Forest Entrepreneurship Bootcamp

Get ready to dive into all aspects of launching or expanding your business.

Join Sierra Business Council, Sierra Commons, and Mother Lode Job Training in beautiful Sonoras, California, for a tuition-free two-day bootcamp designed to create sustainable forest-based jobs and wood products businesses.

With increasing pressure on our forests from climate change and wildfires, the demand for forest-based businesses is growing every year in rural communities throughout the Sierra Nevada.

Have you ever dreamed of being a business owner? Or maybe you have a business and want to take it to the next level. This course is for you!

This two-day course is geared toward businesses in forest thinning and management, defensible space, prescribed fire application, small mass timber product manufacturing, small diameter timber utilization, biofuel, bioenergy, home hardening, plant restoration, other non-timer-related businesses, and forestry logistics.

About the Bootcamp

Robert Trent, founder of Nevada City’s nonprofit business incubator, Sierra Commons, will lead the course. Trent is an experienced consultant who has taught hundreds of entrepreneurs over the years.

Students will learn the basic foundations of good business – from finance, pricing, and cash flow to research, marketing, and sales and the complex world of government contracts and permits. Students will expand their knowledge and gain access to resources with a weekly accountability group and one-to-one advising.

Participants may be eligible for personalized technical assistance at no cost through the SBDC program.

The curriculum is designed to provide:

*Technical assistance to launch small businesses
*Entrepreneurial development focused on a broad range of forest and wood-based businesses
*Training and guidance for transforming businesses
*Opportunities to showcase emerging business opportunities
*Guidance on the benefits of wildfire reduction and economic development; at the nexus of wood product development and outdoor recreation in rural forested communities

Funding for this program was provided by a Good Jobs Challenge EDA-funded grant through the Foundation for California Community Colleges to conduct forestry and fire-mitigation training programs in the Sierra Nevada region of northeastern California.