You Are Invited!
RFFI 2023 Virtual Annual Meeting
Wednesday, September 20, 2023
3:00 PM, PDT
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GUEST SPEAKERS: Kathy McCovey, a Karuk tribal member and cultural practitioner, retired Forest Service archeologist and anthropologist; Will Harling, Director at the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council
We are pleased to invite you to participate in the Redwood Forest Foundation, Inc.’s (RFFI) 2023 Annual Meeting. This virtual event serves as an opportunity to showcase our mission, advancements, and future plans. As with previous years, the meeting will include presentations from RFFI staff, our guest speakers, and a wide-ranging Q&A session at the end of the meeting.
Our staff is looking forward to the opportunity to dive deep into key projects and developments, explore our model of sustainable local forest management, and unpack how our work benefits the communities where we live and work. Throughout these presentations we will discuss the management of the Usal Forest, our extensive restoration efforts, the growing role of the Redwood Forest Council, and our plans for the newly-acquired Reist Ranch property.
We are excited to present our guest speakers for this year: Kathy McCovey, a Karuk tribal member and cultural practitioner, retired Forest Service archeologist and anthropologist; and Will Harling, Director at the Mid Klamath Watershed Council and Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to engage with these leading voices in their fields.
Guest Speaker Kathy McCovey
Kathy McCovey is a multidisciplinary expert from the Karuk Tribe in Northern California, blending her roles as a cultural practitioner, archaeologist, and forest 
ecologist with a specialized focus on fire ecology. Passionate about reinvigorating her community’s connection to their ancestral lands, Kathy advocates for a harmonious relationship between people and the environment. Her expertise spans from traditional plant uses to the complex interactions between fire events and landscape health, always framed within a lens of community resilience and empowerment. In the face of historical and structural obstacles, Kathy has consistently worked to help her community not only preserve but also actively live their traditional wisdom. With her unique blend of cultural insight and scientific know-how, Kathy McCovey is a leader in sustainable land stewardship, showing that taking care of the land means it will, in turn, take care of us.
Guest Speaker Will Harling
Will Harling, a native of Northern California, serves as the director of the Mid Klamath Watershed Council. Committed to reviving prescribed fire practices and supporting tribes in their efforts to revitalize cultural burning practices, he actively bridges the gap between native communities and state agencies like Cal Fire. His work ranges from grassroots projects to high-level policy advocacy, all aimed at building community resilience in the face of wildfires. A significant part of his impact has been the development and execution of the largest prescribed fire training exchange in California history, known as the Klamath TREX program. Will Harling stands at the intersection of tradition and innovation, fostering a better relationship between fire, land, and community. 
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