HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.21.26 Board Correspondence - FW_ FORESTRY NEWS_ Board Shares New Hands-On Mass Timber Workshop Opportunity.ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening attachments,
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From:Clerk of the Board
To:Clerk of the Board; Connelly, Bill; Cook, Holly; Cook, Robin; Durfee, Peter; Jessee, Meegan; Kimmelshue, Tod; Kitts,
Melissa; Krater, Sharleen; Lee, Lewis; Little, Melissa; Pickett, Andy; Ritter, Tami; Stephens, Brad J.; Sweeney, Kathleen;
Teeter, Doug; Zepeda, Elizabeth
Cc:Sjolund, Garrett; Nuzum, Danielle
Subject:Board Correspondence - FW: FORESTRY NEWS: Board Shares New Hands-On Mass Timber Workshop Opportunity
Date:Tuesday, April 21, 2026 11:16:48 AM
Attachments:image001.png
Please see Board Correspondence -
Lewis LeeAdministrative Technician - ConfidentialButte County Administration25 County Center Drive, Suite 200 • Oroville, CA 95965T: 530.552.3326www.buttecounty.ca.gov | lelee@buttecounty.ca.gov
From: California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection <PublicComments@bof.ca.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2026 11:03 AM
To: Clerk of the Board <clerkoftheboard@buttecounty.ca.gov>
Subject: FORESTRY NEWS: Board Shares New Hands-On Mass Timber Workshop Opportunity
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NEWS ADVISORY
California Board of Forestry and Fire Protection Shares New
Hands-On Mass Timber Workshop Opportunity
The workshop will show participants how to make panels to be used for local
fire workforce housing. The workshop will also demonstrate the role of mass
timber in making affordable, code-compliant projects that use local wood to
create structures that support forest health, local housing needs, climate goals,
and wildfire risk reduction.
TRUCKEE—A new workshop this month called “Building Tahoe Housing
from Local Wood: Hands-On Mass Timber Workshop” on April 24th will
provide practical training to those interested in learning how to use local
wood to make affordable mass timber housing. This workshop builds on
UC Berkeley’s ‘Mountain Community Workforce Housing with Mass
Timber Elements’ work funded by the Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection’s Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation.
With Truckee and many of the state’s mountain communities facing
housing shortages and escalating wildfire risks, this hands-on workshop
will demonstrate an affordable, low tech, practical path forward from
forest restoration to workforce housing. Attendees will hear about how
trees from forest restoration projects can be transformed into structural
mass timber building materials for local housing that can be replicated
anywhere in the state. The training will cover how to construct cost-
effective, simple, nail-laminated timber (NLT) panels to create code-
compliant engineered wood systems that can be used for floors, walls,
and roofs in local construction.
“Using sustainably sourced California wood from forest restoration
projects to make affordable, climate-friendly housing is an exciting way
to support state forest health and wildfire reduction goals while also
supporting rural economic development through affordable workforce
housing,” said Katie Harrell, program manager for the Board of Forestry
and Fire Protection’s Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation.
Panels produced by workshop attendees will be used in the construction
of a prototype for U.S. Forest Service Truckee hotshot crew housing
barracks at Hobart Mills, providing a model for future mountain
communities looking for workforce housing solutions.
WHAT: Building Tahoe Housing from Local Wood: Hands-On Panel
Workshop
WHEN: Friday, April 24, 2026,1:00 – 4:00 pm
WHERE: Hobart Mills Forest Service Work Center, Truckee, CA
REGISTRATION: tinyurl.com/TahoeWoodPanels2026
Across California’s forests and in the Tahoe/Truckee region, forest
restoration work is generating large volumes of wood. Forest thinning
from restoration work is critical for community safety, wildfire resilience,
air quality, and water retention; however, this material is typically piled
and left to rot, burned, or transported out of the region due to limited
local processing capacity.
These regions also face workforce housing shortages, which are critical
to long-term rural economic resilience. In the Tahoe/Truckee region
alone, two thirds of the population spend over 30 percent of their
income on housing, with half of the local workforce commuting into the
region for work. Based on recent estimates, more than 22,000 additional
housing units are needed to support local workforce needs.
Mass timber construction like NLT is gaining attention as a way to use
small-diameter and low-value wood from forest thinning activities,
reduce construction time through prefabrication, lower material costs
compared to conventional systems, and support local manufacturing
and workforce development. Unlike more capital-intensive mass timber
systems, NLT can be produced with relatively simple tools, making it a
good fit for small-scale, local production in mountain regions like
Truckee.
This event is co-organized by the Tahoe Prosperity Center, Berkeley
Wood Lab, Tahoe Earth Institute, and US Forest Service Truckee Hotshots
as part of the Tahoe Wood project, an initiative focused on identifying
small-scale wood-based business opportunities that support forest
restoration, strengthen regional supply chains, and create local jobs
across the Tahoe region.
For more information about the training, contact Erika Veidis, Tahoe
Earth Institute, at erika@tahoeearthinstitute.org or (973) 459-6297. For
more information on the Board and the Joint Institute, contact Katie
Harrell at (916) 698-1035 or katie.harrell@bof.ca.gov.
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