Fire-Adapted Communities
Fire-Adapted Communities
The challenges involved in adapting communities to be more fire resilient are remarkably vast and diverse. It’s also inherently local, as no two areas in the state have the exact same set of needs, values, risks, and capacities. By aligning resources, tools and organizations, the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force is uniquely structured to address the scope and complexity of resourcing and supporting communities to achieve a more resilient future.
Explore Key Issues in Fire Adapted Communities
resources
Community Risk Reduction & Adaptation Planning
WUI Structure/Parcel/Community Fire Hazard Mitigation Methodology (NIST Technical Note 2205)
The State of California’s Adaptation Planning Guide provides comprehensive guidance for assessing climate vulnerability and adapting to climate change,
OPR’s Fire Hazard Planning Technical Advisory
UCANR – Building to Coexist with Fire: Risk Reduction Measures for New Development
Wildfire-Prone Home & Neighborhood Protection
Wildfire-Prone Home & Neighborhood Protection
CAL FIRE’s Defensible Space Program
CalOES/CAL FIRE – California Wildfire Mitigation Program
Appendix A in the WUI Structure/Parcel/Community Fire Hazard Mitigation Methodology
FIre-Safe Roadways & Utilities
Caltrans – Vegetation Management Program
CNRA – Office of Energy Infrastructure
Plan for Smoke Impact
CARB – Protect Yourself from Wildfire Smoke
CA Smoke Spotter App
Asbestos and Natural Disasters Guide
Work Group: Fire-Adapted Communities
Work Group: Fire-Adapted Communities
Partnering Organizations
Work Group lead
Work Group lead
University of California Cooperative Extension – Yana Valachovic
CAL FIRE – Tadashi Moody
CA Dept. of Conservation – Nic Entice
Caltrans – Lisa Worthington
California Air Resources Board – Carmen Tubbesing
Moore Foundation Strategic Advisor – Kate Dargan
CA Dept. of Housing & Community Development – Clay Kerchof
Office of Planning & Research – Michael Maguire
USFS, Pacific SW Region – Barbara Geringer-Frazer
CA Forestry Stewardship Council – Jacy Hyde
ForEverGreen Forestry – Tracy Katelman
CA Wildfire Mitigation Program – J. Lopez
CA Dept. of Insurance – Mike Peterson
Butte County Fire Safe Council – Calli-Jane West
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety – Steven Hawks
Energy Safety – Susie Rose
California Department of Public Health – Patrice Chamberlain
Frank Bigelow, CAL FIRE
Work Group Facilitator
Michelle Medley-Daniel, FAC Net/WRTC
Special Project Leads
Erik de Kok, Ascent Environmental
Laura Tam, Resources Legacy Fund
Molly Mowery, Community Wildfire Planning Center
Key Actions Assigned:
2.1 – 2.32
PRIVATE LANDOWNER ASSISTANCE
PRIVATE LANDOWNER ASSISTANCE
12.2 million acres of forestland in our state belong to private landowners, creating the need to increase access to technical and financial assistance to forestland owners for forest management planning, fuels reduction, prescribed fire, and forest recovery following wildfires. The Private Landowner Work Group was created to address a common framework and shared goals to expand forest management across non-industrial private forestlands and to support private landowners in wildfire resilience initiatives.
resources
Financial Assistance
programs
California Forest Improvement Program (CFIP): CAL FIRE provides eligible private forest landowners with technical and cost-share financial assistance for planning, reforestation, and resource management.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP): USDA-Natural Resource Conservation Service provides eligible private forest landowners with cost share funding for a variety of forest improvement practices.
Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP): USDA-Farm Service Agency helps private landowners restore forests damaged by natural disasters through cost-share payments.
My Sierra Woods – A program of the American Forest Foundation, MSW provides technical and financial assistance for family forest landowners across Northern California.
Conservation Assistance Through NRCS — 2023 Inflation Reduction Act Funding
Technical Assistance & Resources
Technical Assistance & Resources
UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE): UCEE works collaboratively with California landowners to support responsible forest stewardship.
California Resource Conservation District (RCD): RCD’s partner with local communities, individuals, and others in planning, designing, permitting, monitoring, and grant application support for land management projects.
California Tree Farm Program
– a program that gives landowners the tools they need to be effective stewards of their forests
Fire Safe Councils: Local organizations throughout California that educate homeowners about community wildfire preparedness activities while working with local fire officials to design and implement projects that increase the wildfire survivability of their communities. They are supported by the California Fire Safe Council (CFSC) which provides assistance to community wildfire preparedness groups and maintains a Grant Clearinghouse.
Education
The Forestland Steward Newsletter
Forest Management Handbook for Small Parcel Landowners
Forest Stewardship Workshops from UC Extension
Guide to Planning and Permitting Fuel-Reduction Projects on Private Lands
Private Forest Landowner Assistance Workshops
Work Group Products
Report to the Task Force: Goals and Barriers to Managing Small Private Forestlands
The Private Landowner Assistance Work Group previewed the California Implementation Strategy to Improve Assistance to Small Private Owners.
Work Group: Private Landowner Assistance
Work Group: Private Landowner Assistance
Partnering Organizations
Work Group leads
Work Group leads
American Forest Foundation – Taylor Timbals
Feather River Resource Conservation District – Michael Hall
El Dorado Resource Conservation District – Mark Egbert
Forest Landowners of California – Claire McAdams
Mast Reforestation – Chantz Joyce
University of California Cooperative Extension – Susie Kocher
University of California Cooperative Extension – Daylin Wade
U.S Forest Service – Dana Walsh
Water Board – Griffin Perea
Stewart McMorrow, CAL FIRE
Chris Zimny, NRCS-CA
Work Group Facilitator
Work Group Facilitator
Sophia Lemmo, California Association of Resource Conservation Districts
Key Actions Assigned:
1.9 – 1.15
SCIENCE ADVISORY PANEL
SCIENCE ADVISORY PANEL
WORK GROUP
The Science Advisory Panel provides support to Task Force leadership and work groups for action plan priorities, science-based decision making, including translating scientific findings related to agency programs, and identifying research gaps to inform future forest health projects.
THE LATEST
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resources
Learning
Below are a series of briefs intended to communicate three different California ecosystems’ general physical appearance and summarize processes to keep them intact.
Publications
Prioritizing Forest Health Investments: a science-based framework for identifying priorities for forest health investments
Publications
2019 Tree Mortality Work Group: Could We Have Avoided Forest Mortality?
Could we have avoided forest mortality? In response to a request from the 2019 Tree Mortality Working Group, the Panel offered expert opionion on whether recent tree mortality events in California were avoidable (June 2019)
Publications
LiDAR: What Can It Measure and How Can it Be Used?
A summary of applications for and recommendations regarding LiDAR (March 2020)
Work Group Facilitator
Jennifer Smith, U.S. Forest Service, California Climate Hub
Staff Scientist
MV Eitzel, UC Berkeley
Work Group Staff Scientists
Work Group Staff Scientists
John Battles, UC Berkeley
Steve Ostoja, U.S Forest Service, California Climate Hub
Members
- Adam Moreno, California Air Resources Board: Landscape Ecology and climate science
- Alexandra Syphard, Conservation Biology Institute
- Andrew Latimer, UC Davis
- Becky Estes, U.S. Forest Service Region 5
- Brandon Collins, U.S. Forest Service Region 5
- Christy Brigham, National Park Service
- Chris Fettig, U.S. Forest Service PSW Research Station
- Chris Keithley, CAL FIRE FRAP: Forestry and vegetation management
- Derek Young, UC Davis
- Emily Schlickman, UC Davis
- Francisco Escobedo, U.S. Forest Service PSW Research Station: Urban and community forestry, ecosystem services
- Juliann Aukema, U.S. Forest Service PSW Research Station: Landscape ecology and conservation biology
- Lara Kuppers, UC Berkeley: Climate-ecosystem interactions
- Lenya Quinn-Davidson, UC Cooperative Extension – Fire Advisor: Fire ecology and management
- Malcolm North, U.S. Forest Service PSW Research Station: Forest ecosystems
- Megan Jennings, San Diego State University
- Natalie van Doorn, U.S. Forest Service PSW Research Station
Research Station: Urban and community forestry, forest ecosystems - Nicole Molinari, U.S. Forest Service Region 5: Vegetation ecology and chaparral ecosystems
- Ramona Butz, U.S. Forest Service Region 5: Vegetation and fire ecology
- Roger Bales, UC Merced
- Safeeq Khan, UC Cooperative Extension & UC Merced: Forest hydrology
- Sarah Bisbing, University of Nevada, Reno: Forest silviculture and conservation
- Scott Stephens, UC Berkeley: Fire science
- Tirtha Banerjee, UC Irvine: Atmospheric science and wildfire modeling
- Yana Valachovic, UC Cooperative Extension – Forest Advisor: Forestry and vegetation management
- Yufang Jin, UC Davis: Remote sensing and spatial informatics