Earlier this month, kids from several local youth groups headed up Highway 168 and gathered at what remains of Cressman’s General Store and Gas Station.  Scouts, 4-H and FFA members as young as 8 years old spread out in the vicinity of the 116-year-old landmark, each planting one or more young pine trees that will take up to 50 years to reach their full height.  In an area where multi-generational histories are the norm, the breadth of time was on full display.

The tree planting at Cressman’s and nearby Shaver Ranch was organized by the Central Sierra Resiliency Fund, a group that, though only a few weeks old, is already used to thinking in terms of broad time scales.  Founded in part by families whose histories in the area, like many families, go back many generations, the Resiliency Fund is looking not just at how to get the Sierras back on their feet, but at how to keep them healthy and vibrant for generations to come.  And they have assembled an impressive group of community members to help in the effort.

“When the Creek Fire violently swept through the Pine Ridge area including Shaver Ranch and Cressman’s General Store, it awoke in that soil something stronger than fire,” the group told Raised at Huntington Lake in an email interview.  “The stories of this historic community and the families that were deeply impacted have risen from the ashes.”

Central to the Resiliency Fund are two families with particularly deep and historic ties to the area: The Gillett family, owners and operators of Cressman’s, and the Shaver-McDonald family, stewards of Shaver Ranch whose history dates back to their pioneer ancestor C.B. Shaver, namesake of Shaver Lake.  Both families were among the many who, in the midst of the devastation caused by the Creek Fire, became determined to help the area rebuild.

“I told my wife, Tara, that nothing was going to get in the way of rebuilding our lives and Cressman’s,” Cressman’s owner Ty Gillett said. “This is where we grew up, fell in love, established our family and built a community of friends that feel like family.” 

“As multiple friends and families who had lost their homes gathered to support each other and cope with the losses, we started looking for the appropriate place to direct funds to support long-term recovery of the Central Sierra forest and community,” the group told us.  “There were so many ‘Go Fund Me’ pages popping up but some of them were fraudulent, including a false Cressman’s store fundraiser! This influenced our thinking that long-term there needed to be a fund in place that had non-profit, tax exempt status to do the most good for the most people.”

The families looked to the community for support, and found it in bunches.  Sahara Saude-Bigelow, a Tollhouse native, volunteered to contribute her experience in community building and non-profit work to the effort as a lead organizer.  Debbie Nalchajian-Cohen of Cohen Communications provided her services for the Fund’s public relations efforts.  And the non-profit backing they required was provided by the Central Sierra Historical Society, a Shaver Lake-based 501(c)(3) organization.  With other community members volunteering their time and expertise as well, the pieces were in place and the Resiliency Fund was born.

“We were all touched by the outpouring of support from the broader community to help those who lost homes or were evacuated from homes,” the group told us.  “We wanted to bring hope amidst the smoke, disruption of our personal lives, and the community-wide devastation of homes, livestock, and our beloved forest…  We want to ensure the resources are available to restore the forests and get people back living, working, and recreating on the mountain again.”

“Helping to establish the Central Sierra Resiliency Fund with the Historical Society means that monies raised can help support collaborative community efforts now, while also focusing on long-term needs,” Gillett said.  “Providing a tax-deductible way of contributing also allows for funding to come from people outside of the region who love the area like we do.”

The Resiliency Fund is focused on the long-term restoration, revitalization, and stewardship of the region, which in addition to Huntington Lake and Lakeshore includes Big Creek, Shaver Lake, Pine Ridge, Meadow Lakes, Alder Springs, and Auberry. The group has identified three areas of focus for its efforts: land restoration, local stewardship and “economic efforts that honor the historical legacy of the Central Sierra region.”

“We will do all we can to replant and steward the forests,” the group wrote.  “Qualified professionals involved with The Fund have already begun soil preparation and erosion management planning efforts. The critical needs right now are to detoxify the soils and address drainage issues resulting from the vastly altered landscape.

“As we transition out of crisis mode into a long-term recovery stage, The Fund will be instrumental in supporting long-term efforts to steward the forests at a local level as well as steward the people, the unique historical legacy of our area, and the plants and animals living among us.  This long-term stewardship will need to address ongoing threats to our forests, including, but not limited to, clearing dead trees… Recognizing that future fires could cause similar destruction, the community members involved with this effort seek to inspire this spirit of local responsibility and appropriate management of all that the mountain community has been entrusted to steward.”

In addition to tending to our forests, the Fund also plans to assist the community in other ways, from assisting in gaining permit and regulatory approvals needed for rebuilding, to maintaining a historical record of this turbulent period and of the areas that were lost to the fire through the Historical Society.  The group has had good success bringing together the people necessary for these endeavours.

“This diverse group of community members involved with the Fund represents multiple generations; business owners, doctors, nurses, lawyers, foresters, an ecologist, firemen and women, bankers, contractors, teachers, fundraisers, and policy makers,” the group wrote.  “Many other volunteers from the community have stepped forward to offer their services or volunteer time to jump in to help however they can, including a passionate group of mothers who see daily the faces of those who this effort will ultimately benefit–our next generation who will steward our unique Central Sierra.”

Community members involved with the group participate in two ways.  Five community members form the Resiliency Council, which will direct the Fund’s efforts.  Two Council members, John Mount and Juli Stewart, are registered professional foresters; another, Riley Young, is an ecologist and Senior Advisor to Southern California Edison.  Four live in the Shaver Lake area.  This group will be overseen by the Board of the Historical Society, and will manage the money raised in a restricted fund as well as determine the mission-aligned, tax-exempt projects to which it will be directed.

Others are involved as Fund Ambassadors, contributing their time and expertise as needed to the Fund’s activities.  Several well known organizations and families from Huntington Lake are involved in this role, from the Huntington Lake Association, Huntington Lake Volunteer Fire Department, and China Peak Mountain Resort, to members of the Allbright, Coleman and Telles families.  The Fund is also supported by Fresno County District 5 Supervisor Nathan Magsig, well known to much of the community from his regular Facebook updates during the fire.  In addition, and in keeping with their long-term vision, the fund is working with local youth organizations such as the Ridge Top 4-H, Sierra 4-H, Sierra FFA, and local Scout troops.  It was these youth groups, along with the HLVFD and others, who were involved in the Fund’s first project, the tree planting at Cressman’s and nearby Shaver Ranch in early October.

“We so appreciate the Huntington Lake Volunteer Fire Department’s participation in our tree planting in Shaver Lake earlier this month,” the group wrote.  “Unfortunately, the Forest Service was unable to allow the Boy Scouts to plant up in Huntington near the Boy Scout camp lost in the Creek Fire due to ongoing dangers resulting from the fire. However, their planting in Shaver Lake alongside the Huntington Lake Volunteer Fire Department Fire Chief, Fire Captain, and volunteer firefighters symbolized our greater mountain community’s shared devastation and hope in the aftermath of the Creek Fire.”

The Resiliency Council is already hard at work determining future projects.  ”Council members are actively sorting through the various areas affected by the Creek Fire,” the group told us.  “Drainage, erosion, and site cleanup are urgent priorities and we are identifying specific Fund projects to help…Navigating the timing of soil stabilization, ground preparation and the approaching winter season, we plan to sponsor much larger scale reforestation projects no later than Spring 2021.

“We also see a need to help organize the community-wide response connecting governmental agencies, volunteers, and other non-profit organizations.  Learning from experiences in other regions, we see this collaboration as a pressing need. We want to see volunteer, governmental, and landowner efforts align to do the most good.

“The Council will establish and continually reassess priority areas and projects, evaluating where the greatest need is, which projects reach the greatest number of people and how to equitably distribute funds with complete transparency.”

As the Council assesses needs and potential projects, including those supporting Huntington Lake, they invite community input as to where their resources can best be directed.

“The Council was formed to listen to the needs of the community and encourage this input,” the group wrote.  “Community members are welcome to email suggestions for funding to resiliencyfund@sierrahistorical.org. We are also open to providing opportunities for the community to come together to provide input, adhering to social-distancing restrictions… We encourage others with knowledge of Huntington’s needs to join our effort and share ideas.”  Community members can also get in touch with Fund Ambassadors in their area.

With an ambitious agenda and a long-term focus, the Fund will need to raise a significant amount of money.  “[We are] pursuing local funding as well as funding from outside the mountain and Valley communities,” the group told us.  “We are also working on corporate sponsorship opportunities as a way to expand our capacity.”

The money raised will not be used solely to support Resiliency Fund-directed projects.  “We hope to be able to fund other local non-profit organizations on specific projects aligned with our mission to support the revitalization of the forests and communities surrounding Shaver Lake through land restoration, local stewardship, and economic efforts that honor the historical legacy of the Central Sierra region. We are so grateful for our growing Fund Ambassador circle, which gives us the ability to partner and collaborate with other non-profit organizations with focused projects to meet specific needs within the community.”

Those looking to learn more about the Resiliency Fund can visit their website here, and can donate to the Fund here.  Those with more ideas, or looking to get involved themselves, can email the group at resiliencyfund@sierrahistorical.org.

“We are welcoming volunteers through the Central Sierra Historical Society Volunteer Education and Service Team (“V.E.S.T.”) program,” the group wrote.  “This is an existing volunteer program through the Historical Society that we are expanding upon and mobilizing for restoration efforts. Those who would like a greater level of engagement may be considered for Fund Ambassadors. Please reach out to us if you are interested in sharing your time and talent!”

If the Fund is successful as intended, you’ll be seeing it as a regular part of the Huntington Lake and broader Central Sierra community for decades to come.  Its leaders recognize the unique role they can plan in our community and the rebuilding, and are ready to step in.

“Some of our supporters have been working diligently to help the Creek Fire since the early hours of its burning,” the group wrote, “including the HLVFD and Supervisor Magsig who has supported the community with his steadfast dedication to informing the community with fire updates and available resources.  Their courage inspires us to similarly jump in now that the smoke begins to clear to get to work rebuilding our community and forests.”

Sean Wilson is the creator and administrator of the Raised at Huntington Lake project, and a fourth-generation cabin owner at Idylwilde Tract.  You can reach him at sean@raisedathuntingtonlake.com.