Tribal Ecorestoration Alliance

What Tribal Ecorestoration Alliance does

Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance (TERA) is a community-based intertribal 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2022 and headquartered in Upper Lake, Lake County, California. Its core offering is TERA's "EcoCultural Stewardship" approach, which combines Traditional Indigenous ecological knowledge with vocational land-stewardship skills applied to prescribed and cultural fire, wildfire risk reduction, and ecological restoration of oak, wetland, and riparian habitats. It operationalizes this through five product lines: the Native Stewards Fellowship (a 140-hour workforce development program), the Lake EcoCultural Cal-TREX training exchange, EcoCultural Fire Trainings, the Lake Wildfire Resilience Workforce Program, and an on-call EcoCultural Fire Crew providing fuels reduction, prescribed and cultural burning, native seed collection, and invasive species removal. The organization's differentiator is its use of only traditional ignition techniques (fire-by-friction, pitch sticks, tule torches) rather than mechanical tools, and a 140-acre dedicated training center on traditional Pomo lands near Upper Lake.

TERA serves three primary stakeholder groups: tribal communities (17+ Pomo and other tribes in Lake and Mendocino counties, including Robinson Rancheria, Scotts Valley Band, Habematolel Pomo, Middletown Rancheria, Coyote Valley, Pinoleville, Hopland, and Potter Valley); government agencies (CAL FIRE, USDA Forest Service, BLM); and private landowners in Northern California. It also runs a workforce pipeline for Native youth and individuals pursuing careers in fire management and ecological restoration. As a 501(c)(3), TERA has no traditional revenue model — it is funded through grants (federal, state, and philanthropic) and donations, including a $5M USDA Community Wildfire Defense Grant ('Fire in Hand, Healing Lands') awarded in 2025 and a referenced $16M federal USDA wildfire-prevention grant, supplemented by smaller grants from NDN Collective, the Nature Conservancy, RRRISE, and CDBG, plus individual donations handled via Stripe at tiers ranging from $5 to $250 per month. GTM is community-led: TERA grows through intertribal partnership expansion, government-agency coordination, earned media (CapRadio, The Press Democrat, Knowable Magazine), and a quarterly newsletter.

Name

Tribal Ecorestoration Alliance

Legal name

Tribal EcoRestoration Alliance

Website

https://tribalecorestoration.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TERA is a 501(c)(3) intertribal nonprofit in Lake County, California, delivering Indigenous-led prescribed and cultural fire training, ecological restoration, and workforce development to 17+ Pomo and other tribal communities, government agencies, and private landowners in Northern California.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Upper Lake

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, TERA relies on donations from individuals, grants from foundations and government agencies, and in-kind contributions to fund operations and programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

TERA is an Indigenous-led nonprofit that provides ecological restoration, prescribed fire training, and workforce development services through programs such as the Native Stewards Fellowship, Lake EcoCultural Cal-TREX, and the Lake Wildfire Resilience Workforce Program. It operates a 140-acre training center that supports a network of 17 tribal nations with cultural revitalization integrated into land and fire management.

Product overview

TERA offers a portfolio of Indigenous-led ecological restoration and workforce development programs centered around EcoCultural Stewardship and Fire. The core offerings include the Native Stewards Fellowship (140-hour workforce training), Lake EcoCultural Cal-TREX (fire training exchange with collaborative burning season), EcoCultural Fire Trainings, Lake Wildfire Resilience Workforce Program, and an EcoCultural Fire Crew providing hands-on land management services including fuels reduction, prescribed/cultural fire, native seed collection, and ecological restoration. TERA also operates a Merch Store for fundraising.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Lake Cal-TREX: EcoCultural Fire Training Exchange led by TERA in partnership with Tribes, agencies, and community organizations, integrating EcoCultural fire training, collaborative burning season, and an on-call EcoCultural Fire Crew across Lake and Mendocino counties.
• Native Stewards Fellowship
• Lake Wildfire Resilience Workforce Program
• EcoCultural Fire Crew
• EcoCultural Fire Training

Products and services

• Native Stewards Fellowship

Quantifiable outcome

• First documented intentional burning of TERA training center land since Native displacement
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• The Nature ConservancymajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Supports Lake Cal-TREX operations under PERFACT IV Agreement 24-CA-11132543-080 via subaward from Watershed Research and Training Center. Provides programmatic support for fire management initiatives.
• Watershed Research and Training CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerKey implementation partner for Lake Cal-TREX; administers subaward funding from The Nature Conservancy and USDA Forest Service; co-developer of fire training exchange programs.
• CAL FIREmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerState fire management agency partner in Lake EcoCultural Cal-TREX; provides regulatory coordination, burn permits, and technical expertise for prescribed and cultural fire implementation.
• Robinson Rancheria Pomo Indians of CaliforniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCore tribal partner and traditional landowner of TERA's training center site. Hosts Elder gatherings and participates in cultural burns on ancestral lands near Old Robinson Rancheria.
• Scotts Valley Band of Pomo IndianscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraditional landowner and tribal partner. Host of North Lake County Burn and Training Camp. Participates in cultural burning and EcoCultural Stewardship programs.
• Habematolel Pomo of Upper LakecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraditional landowners of Upper Lake area where TERA conducts cultural burns and operates the EcoCultural Fire & Stewardship Training Center.
• Middletown Rancheria of Pomo IndiansmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative partner on cultural burns including 7.8-acre Ignome Oak Grove Burn. Host of South Lake County Burn and Training Camp at their facilities including Twin Pine Casino.
• Coyote Valley Band of Pomo IndiansmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraditional landowners for Ukiah area EcoCultural broadcast burn (3.5 acres) on Coyote Valley lands.
• Pinoleville Pomo NationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraditional landowners for Ukiah area cultural burn operations in partnership with Coyote Valley Band.
• Hopland Band of Pomo IndiansmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for pile burn operations in Hopland area on traditional Hopland Band lands.
• Potter Valley TribemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerTraditional landowners for 4.5-acre EcoCultural broadcast burn in Potter Valley area (mixed forest/hardwood understory).
• Lake Prescribed Burn Association (Lake PBA)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity-based organization partner supporting prescribed and cultural fire implementation in Lake County.
• TorchbearrminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner organization in Ignome Oak Grove Burn implementation alongside Middletown Rancheria and TERA.
• Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Ukiah Field OfficemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCoordinating partner for Kelseyville area prescribed fire operations (Black Forest along Soda Bay Road). BLM manages 242-acre Black Forest area with cultural resources and watershed value.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• CAL FIRE: CAL FIRE is California's state fire agency and a direct partner of TERA, providing permits, technical expertise, and coordination for prescribed and cultural burns. It operates at vastly larger scale but with overlapping prescribed fire and workforce capacity-building missions.
• Forest Stewards Guild: Forest Stewards Guild is a broader national organization supporting prescribed fire training exchanges (TREX) and ecological forestry across the U.S., offering overlapping fire training and capacity-building services that subsume TERA's Cal-TREX program at a larger scale.
• The Nature Conservancy (California): The Nature Conservancy is a major institutional partner of TERA and operates broadly in California conservation, including co-funding the Lake Cal-TREX and large-scale prescribed fire, fuels reduction, and forest restoration programs that overlap TERA's work.

Direct peers

• Indigenous People's Burning Network (IPBN): IPBN is a national network supporting tribal-led cultural burning and Indigenous fire stewardship, providing training exchanges and capacity-building directly analogous to TERA's Lake Cal-TREX and EcoCultural Fire programs.
• Yurok Tribe: Yurok Tribe operates comparable tribal-led land management, prescribed fire, and ecological restoration programs across ancestral Northern California lands, with significant federal and philanthropic funding and an in-house cultural fire program directly comparable to TERA's Cal-TREX.
• The Cultural Conservancy: The Cultural Conservancy is an Indigenous-led nonprofit operating in California with comparable focus on Indigenous land stewardship, cultural revitalization, and ecological restoration, sharing TERA's EcoCultural framing and tribal partnership model.
• Watershed Research and Training Center: Watershed Research and Training Center is a direct implementation partner of TERA on the Lake Cal-TREX, administering federal and foundation subawards for prescribed fire and fuels reduction in Northern California with a closely overlapping program portfolio.
• Karuk Tribe Department of Natural Resources: The Karuk Tribe in Northern California has been a national leader in Indigenous-led cultural burning and forest management, with comparable EcoCultural restoration, fire training, and tribal land stewardship programs overlapping directly with TERA's mission and geography.
• Fire Forward: Fire Forward supports Indigenous-led cultural fire revival and tribal fire training exchanges across the western U.S., offering directly comparable capacity-building, fellowship, and prescribed/cultural burn training programs to TERA's offerings.

Regional players

• Mid Klamath Watershed Council: Mid Klamath Watershed Council is a Northern California watershed organization working on fuels reduction, prescribed fire, and forest restoration in Klamath-Siskiyou country, with mission and service portfolio directly comparable to TERA's stewardship work but serving an adjacent geography.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xinstagram.com/tribalecorestoration
• Facebookfacebook.com/TribalEcoRestorationAlliance
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tribal-ecorestoration-alliance
• Instagraminstagram.com/tribalecorestoration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Tribal Ecorestoration Alliance