USFS Invests Additional $33 Million in Deferred Maintenance Projects in California
USFS Invests Additional $33 Million in Deferred Maintenance Projects in California
On May 16, U.S. Forest Service announced $33 million in funding from the Great American Outdoors Act of 2021 to help support 23 select projects across 12 forests and/or management units in California.
State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects
State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects
State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects:
State Coastal Conservancy $78 Million for Climate Resilience, Public Access, Habitat Restoration and Wildfire Resilience: On June 1, the State Coastal Conservancy approved nearly $78 million for 34 projects to protect and restore coastal lands, increase coastal resilience to climate change, improve public access to the coast, and reduce the impact of wildfire on coastal lands.
SNC Approves $22.5 Million to Build Resilience, Boost Recreation, and Conserve Land: On June 1, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) approved roughly $22.5 million for 24 different projects that will benefit wildfire recovery and forest resilience, expand recreation opportunities, and conserve strategic land throughout California’s Sierra-Cascade region.
USFS Releases New Forest Plans for Sequoia and Sierra National Forests
USFS Releases New Forest Plans for Sequoia and Sierra National Forests
Through a Notice of Plan Approval in the Federal Register, on May 26 the USFS released a final environmental impact statement and final decisions for the Sequoia and the Sierra national forests revised land management plans. The revised plans are strategic guidance documents that will be used to address the challenges of managing complex ecosystems for all forest users over the next 20 years. Each plan was developed with extensive stakeholder involvement and scientific consultation.
CNRA Publishes Annual Report on 30x30 Initiative
CNRA Publishes Annual Report on 30x30 Initiative
30×30 is California’s landmark commitment to conserve 30 percent of the state’s lands and coastal waters by 2030. This important target has launched a collective initiative that leads the world in protecting, restoring and preserving our natural environment. Real, tangible progress is being made toward realizing this goal. On May 18, CNRA released its annual report showing that California added approximately 631,000 acres of conserved land since April 2022, bringing the statewide total to 24.4 percent of lands and 16.2 percent of coastal waters protected. The report details investments of $116 million in 83 different conservation projects, and shows meaningful progress on 79 of the 112 Pathways to 30×30.
USFS Issues Old Growth Technical and Reforestation Strategy Reports
USFS Issues Old Growth Technical and Reforestation Strategy Reports
USDA Forest Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior have worked together on two reports required under Executive Order 14072 (4/27/2022) that calls for strengthening the nation’s forests, communities, and local economies.
Mature and Old-Growth Forests: Definition, Identification, and Initial Inventory on Lands Managed by the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management contains the first national inventory of old-growth and mature forests on these lands.
Reforestation Goals and Assessments, and a Climate-Informed Plan to Increase Federal Seed and Nursery Capacity in which DOI and USDA outline an agency-specific target to reforest over 2.3 million acres nationwide by 2030. The report also includes an opportunity assessment of voluntary reforestation (in acres) through federal programs and partnerships.
State and Federal Agencies Make Significant Investments in Urban Greening
State and Federal Agencies Make Significant Investments in Urban Greening
USFS Grants Will Increase Equitable Access to Urban Tree Canopy: The U.S. Forest Service is requesting proposals from entities that are working to provide equitable access to trees and green spaces and the benefits they provide. The funding, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, is part of a $1.5 billion investment in the USFS’ Urban and Community Forestry Program. Of the total funding, the USFS is allocating nearly $47 million directly to the Pacific Southwest Region — $43.2 million to California. The application period ends June 1.
CNRA Invests Over $47 Million in Urban Greening: On April 6, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) awarded 23 grants totaling $47.5 million through the Urban Greening Grant Program. The selected projects will create more sustainable communities by using natural and green infrastructure approaches, such as replacing schoolyard asphalt with native trees, plants, pollinator gardens and nature-based outdoor play areas, restoring wetlands or riparian corridors, or constructing new commuter paths to reduce vehicles miles traveled.
Wildfire & Forest Resilience Treatment Tracking and Mapping
Wildfire & Forest Resilience Treatment Tracking and Mapping
At the March 30 Task Force meeting, the Task Force’s Monitoring, Reporting and Assessment Work Group gave an update on their efforts to build an interagency treatment tracker. The group is assembling federal, state, local, private data on planned, active, and completed projects statewide, including those on forests, grasslands, shrublands, and covering approximately 60 different activities (type of work completed). The goals include tracking progress toward state/federal acreage targets; facilitating regional planning and monitoring; and assessing benefits/costs beyond “acres treated.” The Task Force anticipates having a publicly available treatment tracking map and dashboard by summer 2023.
RESOURCES
Planscape now lives on the Task Force website
Planscape Now Lives on the Task Force Website
A collaborative effort between CA Natural Resources Agency, USFS, UC Berkeley, Spatial Informatics Group and Google.org, Planscape is a decision support tool that empowers regional planners to prioritize resilience treatments across the landscape and inform the funding process. Planscape partners provided a demonstration of the tool at the March 30 Task Force meeting. This version of the tool is available for beta testing, with the region-specific scenarios released this summer through fall.
RESOURCES
California's Year in Fire
California's Year in Fire
One of the highlights from the March 30 Task Force meeting was a preview of the Annual Wildfire Data Explorer which depicts California’s Year in Fire. A project of the Climate and Wildfire Institute, UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy & the Environment and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, California’s Year in Fire is a framework that works to more comprehensively account for annual wildfire impacts on social and ecological systems. This project will help decision makers better understand how wildfire impacts are trending and identify areas where we need additional investment. Next step in this project is to finalize the documentation for public review, with the results eventually housed on a public-facing website, updated annually. Sign up for updates.
USFS Invests Nearly $200M to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities
USFS Invests Nearly $200M to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities
USFS Invests Nearly $200M from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Reduce Wildfire Risk to Communities across State, Private and Tribal Lands: On March 20, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced $197M in funding for 100 projects across 22 states and seven tribes as part of the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program. Grants to California counties, cities and tribes totaled over $97M across 22 projects including: $10M in Tuolumne County; nearly $10M in Siskiyou County; $9.9M in Lake County; $7.2 M to the City of Ukiah and Mendocino County; $6.8 in Plumas County; and $6.4M in Butte County. Originally announced in 2022, the Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program makes $1 billion available over five years to assist communities impacted by severe disaster, those with high or very high wildfire hazard potential or classified as low income.