26th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit
26th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit
Jennifer Eberlein, Pacific Southwest Regional Supervisor, among others, spoke at the 26th Annual Lake Tahoe Summit to reflect on the progress made to restore the Tahoe Basin over the last two decades, discuss current challenges that the surrounding communities face, and find ways to preserve and protect Lake Tahoe in the years to come.
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U.S. Forest Service makes progress on 795 acres of fuels reduction on the Mendocino National Forest
U.S. Forest Service makes progress on 795 acres of fuels reduction on the Mendocino National Forest
U.S. Forest Service (USFS) land managers are making progress on 445 acres of fuels reduction on the Grindstone Ranger District and about 350 acres on the Upper Lake Ranger District.
Fuels reduction projects like these are examples of the kind of work and partnerships that the Mendocino National Forest will be building on to meet the USFS ambitious plan to treat millions of acres over the next 10 years.
The goal of fuels treatments is to reduce fuel loadings. When fuel loads are low, wildfire burns at a lower intensity. In the event of a wildfire, areas treated for fuels give firefighters a safer place to build lines to contain a wildfire.
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Preparing to Apply for Community Wildfire Defense Grants
Preparing to Apply for Community Wildfire Defense Grants
The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan calls for increasing assistance programs and partnerships to help local communities reduce risk, improve preparedness and foster resilience.
The Fire Adapted Communities Network and Headwaters Economics have created a primer designed to help communities navigate the U.S. Forest Service’s recently launched a Community Wildfire Defense Grant (CWDG) Program.
RESOURCES
California Fire Safe Council: Community Wildfire Protection Plans
USFS Wildfire Defense Grants
This Indigenous Practice Fights Fire With Fire
This Indigenous Practice Fights Fire With Fire
For decades, the U.S. government evangelized fire suppression, most famously through Smokey Bear’s wildfire prevention campaign. But as climate change continues to exacerbate wildfire seasons and a growing body of scientific research supports using fire to fight fire, Indigenous groups in the Klamath Basin are reviving cultural burning practices that effectively controlled forest fires for centuries. National Geographic photographer Kiliii Yüyan introduces us to people bringing back this cultural practice and teaching the next generation how to use fire.
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Forest Service Invests $55M in 41 Projects To Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation
Forest Service Invests $55M in 41 Projects To Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation
The USDA Forest Service will invest nearly $55 million in funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) to support 41 deferred maintenance projects across California and Hawaii in Fiscal Year 2022.
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USDA Announces $503 Million to Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation on National Forests
CalRec Vision Whitepaper
CalRec Vision Whitepaper
Over several months in 2020, MLTPA convened and facilitated an advisory committee of federal, state, and regional participants, which met and produced the CALREC Vision white paper. This white paper sufficiently inspired the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to task MLTPA with the establishment, convening, and facilitation of the Key Working Group to deliver Key Actions 3.13 and 3.14 from California’s Wildfire & Forest Resilience Action Plan.
Camp Cinder
Camp Cinder
CAL FIRE’S summer program, Camp Cinder, inspires young women to join the future of the fire service.
Ready, Set, Go Brochure
Ready, Set, Go Brochure
The new CAL FIRE guide illustrates the importance of creating and maintaining defensible space and hardening homes by retrofitting with ignition-resistance or noncombustible materials to protect against the threat of flying embers, direct flame contact and radiant heat exposure. The guide provides information about the preparations and precautions needed to safely evacuate if the threat of fire exists. These new brochures are the consolidation of past materials and part of the new Wildfire Action Plan that incorporates the Ready, Set, Go campaign. Brochures will be delivered to the CAL FIRE units for distribution during public events, fairs, and community meetings.
Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest Research Video
Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest Research Video
Wildfire is increasingly impacting small to medium sized forest landowners. Deciding what to do with their land post-fire can be challenging, which is why CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program has implemented a long term post-fire reforestation study at Boggs Mountain Demonstration State Forest. The results of this study will help inform landowners about different options for post-fire reforestation. The experiments and research conducted on Demonstration State Forests helps inform management practices for government, nonprofit and private forestland owners. Private forestland ownerships comprise 40% of California’s forestland and are key to sustaining forests for all California.
Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division
Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division
The Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division works with federal, state, and local agencies, Native American tribes, non-profit entities, and other stakeholders to prepare California communities against the devastating effects of wildfire. The various programs within the division allow CAL FIRE to continue to build local and regional capacity, as well as developing, prioritizing, and implementing strategies and projects that create wildfire prepared communities. The tasks involve working with stakeholders on wildfire planning to reduce or eliminate fire hazards and risks, modifying the environment by removing or reducing receptive fuels, conducting fire hazard compliance inspections, and providing education and grant opportunities for wildfire prevention efforts.
RESOURCES
California Incident Data and Statistics Program (CalStats)
CAL FIRE’S Land Use Planning Program