Published April 3, 2026
This week, 20 members of Lomakatsi’s Inter-Tribal Indian Youth Service Corps planted 6,500 Ponderosa pine trees in an area affected by the Barnes Fire (2022), contributing to a reforestation project in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service-Modoc National Forest in a cultural use area historically and to present day shared by the Hewisedawi Band of the Pit River Tribe and Northern Paiute Gidutikad Band Fort Bidwell Indian Tribe.
Lomakatsi staff and the Modoc NF team co-led this paid-to-train module, which offered Corpsmembers a valuable hands-on learning experience working alongside experienced trainers from the Rogue Valley, Oregon. While building practical skills, they also helped advance Forest Service objectives and Tribal priorities focused on restoring native plant communities and improving wildlife habitat in a landscape impacted by high-severity fire.
We were excited to welcome four new crew members from the Hewisedawi Band of the Pit River Tribe to provide cultural oversight of the project within their Band area, joining this training module with our Inter-Tribal IYSC crew, composed of Tribal members and affiliates representing the Hewisedawi and Kosealekte Bands of the Pit River Tribe, Northern Paiute Gidutikad Band, The Klamath Tribes, Western Shoshone, and Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs. The Indian Youth Service Corps program is open to tribal and rural young adults ages 16-30 (and up to age 35 for veterans). Lomakatsi operates our Inter-Tribal IYSC program across four states in collaboration with Tribes and federal agencies as an accredited member of The Corps Network.
We appreciate our partnership with the Modoc NF, the upper bands of the Pit River Tribe, and the Fort Bidwell Indian Community–-more reforestation projects to come with thousands of trees to be planted in the future!
Check out these photos of reforestation in action and stay tuned for more coverage in the Modoc Record.
Caitlin Roberts, Yellowbird Photography & Marko Bey, Lomakatsi
