How the Washoe Tribe built a business to sustain a firewood bank for their elders

How the Washoe Tribe built a business to sustain a firewood bank that helps elders heat their homes

It’s a sun-splashed morning at the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California’s wood yard, a patch of land about the size of a football field, tucked in a valley about 20 miles east of Lake Tahoe’s south shore.  Magpies, black-and-white birds with blue-tinted wings, land on stacks of lumber and dig for insects. Chainsaws rev and roar and wood-cutting machines crank and squeak. A mist of sawdust hangs in the air.  Foreman Kenneth Cruz, wearing a white…

How the Washoe Tribe built a business to sustain a firewood bank for their elders

Nationwide, tens of thousands of Indigenous households use firewood to help heat their homes. That’s why the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California is making sure their elders have the chopped wood they need.