State and Federal Investments Conserve Forestlands in Perpetuity
State and Federal Investments Conserve Forestlands in Perpetuity
October 29, 2024 – CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service have announced grant awards to protect forestlands threatened with conversion to non-forest uses. Together, these investments improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk throughout the state.
CAL FIRE awarded $8.5 million through California Forest Legacy to four projects that ensure long-term land stewardship on properties that will continue to provide, in perpetuity, such benefits as sustainable timber production, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, carbon sequestration, watershed protection, and open space. One funded project will enable the Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe to acquire the Owl Creek property in Placer County; while Placer Land Trust will hold a conservation easement to ensure protection of the property, the Tribe will manage the land using Indigenous management practices.
The USFS awarded more than $265 million to 21 projects nationwide through the federal Forest Legacy program to conserve nearly 335,000 acres of private forestlands. In California, a $1.5 million grant will conserve 94 acres of unique montane mixed-conifer forest in the recreation destination of Lake Arrowhead, east of Los Angeles. The property provides habitat for 7 federal and 4 state species of concern.
New Film On CA’s First Spanish Language Prescribed Fire Training Exchange
Documentary Showcases California’s First Spanish Language Prescribed Fire Training Exchange
October 24, 2024 – A new documentary, titled Voces del Fuego (Voices of Fire), tells the story of California’s first Spanish language Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) which was hosted by the Watershed Research and Training Center for two weeks in October 2023. You can see it online now at the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network website. The film provides a vibrant testimony of how fire shapes landscapes, communities, and cultures. The documentary highlights the importance of incorporating diverse perspectives and cultures in wildfire and landscape management.
CA State Parks and Partners Treat Over 900 Acres with Beneficial Fire
photo by: Richard Rappaport
CA State Parks and Partners Treat Over 900 Acres with Beneficial Fire
From October 29 to November 1, California State Parks with the assistance of CAL FIRE and the USFS treated 914 acres in the South Grove Natural Preserve at Calaveras Big Trees State Park with prescribed fire.
State Parks, CAL FIRE, USFS and contractors spent years organizing interagency collaboration and preparing the perimeter along with the giant sequoia trees for beneficial fire. Preparation included using mechanical treatments appropriate for State Parks Natural Preserves to remove large fuels from the surrounding fire road and using hand tools to remove large material from the base of over 700 mature giant sequoias.
The entire South Grove Natural Preserve is over 1,300 acres. Critical to giant sequoia stewardship and regeneration, State Parks will continue to be prepared to treat the remaining acres and bring fire back to the entire landscape in regular intervals. This project restores and maintains a complex forest community, promotes giant sequoia regeneration and wildfire resilience, reduces hazardous fuel loads, improves wildlife habitat, and protects park infrastructure.
Monitoring, Reporting & Assessment
Monitoring, Reporting, & Assessment
on the Resilience of California’s Landscapes
INNOVATE AND MEASURE PROGRESS
The State of California and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), along with other partners, collaborate closely through the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to track vegetation management actions on the ground, monitor ecosystem responses, and assess progress of wildfire and climate resilience efforts in California’s landscapes. The California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA), CAL FIRE, and the USFS have established monitoring and assessment programs developed to specifically focus on:
● Location and status of vegetation management projects
● Status and trends in ecosystem conditions
● Effectiveness and ecological performance of management activities
These programs are intended to adaptively manage landscapes by leveraging data to inform future investments in landscape health and wildfire resilience. Highlighted here are State and federal-led efforts to track management, monitor trends, and assess ecological conditions across historically fire-adapted terrestrial ecosystems within California.
Featured below are several complementary monitoring efforts being undertaken by these agencies, covering California’s historically fire-adapted ecosystems (forests, shrublands, and grasslands). Together, these programs leverage data and perform assessments to better understand the impact and progress of multi-billion-dollar wildfire resilience programs and other land management occurring across California, providing a more holistic view of change within these ecosystems, and informing future investments in landscape resilience. The highlighted programs focus on different aspects and scales, looking at California’s ecosystems in different ways, from evaluating the impact of individual projects, to understanding how California is changing as a whole as a result of climate change and land management.
TRACKING OUR PROGRESS
The Task Force established the new Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Interagency Tracking System and Dashboard which, for the first time, provides a single repository for recently completed projects across California from over a dozen federal and State agencies to track progress towards targets to reduce catastrophic wildfire and promote healthy landscapes. These data are essential to meet the needs of wildfire incident response crews, inform strategic planning, provide public transparency, and enable monitoring and impact assessments.
Monitoring & Assessment Programs
Leveraging field-based and remotely sensed monitoring data, agencies are tracking ecosystem condition change at the project to statewide-levels to determine how natural resources and public safety are affected by land management action, providing scientific and policy insights to inform adaptive management. These monitoring programs leverage the Task Force’s Regional Resource Kits metrics and data from the Interagency Tracking System and Dashboard.
LANDSCAPE-LEVEL MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT PROGRAMS
These monitoring and assessment programs focus on wildfire resilience and are conducted at a landscape-scale.
The Forest and Rangeland Assessment (Assessment) is a report authored by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP) on a five-year cycle that synthesizes datasets to determine and monitor current trends affecting California’s forests and rangelands. The next Assessment is under development and planned for release by the end of 2024.
Focus:
Assessments focus on forest health, large-scale patterns of timber harvesting, and rangeland issues such as managing the grazing of commercial livestock, threats from development, and impacts of droughts and economic shifts. It also highlights trends in wildfires and climate change. The 2024 Assessment will highlight the major changes taking place in California over recent years, including unprecedented scale wildfires, and record droughts that are impacting millions of acres of forests and rangelands. Past editions of the Assessment have used spatial analyses to define priority regions and landscapes to understand core assets at risk (e.g., in 2010); more recent ones have employed the framework of the international Montreal Process Criteria and Indicators, comprised of 7 overarching Criteria with a set of 50 indicators customized for monitoring the health and status of our wildlands (2003, 2017).
Assessments inform the State Legislature on important status and trends affecting the wildlands of California. The Legislature and the State Board of Forestry use this information to craft new policies to improve management of our natural lands, and to better meet public needs.
Mandate:
Forest and Rangeland Assessment Reports are produced by CAL FIRE in accordance with California Public Resource Code § 4789, beginning in 1979. Assessment results are used by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and update a forest policy statement for California.
Who to Contact:
To learn more, contact Chris Keithley, Assistant Deputy Director of Fire and Resource Assessment, CAL FIRE: chris.keithley@fire.ca.gov.
Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategies help answer monitoring questions across a broad geographic area that includes multiple national forests.
Mandates
The 2012 Planning Rule (36 CFR 219.12) requires a Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy and individual national forest plan monitoring programs. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) evaluates and provides the results of a Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy at least every five years.
Deliverables
The USFS Pacific Southwest Region released their Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy in June 2020. This strategy asks 10 monitoring questions related to social, economic and ecological status and trends for National Forest System lands in California, along with small portions of Oregon and Nevada managed by the region.
The first results of the strategy were released on the Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy Interactive website in April 2024. The website offers a wealth of information with icons to explore each monitoring question and a State of the Region summary with key results. Interactive dashboards and maps allow users to explore trends for specific geographic areas, dates and other topics of interest.
Strategy results use the best available scientific information. Sources primarily include publicly available federal and State field-based and remote sensing data. Trends for each of the 10 questions were interpreted by USFS subject matter experts, state agency partners, and scientific partners with academic and nonprofit institutions. Examples of publicly available data sources include American Community Survey (census data), California Surface Water Ambient Monitoring Program, CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program, and TerraClimate. As well as USFS data including Health Protection Aerial Detection Surveys, National Visitor Use Monitoring Program, Natural Resource Manager databases, and Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Condition after Wildfire.
USFS managers use results from the Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy and national forest plan monitoring to gauge relevant changes in the ecological, economic and social conditions on USFS lands and explore how management is interacting changes to identify ways to adapt.
Sustainability
The Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy results and interpretation will be updated on the Forest Service interactive website at least every five years. Look for close-to-annual updates for questions with data refreshed more frequently.
The Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy is a long-term, living document for the life of the individual national forest plans. As new science becomes available, or new uncertainties are discovered, the USFS will update the Broader-Scale Monitoring Strategy.
Who to Contact
To learn more, contact Stephanie Coppeto, Regional Monitoring Planner, USFS Pacific Southwest Region: stephanie.coppeto@usda.gov.
The WERK project will generate novel, updatable, high resolution, wall-to-wall datasets for California’s fire-adapted ecosystems. Additionally, it will synthesize datasets from other sources to track land cover change and management actions and contextualize statewide ecological condition, disturbance, and recovery. These new data will then be integrated into the project’s follow-on effectiveness assessments to better determine how vegetation management is interacting with wildfire and other ecosystem changes, providing the State and federal agencies spatially explicit, updatable data to continually evaluate how their programs and projects are affecting entire landscapes in the context of environmental variability and extreme events.
Mandates:
The State of California is required to assess ecological performance, impact, and effectiveness of its various programs charged with management and oversight of fire-The State of California is required to assess ecological performance, impact, and effectiveness of its various programs charged with management and oversight of fire-prone landscapes. Among the programs that require these assessments are the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program (AB 1492 [2012]) and various State programs implementing vegetation management for wildfire risk reduction (AB 203 [2022]). Under AB 1757 (2022), the State is required to track progress and measure outcomes of nature-based solutions targets set in April 2024, including several related to fire-prone landscapes.
Resources, Funding, Deliverables:
With significant funding from the State Legislature, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) has invested in making remote sensing data and analytics With significant funding from the State Legislature, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) has invested in making remote sensing data and analytics publicly available for use in ecosystem health and wildfire management, along with related public safety and science applications across the state’s fire-prone landscapes. These investments will revolutionize how California utilizes science to track and mitigate the negative impacts of catastrophic wildfire and other events.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) and CNRA are working jointly with NASA Ames Research Center to utilize their supercomputing capabilities to develop cutting-edge remote sensing-based vegetation mapping products, tailored to California ecosystems. Using high-resolution data, this project will establish a thorough and up-to-date understanding of spatial and temporal ecosystem changes across California. The WERK project will create new metrics to monitor the state’s ecosystems and evaluate the impact management actions are having.
The primary data products and analyses include:
Change Detection & Attribution | Maps and related assessments of where wildfires, forest and fire management, restoration, and other disturbance (e.g., drought or insect induced mortality events) have occurred throughout California
Land Cover Classification & Mapping | High-resolution land cover classification maps to improve understanding of vegetation in California
Individual Tree Monitoring | Tree canopy delineation maps using high-resolution imagery
Built Structure Mapping | Polygon representation of structures (e.g., habitable dwellings, accessory structures, and industrial/commercial buildings)
Leveraging these data as well as data from Regional Resource Kits, the WERK project will integrate data on reported and remotely sensed management activity and ecosystem changes (water quality and supply, biodiversity, biomass, etc.) to develop comprehensive, updatable, and accurate accounting and contextualization of statewide ecological condition, disturbance, and recovery. This will include new wildfire severity metrics, improved biomass quantification, improved tree die-off detection and quantification, and impact and effectiveness assessments. Data will be aggregated within and across geographies (e.g., HUC 12, counties, ecoregions, etc.), and analyses will be performed to link drivers of change to disturbance events and outcomes, as well as broader ecosystem condition change. For example, these analyses will enable the State to better gauge how management (fuel reduction treatments, commercial timber harvest, etc.) is interacting with wildfire and other ecosystem changes. These assessments will allow the State and federal agencies to evaluate how their programs have affected entire landscapes – not just within project boundaries.
While data refresh frequency will vary depending on the specific product, it is expected many products will be updated annually.
Sustainability:
These data and assessments will be maintained by CARB’s Nature-Based Strategies to transform the WERK project into an enduring monitoring program and provide new means for monitoring and assessing the progress of California’s wildfire and broader landscape resilience programs. These data will become available starting in early 2026 and will strengthen the State’s ability to monitor progress and outcomes of the State’s significant ramp up of landscape management actions.
Who to Contact:
To learn more, contact Loretta Moreno, Program Manager of the Timber Regulation and Forest Restoration Program, CNRA: Loretta.Moreno@resources.ca.gov.
Project-Level Monitoring Programs
These programs focus on wildfire resilience for which data is collected at the level of individual projects
intended to inform statewide programs.
The California Prescribed Fire Monitoring Program (CPFMP) is a partnership between CAL FIRE and UC Davis to develop and implement a long-term monitoring program for prescribed fire in California. With an expected increase in the amount and complexity of prescribed fire in California ecosystems, it is imperative that implementation be accompanied by monitoring.
Focus:
The CPFMP was created following California’s Forest Carbon Plan (2018) and produces data to quantify the capacity of prescribed fire to mitigate carbon losses from wildfire, improve best management practices, minimize potential negative impacts, prioritize investments, and achieve statewide prescribed fire objectives.
Mandate:
The CPFMP supports the requirement for the State of California to evaluate the ecological and fire behavior impacts from vegetation management activities, including prescribed fire (AB 203 [2022]). The CPFMP also supports Senate Bill 1260 (2018) as well as the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) mandate to enhance air quality and smoke monitoring.
Resources, Funding, Deliverables:
The CPFMP is funded through the California Climate Investments program (Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund) and managed by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program. CPFMP measures a multitude of fire effects, including surface fuel consumption, impacts to forest structure, and botanical response. This work services all landownerships in California and provides a scientific foundation to help mitigate public health impacts and ensure management objectives are met as the State advances its goals to increase the pace and scale of beneficial fire.CPFMP protocols are now also used by partners at California State Parks and Save the Redwoods League, among others.
The primary data products and analyses include:
- Monitoring prescribed fire treatment effectiveness, measured as reductions of fuel loading/continuity, and other stated management burn objectives.
- Monitoring prescribed fire treatment effects, measured as changes in aboveground carbon, tree mortality and damage, soil surface conditions, and understory plant species.
- Monitoring selected sites for multiple years following treatment.
- Supporting prescribed fire air quality monitoring in coordination with CARB and local Air districts.
- Delivering stakeholder reports summarizing fire effects to all cooperating stakeholders.
- Where possible, connecting monitoring to specific research questions, across, or specific to, vegetation types.
- Areas previously prescribe burned (maintenance burning)
- Post-wildfire restoration (prescribed fire following wildfire)
- Fire effects by burn season
- Production of peer-reviewed scientific literature
Sustainability:
These are publicly available data and are maintained by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program. The program is designed to sustain growth over time in response to the growing demand for data related to the implementation of prescribed fire. This includes new university partners and increased student involvement, additional stakeholders, and updated research questions.
Who to Contact:
To learn more, contact Joe Restaino, Prescribed Fire Specialist, CAL FIRE: joe.restaino@fire.ca.gov
The California Forest Health Monitoring Program (FHMP) is designed to measure progress of the Forest Health Grant Program towards its goals and to provide data to evaluate the impacts of forest health treatments across California.
Sampling and Data:
The Forest Health Grant Program funds large-scale and regionally driven efforts to help ensure forest persistence and increase forest resilience and stable carbon storage. Treatments are generally categorized into five core areas: forest fuels reduction, prescribed fire, pest management, biomass utilization, and reforestation. The FHMP uses field–based plots in treated and untreated areas to measure ecosystem elements that reflect progress towards the program’s goals:
- Forest persistence – reforestation efforts put trees back on the landscape after fire. The FHMP will help to understand mortality of planted seedlings over time and resulting sapling densities in planted areas.
- Forest resilience –Forest Health treatments strive to make forests more resilient to drought, pests, and fire via ecological thinning that reduces competition within the stand. FHMP monitoring plots will detect the magnitude of changes in canopy and understory fuels due to treatment to uncover differences in the outcomes of future disturbance in treated areas.
- Long-term and stable carbon storage – though treatments may remove carbon-containing biomass, they stabilize the carbon stocks that remain. On-the-ground plots quantify the increase in the proportion of larger trees and allow for calculation of carbon stability metrics such as the probability that a tree will be consumed in a wildfire.
- Protected communities – the FHMP recognizes the interdependence of healthy forests and protected communities. Future data collection will focus on the impact of Forest Health treatments in firefighting operations.
Mandate:
Forest Heath Grants are administered by CAL FIRE and utilize Cap-and-Trade dollars as part of the California Climate Investments (CCI) program. All CCI funded programs have mandated reporting and the California Air Resources Board requires that monitoring of Forest Health projects occur for a minimum of 10% of projects for at least 10 years. Sampling for FHMP will begin in spring 2025 and protocols are currently under development.
Who to Contact:
To learn more, contact Emily Brodie, Forest Monitoring Scientist, CAL FIRE: emily.brodie@fire.ca.gov.
CAL FIRE’s Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Reporting (FTER) program is intended to evaluate the impacts vegetation management treatments have on fire behavior and highlight how fuel reduction activities not only assist in suppression efforts, but how they protect life, property, and the natural resources of California. FTER relies on an automated process to overlay new wildfire incidents with projects in CalMAPPER to identify where fuel treatment projects are impacted by wildfire. Identified projects are surveyed and verified by CAL FIRE unit personnel, reports are generated and posted to CAL FIRE’s website, and the information displayed on an interactive data dashboard.
Focus:
The FTER program assesses the effect a fuel reduction treatment has on fire behavior, ingress or egress, and fire suppression. Positive fuel treatment impacts are assessed based on whether the project: assisted with fire containment and ingress/egress, reduced property damage, or change fire behavior. Change in fire behavior is determined based on whether the project halted rate of spread, slowed rate of spread, or reduced the fire intensity. Projects are also assessed on their contribution to control of fire based on whether primary or secondary containment lines were utilized and whether the project provided ingress/egress for fire suppression personnel.
Mandate:
Public Resource Code 4137 states on or before December 31, 2022, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection shall develop a standardized protocol for monitoring implementation and evaluating the positive and negative ecological and fire behavior impacts from vegetation management projects undertaken by the state, consistent with the requirements of Chapter 387 of the Statutes of 2021.
Who to Contact:
To learn more, contact: prefireplanning@fire.ca.gov
Interagency Treatment Dashboard Shows Progress Toward Resilience
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2024
California Unveils First-of-Their-Kind Dashboards Mapping Out Fire-Prevention Work to Protect Communities
New tools created by CAL FIRE and Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force simplify data, boost transparency, and help inform wildfire planning and response – adding to the suite of tools the state has created
(South Lake Tahoe, CA) – The Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) unveiled several new tools today to help California track and communicate the state’s significant progress in improving wildfire and landscape resilience.
Key takeaways from the Task Force’s Sierra Nevada Regional Meeting in South Lake Tahoe include:
• Interagency Treatment Dashboard updated to show 2021, 2022 and 2023 data.
• Over one million acres of treatments were conducted on about 700,000 footprint acres in 2023.
• Prescribed fire treatments more than doubled between 2021 and 2023.
• CAL FIRE Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard is showing the impact of treatments impacted by recent wildfires.
“Thousands of wildfire resilience projects have been completed across California to protect our communities and landscapes from catastrophic wildfire in recent years, and more are underway,” said Wade Crowfoot, Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and co-chair of the Task Force. “Thanks to historic investments from our state and federal leaders, dozens of local agencies and hundreds of organizations are delivering these projects. Now for the first time, we have a dashboard that tracks all these diverse projects in one place and on one map. This enables us to measure our overall progress toward building wildfire resilience across the state and provides regional leaders valuable information to plan future projects.”
Interagency Treatment Dashboard
The updated version of the Interagency Treatment Dashboard shows wildfire resilience work (or “treatments”) for three calendar years (2021, 2022 and 2023). The data, which was sourced from federal, state, local, tribal, and private entities, is now available in a single hub that allows Californians to easily see where treatments (such as prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and tree planting) have been completed. This information is used to inform firefighting efforts, ensure transparency to the public, and track progress toward statewide goals.
The Task Force released a Beta version of the Dashboard last year with 2022 data. This updated version now includes data for 2021, revised data for 2022, and new data for 2023.
Over 1 million acres worth of treatment work on 700,000 acres of land
The Dashboard shows significant progress on multiple fronts to bolster wildfire resilience in California. In 2023, more than one million acres of treatments were conducted on about 700,000 acres, with many acres receiving multiple treatments such as thinning, prescribed fire, or other practices to improve forest health and community resilience. The Task Force is tracking both “activity acres” – which reflect the level of effort conducted through various state, federal, and private programs – and “footprint acres” – which show the total geographic area treated in a calendar year.
The 2023 data shows a significant increase in acres treated since 2021. The increase is largely due to a significant expansion of prescribed fire treatments, which more than doubled since 2021. These efforts have put the state on a solid path toward meeting its joint commitment with the U.S. Forest Service to complete treatments on more than a million acres by the end of 2025.
The Task Force is committed to increasing the pace and scale of statewide actions to address California’s wildfire crisis. The Dashboard is part of a larger strategy to connect the various statewide entities committed to this monumental task.
Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard
CAL FIRE also launched a Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard, which shows how wildfire prevention projects are helping protect communities and landscapes when wildfire strikes. “Utilizing technology, we can now track in real time when wildfires hit areas where fuel treatments have been conducted. We can then go into an area and see how those treatments affected fire behavior, evacuation routes, firefighting efforts and more,” said CAL FIRE Chief/Director Joe Tyler. “This new dashboard is a tool for the public to see how fuels treatments had a positive impact on the firefight and how this work is making a difference.”
“No other state in the country is tackling wildfire resilience at this scale or with this level of innovation,” added U.S. Forest Service Deputy Regional Forester Kara Chadwick, who co-chaired today’s meeting. “From groundbreaking prescribed fire projects to comprehensive data tracking systems, we’re setting the standard for what it means to protect our landscapes and communities.”
The meeting is supplemented by field tours on October 8 and 11, to showcase wildfire resilience projects in the Tahoe Basin. Tour highlights include recovery efforts following the 2021 Caldor Fire, long-term prescribed burn projects in Sugar Pine Point State Park, meadow restoration at Máyala Wát undertaken by the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California, and the first new industrial-scale sawmill built in Sierra Nevada in several decades.
“Today’s meeting is a major milestone in our efforts to better document and share our collective progress,” said Task Force Director Patrick Wright. “We will continue to build on our collective momentum to make California more resilient to wildfire.”
The next Task Force meeting will take place in Sacramento on December 13 and will provide a synthesis of the latest scientific findings that are informing California’s approach to address wildfire risks in a changing climate. These findings will be incorporated into the Task Force’s 2025 Action Plan Update.
Sky Biblin, Communications Coordinator
Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force
916-502-6527
Sierra Nevada Regional Meeting Event 2024
Welcome ToThe Sierra Nevada
Regional Meeting
Event schedule
8:30 – 10:00 a.m. Resource Fair
10 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. Morning Session
12:15 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:30 – 3:15 p.m. Afternoon Session
3:30 – 4:30 p.m. Small Group Discussion
4:30 – 6:00 p.m. Reception
Questions? Please contact foresttaskforce@fire.ca.gov
Thank You to our Hosts
Thank You to our Sponsors
Sierra Nevada Regional Meeting
Sierra Nevada Regional Meeting
Register early to reserve your seat at the next meeting of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, October 10 at the Tahoe Blue Event Center in South Lake Tahoe, hosted by the California Tahoe Conservancy and the Tahoe Fund.
The Task Force and CAL FIRE will unveil several new tools that will revolutionize how California tracks and communicates progress toward improving wildfire and landscape resilience at its seventh regional meeting on October 10th in South Lake Tahoe:
Interagency Treatment Dashboard: One year after its beta release with 2022 data, CAL FIRE will present three years (2021-2023) of treatment data from a more complete range of federal, state, local, tribal, and private entities through its expanded and improved Interagency Treatment Dashboard.
Draft Metrics: Task Force Science Advisory Panel staff will present a subset of initial proposed metrics to document the outcomes of recent projects on wildfire hazard, watershed health, and wildlife habitat.
Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard: CAL FIRE will demonstrate its prototype dashboard to document the benefits of fuels treatments in reducing the impacts of recent fires, including the Park Fire in Butte and Tehama County.
CAL FIRE Director Joe Tyler will also provide a report on the current fire season, and three panels of federal, state, tribal, and regional leaders will discuss their efforts to create vibrant forest ecosystems and thriving communities through landscape-scale wildfire resilience projects.
On October 9 and 11, Task Force Partners will host field tours offering immersive opportunities to better understand the critical landscape health and wildfire resilience work being done in the Sierra Nevada region.
The $28 registration fee for the October 10 meeting offsets the cost of breakfast, refreshments, and lunch. If this fee poses a hardship, contact ForestTaskForce@fire.ca.gov.
Registration closes October 3. No registrations will be allowed after this date.
EVENT SCHEDULE
OCTOBER 10 TENTATIVE MEETING SCHEDULE
Resource Fair
8:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Morning Session
10:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Lunch
12:30 – 2 p.m.
Afternoon Session
2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Reception at the Tahoe Blue Event Center
(Meeting registration is required.)
4:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
hotel information
field tours
FIELD TOURS WILL BE OFFERED ON OCT 9 & 11
All tours will be accessed by bus. Parking/meet up locations TBD.
Lunch will not be served.
Tahoe Forest Products Mill
See the first new industrial-scale sawmill built in Sierra Nevada in several decades.
Destination: Tahoe Forest Products worked in partnership with the Washoe Development Corporation an affiliate of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada & California to construct the first new industrial-scale sawmill in the Sierra Nevada in several decades. The mill provides employment opportunities for local citizens and tribal members while supporting forest health and wildfire restoration efforts throughout the Central Sierra. Visit the mill and learn about both the innovative partnerships and engineering that made this long-envisioned opportunity a reality.
Three Tours: start times will be 12:30, 1:00 and 1:30 pm.
Tour lasts approximately 2.5 hours.
Caldor Fire Preparation, Response, and Recovery
Learn what happened before, during, and after one of 2021’s largest wildfires.
Destination: This tour will showcase projects and treatments implemented prior to the 2021 Caldor Fire, successes and lessons learned during initial response to the fire, as well as the significant efforts that have helped the impacted ecosystems recover and accelerated access to recreational opportunities in this post-fire landscape. Tour stops will include Echo Summit, Christmas Valley, Pioneer Trail, and Fountain Place.
Start/End Time: 9am – 1pm
West Shore Prescribed Fire and Indigenous Stewardship
See impacts of long-term prescribed burn projects and multi-benefit ecosystem restoration.
Destination: This tour will visit the renowned Sugar Pine Point State Park to view the effects of a decades-long prescribed fire program. The tour will then explore Máyala Wáta at Meeks Meadow to learn how the Washoe Tribe is partnering with diverse groups to restore ecosystems and habitat by addressing the detrimental impacts of historical cattle grazing, logging, and fire suppression.
Start/End Time: 9am – 1pm
East Shore Shared-Use Trail and Recreation Management
Recreate on a scenic shoreline trail and learn about managing forests in high-visitation areas.
Experience by foot one of Tahoe’s most scenic and historic shoreline trails. Participants will have the opportunity to walk all or part of this spectacular 3-mile pave path while gaining insights on the challenges and solutions for managing forests in high-visitation areas.
TIME: 9am – 1pm
Questions? Please contact foresttaskforce@fire.ca.gov
Thank You to our Hosts
Thank You to our Sponsors
Southern California Regional Meeting
Southern California Regional Meeting
REGISTER early to reserve your seat at the next meeting of the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, April 4 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, CA.
Hosted by the RCD of Greater San Diego County and the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, the agenda and activities on April 4 will focus on landscapes and land management issues unique to Southern California. Agenda topics will include cultural burning, utilities & infrastructure, and regional planning & optimization.
On April 5, Task Force Partners will host a variety of field tours offering immersive opportunities to better understand the critical landscape health and wildfire resilience work being done in the Greater San Diego region.
REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Last day to register is March 27.
April 4 & 5, 2024
San Diego Zoo
Safari Park
Escondido, CA
EVENT SCHEDULE
APRIL 4: MEETING SCHEDULE
Resource Fair
8:30 – 10:00 a.m.
Morning Session
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Lunch
12:45 – 2 p.m.
Afternoon Session
2 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Free time to enjoy the Safari Park
4:30 p.m. – 7 p.m.
field tours
FIELD TOURS WILL BE OFFERED ON April 5th
Saving San Diego’s Last Mixed Conifer Forest
Destination: Join the Palomar Collaborative, a group of five federal, state, tribal, and private property owners and managers to learn how the Collaborative is utilizing CAL FIRE Forest Health funds to save San Diego’s last mixed conifer forest through a combination of mechanical thinning, pile burning, and mastication.
Tour Host: RCD of Greater San Diego County
Location: Palomar Observatory
Start/End Time: 10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Accessibility: Some walking on dirt roads, uneven surfaces
Notes: Carpool encouraged, bring snacks/lunch, layered clothing
Applying Traditional Ecological Knowledge to Forest Health
Destination: This dyanamic tour will feature field presentations on site history, a cultural burn site and a Lumbercycle demonstration. There will also be a discussion on Traditional Ecological Knowledge, funding and collaboration, burning on trust land, and the impact of goldspotted oak borer tree mortality in the area.
Tour Host: La Jolla Band of Luiseno Indians
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Accessibility: Driving on dirt road (prius accessible), minimal seating available, tour will be given on mostly flat, dirt terrain
Notes: Field clothing, hat, sunscreen, bug spray, recommended. If available bring mask, eye protection, preferred hearing protection, PPE will be provided as needed for lumbercycle demo. Carpool recommended. Bring snacks.
Fire History and Frequent Fires in the Cedar Creek Falls Trail Region
Destination: Join CAL FIRE and USFS in the San Diego Country Estates / Cedar Creek Falls Trail to learn what they are doing to defend a WUI community and surrounding ecosystem from frequent fire.
Tour Host: CAL FIRE/USFS
Location: Inaja Trailhead
Start/End Time: 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Accessibility: 1 mile roundtrip hike on uneven terrain
Notes: Carpools encouraged. Please bring lunch, water, hat, and sunscreen. No bathrooms along trail. Limited shade / cover. Please wear appropriate footwear for hiking.
Powerlines, Roadsides, and Flashy Fuels
Destination: First, learn about the fire hardening and undergrounding work that has already been completed by San Diego Gas & Electric, along with their future risk reduction plans. Then, visit an ignition reduction demonstration site on a fuelbreak on the Cleveland National Forest (NF) designed by UC Santa Barbara and funded by the San Diego River Conservancy. You’ll see the results of herbicide use to control invasive flashy fuels followed by seeding of less ignitable native plants. Finish with a firsthand look at a BurnBot in action, the first use in Southern California and a critical test of its capability to eliminate the invasive seedbank in addition to the above-ground fuels. This collaboration was funded by the National Forest Foundation as part of the Southern California Ignition Reduction Program (SCIRP) conservation finance effort. It will also lay black line for broadcast burning of a unit on the Cleveland NF. Along the way, learn how SCIRP involves collaboration among many partners, especially CalTrans, from the Mexican border to Monterey.
Tour Host: USFS
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Accessibility: short walks on uneven terrain
Notes: Carpools encouraged. Closed toed shoes required. Option to bring your own lunch and eat onsite.
Postfire Restoration at Cuyamaca State Park and Prescribed Fire on Mt. Laguna
Destination: Join the California State Parks and the US Forest Service to examine first hand what CA State Parks are doing to reforest Cuyamaca Rancho SP following wildfire, and join a discussion on management approaches and the Montane Strategy at Mt Laguna. This field trip visits the location where the 2003 Cedar Fire converted 10,000 acres of montane forest to shrubland. We will highlight State Parks’ major postfire reforestation effort and the Cleveland National Forest’s forest health program for reintroducing maintenance fire into the Laguna Mountains. Stops will include locations on both Cuyamaca State Park (Hwy 79) and the Cleveland National Forest (Sunrise Hwy).
Tour Host: CA State Parks/USFS
Location: Cuyamaca State Park, Paso Picacho
Start/End Time: 8:30 AM – 1:30 PM
Accessibility: Sites will be on or adjacent to roadways, and hiking will be very limited.
Notes: Carpools encouraged. Lunch is not provided and the tour will not end before 1:30; please bring a lunch, snacks, and water. Sturdy shoes, hat and a warm layer are recommended.
Wildfire Grazing: Rancho Jamul Reserve
Description: Join conservation experts in the Rancho Jamul Ecological Reserve to learn how local ranchers, land managers, and the environmental community are utilizing a prescribed grazing plan managing livestock on a commercial cattle ranch with a goal of improving wildfire resilience, and promoting soil health and carbon storage, while achieving many other aligned environmental co-benefits.
Tour Host: CDFW
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM
Accessibility: Walking approx 1 mile on relatively flat terrain.
Notes: Carpools encouraged. Closed toed shoes required. Option to bring your own lunch and eat onsite. Binoculars encouraged.
Impacts from the Witch Creek Fire to the Bernardo Fire to Now
Destination: Join this out-and-back hike along the “River of Fire” and learn how San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy is managing invasive species and fire risk in a Southern California riparian ecosystem that has been impacted by previous wildfires.
Tour Host: San Dieguito River Valley Conservancy
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM
Accessibility: Recommended for experienced hikers – 2.8 miles out and back (5.6 miles total).
Notes: Carpools encouraged. Please bring lunch, water, hat and sunscreen. No bathrooms along trail. Limited shade / cover. Please wear appropriate footwear for hiking.
Unique Approaches to Resource Management and Emergency Response on the International Border
Destination: Spend the day exploring the Otay Mountain Wilderness Area which sits directly on the busy International Border, with stops that include the International Fuel Break. There will be discussions about partnerships with Mexico, unique species to the area, and border response challenges. The tour will offer views of the border wall, Tijuana, downtown San Diego, and the Pacific Ocean. Participants will learn about unique approaches being applied for resource management and emergency response in a border area.
Tour Host: CAL FIRE
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 9:30 AM to 1:30 PM
Accessibility: Optional short hike to viewpoint. Short walks on flat terrain.
Notes: We will meet at County Fire Station 38 (850 Alta Road, San Diego, CA 92154). We will be utilizing 2 CAL FIRE vans for attendee transportation. While there is no security threat, participants will see migrants on the roadway up to the tour stops. No lunch provided. Restaurant options available.
Guided Tour of Resource Management and Wildfire Mitigation Programs at the Safari Park
Destination: Venture into the Safari Park’s expansive wildlife habitats on the back of a covered, open-air safari truck, with an expert guide to get an up-close view of a variety of wildlife with a special opportunity to learn about the BioReserve. Visit San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s new Heli-Hydrant Dip Tank, and gain an understanding of SDZWA’s multi-faceted wildfire mitigation program that supports wildlife on grounds, including in our large, multi-species habitats.
Location: San Diego Zoo Safari Park Parking Lot. Meet at the Log Ring.
Start/End Time: 10 AM – 12 PM
Accessibility: Ability to climb steps into truck
Notes: Closed toe shoes required. Casual attire (layers recommended).
CAL FIRE’s Urban and Community Forestry Program in Action
Destination: A unique opportunity to go behind the scenes and see an example of the partnership between CAL FIRE and private industry. Participate in a tour of the Taylor Guitars Factory led by founder Bob Taylor. The tour will focus on the process of building Taylor Guitars and Taylor’s Urban Wood Initiative. Tour will end with a Q & A session, an opportunity to play a selection of guitars, and a visit to the gift shop.
Location: VIEW
Start/End Time: 1:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Accessibility: Parking available at factory. Tour will consist of indoor walking. Government issued ID (e.g. driver’s license) is required to participate in tour.
Notes: Lunch will not be provided. Wear comfortable walking shoes.
hotel information
Questions? Please contact foresttaskforce@fire.ca.gov
Thank You to our Hosts
Thank You to our Sponsors
The Climate Science Alliance is offering a limited number of travel stipends for Tribal partners. Contact Althea Walker, Director of Community Resilience, at awalker@climatesciencealliance.org.
USFS Study Shows How Fuel Treatments Improve Wildfire Outcomes
USFS Pacific Southwest Research Station (PSW) Study Shows How Fuel Treatments Improve Wildfire Outcomes
PSW researchers recently published findings that provide strong evidence for the use of fuel treatments to mitigate fire behavior and resulting fire severity even under extreme fire weather conditions. When the 2021 Antelope Fire tore through the Goosenest Adaptive Management Area (long-term research plots set up in northeastern California in the late 1990s), it seemed that 20 years worth of research had been lost. However, shortly after the fire a 2,300-acre study was conducted that demonstrates how reducing canopy bulk density via mechanical thinning treatments can help to limit crown fire behavior for 20 years or more. The findings make a compelling case for doing both tree thinning and prescribed burning to protect forests in the future.
Tahoe Conservancy Grant Supports Joint USFS-Washoe Tribe Project at Meeks Meadow
Tahoe Conservancy Awards $600,000 Grant to Support Joint USFS-Washoe Tribe Project at Máyala Wáta (Meeks Meadow)
The California Tahoe Conservancy has awarded a $600,000 grant to the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) for forestry operations as part of its joint project with the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California to restore Máyala Wáta (Meeks Meadow). The absence of low-intensity fire has allowed lodgepole pines to encroach on the meadow, drying the soils and reducing the availability of culturally significant plants. The LTBMU will use these funds, matched by $1 million in federal funds, to remove encroaching conifers from 213 acres of the meadow and thin 70 acres of the surrounding upland forest. This federal, state, and tribal partnership is an excellent example of how Task Force partners can work together to achieve multiple benefits, from improving wildlife habitat to promoting culturally significant plants.