California Fast-tracks 500 Critical Wildfire Prevention Projects Across the State

September 10, 2026 – California has now fast-tracked more than 500 priority wildfire prevention projects, including over 310,000 activity acres of treatments across nearly 130,000 footprint acres. This follows Governor Newsom’s emergency proclamation on wildfire-prone forests and subsequent actions to accelerate wildfire resilience work. State agencies, including the California Natural Resources Agency and the California Environmental Protection Agency, have coordinated to streamline permitting and cut red tape for high-priority wildfire-safety projects while maintaining essential environmental protections. Through this fast-track process, projects are now being approved in as little as 30 days, saving a year or more of review time for more complex projects.

This has helped move critical fuel reduction, forest restoration, and community protection projects from planning to implementation faster, saving a year or more of review and red tape for more complicated projects. Partners across the state have been able to complete work more efficiently while maintaining strong environmental protections. Notable projects include:

• Protecting Communities Impacted by the 2025 Los Angeles Firestorms: 600+ acre fuels reduction collaborative project protecting communities in the Los Angeles area near the Palisades footprint, led by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority
  
• Expanding Prescribed and Cultural Burning on the North Coast: 450-acre Prosper Ridge Community Wildfire Resilience Project that is incorporating cultural burning and prescribed fire for community protection in Humboldt County
  
• Restoring Large Landscapes and Protecting Rural Northern California Communities: Nearly 3,000-acre Scott Valley/Callahan Fuels Reduction Project to restore ecosystem health and protect vulnerable rural communities in Siskiyou County
  
• Assisting Senior and Disabled Residents Protect their Homes in the Sierra Nevada: 302-acre project to assist senior and disabled WUI residents in Tuolumne County with removing vegetation and creating defensible space
  
• Restoring Wildfire Impacted Private Lands on the Central Coast: 520-acre Calforests supported disaster recovery project of private lands in Santa Cruz County impacted by the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fires
  
• Reducing Wildfire Risk through Prescribed Grazing in Southern California: 240-acre project in San Diego County to protect the Sycuan Reservation from wildfire by reducing fire hazard with the use of 300 grazing goats
  
• Protecting the Heritage Ranch Community in San Luis Obispo County: 485-acre project to construct an 8-mile strategic fuel break, improve roadside clearance and create defensible space to protect the 3,800-resident Heritage Ranch community, a Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone with a history of large wildfires
  
• Reducing Wildfire Risk Near Arnold in Calaveras County: 2,171-acre strategic fuel break to protect the community of Arnold, using mechanical mastication, manual hand cutting, and piling and chipping to reduce fuel loads and prepare the landscape for prescribed fire