Empowering Modoc’s Residents to Preserve High Desert Orchards Through Hands-On Workshops

Commodities

• Fruits: apples, apricots, quinces

Practices

• Crop Production: grafting, varieties and cultivars
• Education and Training: workshop

Modoc Harvest, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on local food access and education, has been working since 2016 to renew interest in Modoc County’s heritage fruit orchards. Located in California’s remote northeast, Modoc County is home to historic fruit trees that embody the area’s agricultural legacy and offer invaluable genetic diversity. However, these trees face threats from neglect, shifting land use, and limited expertise in their care. Time is running out to save these trees, the fruit varieties, and the stories that surround their origin and cultivation.

The Heritage Fruit Tree Project, a Modoc Harvest initiative, aims to preserve and revitalize these regionally-adapted varieties by fostering hands-on community engagement. Building on successful ongoing grassroots efforts to locate and catalog local heritage orchards, the project seeks to support the long-term care and survival of these unique trees. By offering educational opportunities in grafting, pruning, variety identification, and orchard planning, the project encourages residents to gain practical skills that benefit both the trees and the local ecosystem. This approach aligns with the project’s goal of promoting sustainable practices and highlighting the role heritage fruit varieties play in biodiversity.

The Heritage Fruit Tree Project also recognizes the potential for these trees to strengthen local food security by increasing the availability of climate-adapted fruit varieties to local growers. Partnering with local experts, orchardists, the Pit River Tribe, and the local extension office, the project is designed to share knowledge across the community and offer timely training that respects the seasonal needs of the trees. By building a network of informed caretakers, the Heritage Fruit Tree Project hopes to preserve Modoc County’s heritage orchards as lasting resources that contribute to a more resilient and diverse local food system.

Increase Awareness of Our Shared Legacy: we want to help the community see how important our heritage orchards can be to our regional food system. By sharing the history and significance of these trees, we hope more people will feel connected to this “shared legacy” and inspired to help preserve it. Our goal is to reach 100 local residents through educational outreach, helping them see these trees as a link between Modoc’s agricultural past and its future.

Boost Practical Skills for Orchard Stewardship: we will give 90 farmers, ranchers, and landowners the hands-on skills they need to care for heritage fruit trees. Through workshops in grafting, pruning, variety identification, and orchard planning, participants will learn how to keep these trees healthy and productive, tackling the common barrier of not knowing where to start, while developing marketable skills.

Increase The Number, And Productivity, Of Local Orchards, supporting more resilient orchards and expanding Modoc’s capacity to produce local fruit, strengthening its local food system

Create A Social Network Of Learning And Knowledge-Exchange: we will collaborate with 2 local tribes, as well as landowners and organizations that also care about these heritage tree varieties to build a network of people who want to see these orchards thrive.

Increase The Economic Vitality Of The County By Creating In-Demand Skills, empowering at least 2 participants to pursue self-employment and business opportunities in horticulture, contributing to Modoc’s economic resilience.