In The News – Good News: Local Students Create Defensible Space for Couple in Need
November 6, 2023 | Member Submitted
Originally Published in Moonshine Ink 11/06/2023, Written by Tiffany Connolly
On Oct. 11, learning for local elementary school students took place in the Sierra Nevada forest, and their hands-on, hard-work lesson would bring tears to the eyes of the adults who helped guide them. It was Defensible Space Stewardship Day, and the Truckee Fire Protection District, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP), and students from Donner Trail Elementary School joined together to reduce the threat of wildfires and help community members in need.
The combined team assisted in clearing fuel ladders and lodgepole pines at a property in Emigrant Gap. The goal was to help Hank and Dee Dee Goodrich, an elderly couple living in a mountain cabin, who couldn’t create defensible space on their own because of health concerns and limited resources.
*PHOTO CREDIT: Moonshine Ink — FOREST MANAGEMENT: SWEP Project Director Ashley Phillips (far right) and Maria Marsh (far left) from Truckee Fire Protection District with their group of students from Donner Trail Elementary working on their section of defensible space clearing.