras County Supervisor Steve Wilensky, Jim Branham (Sierra Nevada Conservancy), and Steve Frisch (Sierra Business Council). Participants included loggers, environmentalists, community members and agency staff.
2009 Group broadened to include Amador County.
2010

Developed and adopted Forest Principles and Policies to Guide Operations.

Developed and adopted a Memorandum of Understanding for membership and governance.

Received U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester’s Award for “All-Lands Ecological Restoration”.
2011 Developed the Cornerstone Project Application for funding under the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Act.
2012

Cornerstone selected as one of ten projects approved for the CFLR Program nationally; implementation began.

Received Sierra Business Council “Sierra Vision” award.
2013

Participated in founding of Sierra to California All-Lands Enhancement project (SCALE).

Participated in the Mokelumne Environmental Benefits Program project and the Mokelumne Avoided Cost Analysis.

Developed Cornerstone Monitoring Strategy.

CFLR funds used to collect baseline conditions for Callecat, Power Fire, Mattley Meadow, West Calaveras Plantation Thinning, Ramsey Fire Salvage, Foster Firs, and Hemlock Landscape restoration projects.

Calaveras Healthy Impact Product Solutions (CHIPS) Master Participation Agreement signed. CHIPS provides the Forest Service with trained workers to implement restoration activities.
2014 Ten field trips (approximately 1,259 hours) to project sites ranging from fuels reduction to post-fire salvage, to meadow restoration.
2015

Butte Fire in Amador and Calaveras counties burns 70,868 acres.

Developed definitions of “local” for potential project contractors.

Developed monitoring strategy with tiered monitoring questions, appropriate indicators and data collection strategies.
2016

129 million trees on 8.9 million acres die due to drought and bark beetles in the state of California.

Upper Mokelumne Watershed Authority (UMRWA) signed Master Stewardship Agreement with the U.S. Forest Service.
2017 ACCG and USFS conducted an all-day Monitoring and Science Symposium to provide knowledge of ongoing work and present findings from monitoring and research occurring within the ACCG footprint.
2018

ACCG partners with Sierra Institute to conduct socioeconomic monitoring.

2017 marked the 13th anniversary of CHIPS, and several key milestones for the company, including project revenues of nearly $1,000,000; 43 full-time employees, 60% of which are of Miwok, Washoe, and Paiute heritage.

 

Memorandum of Agreement (MOA)

The purpose of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) is to provide a framework between the members of the ACCG for working together. This MOA provides clarity of intent, shared vision, membership eligibility and accountability, and basic policies and procedures for key organizational functions. Click here to view the revised MOA, which was approved by the ACCG in July 2020.

Decision-Making Process

Decision-making process of the group is defined as consensus. If consensus cannot be reached, the person or persons expressing concern are responsible for proposing an alternative which meets the same end goal. If alternatives cannot be defined immediately, the person opposing a decision is responsible for convening a meeting with relevant persons to clearly define the alternative for consideration at a subsequent meeting.

Principles & Policies to Guide Operations

The Principles and Policies to Guide Operations detailed below are intended for the use of the ACCG in guiding projects the ACCG controls, manages, sponsors or is considering endorsing. The ACCG recognizes that not all of the principles and policies may be applicable or necessary on every project. Further, the ACCG recognizes that conforming with the principles and policies will require a balanced approach as projects will need to strike a balance between environmental, community and economic objectives. Entities seeking ACCG endorsement of projects should consider how their projects evaluate or integrate the principles and policies (refer to the Project Development & Support Process).

 

 

Principles

  • Design and implement activities that protect and restore forest ecosystem resiliency, structures, processes and functions within local watersheds.
  • Seek forest and watershed planning solutions that benefit all three components of our vision: the local environment, community and economy.
  • Use adaptive management best practices supported by the most appropriate peer-reviewed, ecology-based science available.
  • Plan forest activities using the most comprehensive and current assessment of local watersheds and forests and the communities and economies they support.
 

Policies to Guide Operations: Natural Environments

  • Reduce the frequency and intensity of wildland fires that threaten life, property or important ecological resources.
  • Protect watershed soil integrity and water quality and quantity.
  • Promote the eradication of ecologically harmful invasive species.
  • Identify, manage, and enhance wildlife and plant habitat and wildlife corridor connectivity.
  • Plan and implement projects using a landscape perspective that recognizes their cumulative effects.
  • Prioritize and strategically target projects and treatment areas using the best assessment and the most appropriate adaptive management techniques available.
  • Reduce forest fuel loads to manageable, ecologically sustainable levels using site-appropriate methods: including but not limited to mechanical and/or prescribed burning methods.
  • Establish and maintain monitoring and data collection activities that improve local knowledge of forest conditions from the stand to landscape and watershed levels.
  • Promote the adaptation of management strategies and methods using the best available peer-reviewed science-based research.
 

Policies to Guide Operations: Communities

  • Treat everyone with dignity and respect, being mindful of their respective roles and responsibilities.
  • Reduce the potential for damage to life and property by:
  • Promoting the creation and maintenance of fire-safe communities through community-endorsed fuel hazard reduction projects in the forests’ interface with local communities and the built environment.
  • Promoting the use of defensible space and fire-resistant building materials and design.
  • Respect and be sensitive to Native American cultural sites, practices and resources.
  • Respect and be sensitive to historical sites.
  • Include area stakeholders in project planning and implementation.
  • Foster cooperative partnerships that maximize effectiveness and regional competitiveness of the local workforce and businesses.
  • As appropriate, provide community education and involvement opportunities to local communities.
  • Protect scenic beauty and locally important sites.
  • Enhance or do no harm to other healthy forest-based activities.

Strategic Plan & Annual Priorities

The ACCG maintains a Strategic Plan, updated every five years, to set the collaborative’s goals and track progress to reaching those goals. Click here to view the current 5-year Strategic Plan (2023-2028).

As part of 5-Year Strategic Plan development, the ACCG performs a Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis to aid in determining the current state of the collaborative. Click here to view ACCG’s current SWOT Analysis.

ACCG’s Annual Priorities are intended to help guide the collaborative’s focus and actions for the calendar year. Each priority category is assigned to a working group or individual member, and is the responsibility of the assigned party to execute and report out regularly on the priority item. This list is meant to be defined annually and to work toward the goals outlined in the current 5-year Strategic Plan.

Communication & Engagement Plan

ACCG’s Communication and Engagement (C&E) Plan, first developed in 2021 (link to 2021 version of plan), provides information to guide the communication, outreach and engagement, and education activities of the Amador-Calaveras Consensus Group (ACCG). It identifies goals, principles, audiences, basic messages, communication objectives and strategies, education objectives and strategies, and annual evaluation and prioritization. This plan is meant to serve as a living document that will be updated, as warranted. Click here to view the 2024-2028 Communication and Engagement (C&E) Plan.

Members & Participants

ACCG Members are signatories of the revised Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), working together to create fire-safe communities, healthy forests and watersheds, and sustainable local economies. ACCG Active Participants are defined as those who are not Members (signatories of the revised MOA), but that have participated in General Meetings and/or Work Group Meetings at least twice in the last 12 months. Former Participants are defined as non-members and non-active participants.

Members

Below is a list of our members and signatories of the revised Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), working together to create fire-safe communities, healthy forests and watersheds, and sustainable local economies:

 

 

Active Participants

Below is a list of active participants, defined as those who are not Members (signatories of the revised MOA), but that have participated in General Meetings and/or Work Group Meetings at least twice in the last 12 months:

 

 

Former Participants

Below is a list of former participants of the collaborative,  defined as non-members and non-active participants:

 

 

Work Groups

Within the collaborative, Standing Work Groups provide the routine organizational functions of the ACCG. These work groups are currently Administration, Planning, Landscape Assessment, Monitoring and Funding Coordination. Click here to navigate the Work Groups & Programs page to learn more about individual working groups. The following policies and procedures apply to all ACCG work groups:

 

  • Work groups have at least three (3) members that represent the triple bottom line values:
    environment, community, and economy.
  • Work groups will aim to maintain a balanced representation of interests representing the
    triple bottom line.
  • Similar to the full ACCG General Meetings, a work group‘s meetings and activities are not
    limited only to appointees directly responsible for that work group’s particular function.
  • Initial work group appointments are approved by the ACCG.
  • Work groups will offer the opportunity to engage new members by discussing work group
    representation at least once a year. The intent is to encourage inclusivity, share in support of
    the ACCG, foster new ideas, and cultivate the next generation of members.

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