The Next Task Force Meeting is March 27 in San Rafael
Spring Regional Meeting – Marin County, CA
The Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority and Fire Safe Marin are hosting the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Regional Meeting March 27 at the Embassy Suites in San Rafael, California. A remote attendance option will be available via Zoom.
The meeting on March 27 will focus on critical issues related to community wildfire risk reduction and landscape management in Marin County. We will kick off the day with refreshments and a resource fair.
On March 28, Task Force partners will host field tours offering immersive opportunities to better understand the critical landscape health and wildfire resilience work being done in Marin County and the greater Bay Area.
New for this meeting! The Climate and Wildfire Institute and Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority are hosting special Keynote Speaker Event the evening of March 26 at the Embassy Suites.
EVENT SCHEDULE
March 26
Keynote Speaker Night – Wildfires and Climate Change in California
Separate registration is required!
Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority and Climate and Wildfire Institute present Dr. Daniel Swain, renowned climate scientist from the University of California, Los Angeles who will present his research on climate and wildfire with a special emphasis on what we can learn from the recent Los Angeles fires.
Reception: 4:30 p.m – 6 p.m.
Keynote: 6 p.m – 7p.m.
March 27
Spring Regional Meeting
– Resource Fair – 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.
– Morning Session – 10:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.
– Lunch – 12:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
– Afternoon Session – 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
– Reception at Embassy Suites – 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. (Meeting registration is required.)
March 28
field tours
China Camp State Park: Prescribed Burning & Workforce Development
30+ Years of Collaboration To Promote More Resilient Human and Natural Communities at China Camp State Park
Visit China Camp State Park and hear about how a unique 30-year collaboration between State Parks, local fire agencies, and the FIRE Foundry has helped protect the Park’s hardwood forests and the adjacent homes in the WUI of San Rafael.
Pack a lunch and take a walk with sweeping views of San Francisco and San Pablo bays while learning about recent fuels reduction and prescribed fire treatments and the role of the FIRE Foundry in accomplishing the work. The FIRE Foundry is a workforce development and education program created in 2022 to support underserved and under-represented individuals in navigating a career in the fire service.
Start/End Time: 9:30 a.m. to approximately 1 p.m.
Meet: Embassy Suites San Rafael
Transport: Car caravan & vans available
Notes: Bring lunch. Prepare to hike on dirt roads and uneven terrain for 1.5 miles with up to 300 feet elevation gain.
Mountain Bike Tour of Marin County’s Camp Tamarancho
Public/Private Partnership to Promote Wildfire Prevention, Public Safety, and Sustainable Recreation
Bring your mountain bike (or rent one) and tour 412-acre Camp Tamarancho with amazing views of the North Bay stretching from Mt. Tamalpais to Mt. Diablo.
Learn about the multi-faceted fire preparedness work completed by Marin County to protect the communities of Fairfax & Woodacre while promoting safe and sustainable public recreation on the property.
Start/End Time: 9:00 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Meet: Splitrock Tap & Wheel – Fairfax
Transport: Mountain or e-mountain bike + full safety gear (rentals available)
Notes: Minimum intermediate cycling ability preferred for riding on fire roads and some technical single track.
– Bike rentals are available in Fairfax at Sunshine Bicycle Center and Splitrock Tap & Wheel.
Tomales Bay Forest Health and Wildfire Resilience Project
A Precedent-Setting Partnership & Tribal Collaboration Project
Pack a lunch and join California State Parks and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy for a tour of Tomales Bay State Park. Learn how the One Tam collaborative partnered with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria to develop an RFFC-funded Regional Priority Plan for Marin County, and how California State Parks leveraged the Marin Regional Forest Health Strategy to include Tribal participation in the Coastal Development Permit and CalVTP process.
Start/End Time: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Meet: Vista Point Picnic Area – Inverness
Transport: 50-minute drive from San Rafael – Carpooling Encouraged – Parking Passes Provided
Notes: Prepare to hike on dirt roads and uneven terrain for 2.5 miles with up to 400 feet elevation gain.
Forest and Watershed Resilience on Mt. Tamalpais
Reflections on 5-years of Management to Increase Forest Resilience on Mt. Tamalpais Watershed to Protect the County’s Water Supply
On a beautiful hike through Mt. Tamalpais Watershed’s mixed-conifer forests and oak woodlands, review forest health and fuels reduction treatments, view and learn about recent prescribed burning sites, and discuss management designed to address impacts from weeds, fire exclusion, and pathogen impacts. The hike ends with a bring-your-own picnic lunch atop Mt. Tam’s West Peak with panoramic views of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Start/End Time: 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Meet: Quarry Parking Lot – E. Ridgecrest Blvd at Lagunitas Rock Springs Road
Transport: 40-minute drive from San Rafael – Carpooling Encouraged – Parking Passes Provided
Notes: Prepare to hike on dirt roads and uneven terrain for 2.5 miles with up to 500-feet elevation gain.
Forest and Fire Ecology: The Old Growth Coast Redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument
National Park Service Efforts to Bring Beneficial Fire Back to Marin’s Iconic Old Growth Redwood Forests
Join National Park Service natural resource and interpretive staff on a hike through the majestic old-growth coast redwoods of Muir Woods National Monument. Planning is underway to bring prescribed fire back to Muir Woods for the first time in decades, and the One Tam collaborative behind the Marin Regional Forest Health Strategy / Regional Priority Plan is helping to make it happen.
Learn about the significance and inner workings of this unique and remnant habitat while strolling the Main Trail with its bridges and boardwalks along Redwood Creek and through the remarkable Cathedral Grove.
Start/End Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Meet: Embassy Suites San Rafael
Transport: MWPA to coordinate vans
Notes: Café on site or bring lunch. Prepare to hike on smooth terrain and gentle grade for 2 miles.
Greater Novato Shaded Fuel Break Tour
Creating an Expanded Defensible Space Buffer Around the Novato Community
Learn how Novato Fire District, Marin County Parks, and Marin Wildfire are using the CalVTP process, a CAL FIRE Wildfire Prevention grant, and two tax revenues to fund a 60-mile expanded defensible space project around the entire community of Novato. This tour will feature field presentations at three locations that focus on the CalVTP process, collaborative treatments, and prescribed burning.
Start/End Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Meet: South Hamilton Park – Novato
Transport: Self-Driving – 3 Stops, Starting 15 minutes from San Rafael – Carpooling Encouraged
Notes: Bring lunch. Prepare to hike on smooth terrain and gentle grade for 2 miles.
Questions? Please contact foresttaskforce@fire.ca.gov
Thank You to our Hosts
Thank You to our Sponsors
See Highlights From a Busy Year for the Task Force
ADVANCEMENTS IN MEASURING PROGRESS
Interagency Treatment Dashboard Shows Progress Toward Resilience
The updated Dashboard shows three years of data with treatments on 700,000 acres in 2023 and prescribed fire acres more than doubling between 2021 and 2023.
New CAL FIRE Dashboard Shows Effectiveness of Fuels Treatments
The dashboard shows on-the-ground projects protecting communities and landscapes from recent wildfires.
New Webpage Brings Together California’s Wildfire and Landscape Resilience Monitoring and Assessment Programs
Centralized resource provides detailed information on California’s various monitoring and assessment programs to understand the complementary relationship between these efforts.
ABOUT THE TASK FORCE
The California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force was created by the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom to directly confront the near perfect storm of climatic and human-caused conditions that have brought the threat of devastating wildfire and its far-reaching effects to the doorstep of nearly everyone in our state, and beyond.
The Task Force is a collaborative effort to align the activities of federal, state, local, public, private, and tribal organizations to support programs and projects tailored to the priorities and risks of each region and bring the best available science to forest management and community protection efforts.
The critical work of the Task Force effects all Californians, and Task Force meetings offer an ideal opportunity for members of the press to hear directly from those involved in the comprehensive, coordinated efforts to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfires and create safe communities while ensuring healthier, more sustainable natural environments.
MORE 2024 HIGHLIGHTS
California Passes Proposition 4 – Providing $1.5 Billion for Wildfire Resilience
The approval of Prop 4 is a major advancement for California to reach goals set in the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.
U.S. Forest Service Completes Record Setting Year for Prescribed Fire
The U.S. Forest Service successfully treated over 72,000 acres with prescribed fire in California during the 2024 fiscal year.
Leading Researchers Share Science Synthesis to Drive California’s Actions to Improve Wildfire Resilience
At the December 13 meeting in Sacramento, a panel of scientists presented new findings to guide California’s efforts to respond to increasing wildfire risks in a changing climate.
Regional Meetings in San Diego and Lake Tahoe
Two regional meeting were held in 2024, along with two more in Sacramento. Hundreds of people came away from the meetings having learned new information, and having made new connections, and inspired to make positive change.
Join Us at our Upcoming Meetings
• March 27 & 28: Marin County
• June 6: Sacramento
• September 4 & 5: TBD
• December 12: Sacramento
SPREAD THE WORD IN 2025
Promote the Task Force in Your Communications
Task Force communications provides an important source of vital information that covers the combined effort of all organizations involved in landscape resilience and the prevention of wildfires in California. Please follow and share Task Force communications when you can.
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Recovering Private Lands Through Emergency Forest Restoration Teams
Recovering Private Lands Through Emergency Forest Restoration Teams
December 11, 2024 – While non-industrial private forests make up roughly a quarter of California’s forested land, they often don’t have any pre-established funding or plans for immediate restoration after a wildfire. To address this critical gap, the Task Force Action Plan (Action Item 1.14) calls for the establishment of Emergency Forest Restoration Teams (EFRTs) to help small private forestland owners recover their lands. In 2021, three pilot EFRTs were developed in response to the Dixie, Tamarack and Caldor fires. By the end of 2023, the three programs had removed dead trees from 2,500 acres and planted new trees on 1,400 acres. These pilot EFRTs are proving successful and there are now 15 EFRT programs established across the state.
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California's Wildfire Task Force Continues Nation-Leading Efforts To Protect Communities, Unveils New Tools And Data
Recently Updated with 2024 Data
Leading Scientists Share Latest Findings to Improve Wildfire Resilience at December 13 Meeting
TASK FORCE SACRAMENTO MEETING
Friday, December 13, 2024 - 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM
The December 13 Task Force meeting in Sacramento will focus on the Science Synthesis Project, showcasing the latest findings and recommendations from leading scientists guiding the state’s efforts to minimize the risk of destructive wildfires. The Task Force’s Science Advisory Panel has identified key findings to drive action, save lives, protect communities, and reduce wildfire risks throughout California. The synthesis is distilled into six "key messages," each designed to guide funding strategies, prioritize programs, and champion sustained investment in effective wildfire management approaches.
Sound science is at the very core of a successful strategy for wildfire and landscape resilience. The Task Force Science Advisory Panel is comprised of top scientists working across a range of disciplines. Their direction ensures California’s investments in protecting communities and natural environments are working as effectively and efficiently as possible.
FEATURED PANEL - SYNTHESIS OF SCIENCE
Through a series of panel discussions, members of the Task Force’s Science Advisory Panel will provide highlights from a synthesis of scientific findings since 2021 on issues related to wildfire and landscape resilience that will help inform the Task Force’s 2025 Action Plan.
Steve Ostoja
Moderator – USDA CA Climate Hub
Scott Stephens
UC Berkeley
Malcolm P. North
USDA Pacific Southwest Research Station
Chris Fettig
USDA Pacific Southwest Research Station
Lenya Quinn-Davidson
UC Agriculture & Natural Resources
Emily Schlickman
UC Davis
Don Lindsay
CA Department of Conservation
Dana Walsh
U.S. Forest Service
Brandon Collins
U.S. Forest Service
MEETING SCHEDULE
Attend in person at the CNRA Auditorium
715 P St. Sacramento (no registration required) or via Zoom
9:30 AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks
9:50 AM
Director’s Report
• Task Force Update
• 2025 Action Plan Overview
Update on Task Force priorities & key accomplishments.
10:00 AM
Forest and Rangeland Assessment
10:10 AM
Synthesis of the Science
Through a series of panel discussions, members of the Task Force’s Science Advisory Panel will provide highlights from a synthesis of scientific findings since 2021 on issues related to wildfire and landscape resilience that will help inform the Task Force’s 2025 Action Plan.
10:15 AM
How did we get here and why does it matter?
• Wildfires and Ecosystems
• Wildfires and Communities
10:40 AM
What have we learned about what works and where we go from here?
Part 1: Landscape Resilience & Community Protection
• Community Protection
• Treatment Effectiveness & Limitations
• Strategic Fire Management
11:20 AM
Part 2: Post-Fire Considerations
• Post-Fire Management Interventions
• Climate-Informed Reforestation
• Debris Flows
11:55 AM
Closing Remarks
Task Force to Showcase Latest Science Driving California’s Actions to Improve Wildfire Resilience
Task Force to Showcase Latest Science Driving California’s Actions to Improve Wildfire Resilience
On December 13, the Task Force will host a meeting in Sacramento that will highlight recent research that is guiding California’s efforts to respond to increasing wildfire risks in a changing climate. The Task Force’s Science Advisory Panel will be joined by scientists at the forefront of wildfire research to provide a synthesis of key findings on reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire, impacts of wildfire to ecosystems and public health, post-fire restoration, and new technologies and innovations to accelerate progress toward resilience. These findings will help inform the Task Force’s 2025 Action Plan to ensure the plan is based on the latest science being published by leading researchers from across California. The meeting will also feature a preview of CAL FIRE’s 2024 Forest and Rangelands Assessment. The meeting will be held from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the CNRA Auditorium, 715 P St., Sacramento (no registration necessary) and Via Zoom (registration required).
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