Governor Reflects on a Year of Progress and Resilience
Governor Reflects on a Year of Progress and Resilience
In November, Governor Newsom and state and local officials announced an end to peak wildfire season in California. CAL FIRE Director, Joe Tyler, highlighted favorable weather conditions, strategic investments in firefighting equipment, aerial resources, and fuels reduction and forest management projects, coupled with the hard work of firefighters and the diligence of of local communities resulted in an 85% reduction in acres burned and a 78% reduction in structures destroyed from 2021.
CAL FIRE Funding $14M In Workforce and Business Development Projects
CAL FIRE Funding $14M In Workforce and Business Development Projects
Focused on increasing California’s capacity to establish healthy, resilient forests through workforce and business development, the Wood Products and Bioenergy Team at CAL FIRE awarded $14 million in new grant agreements. The 10 new awards will go to non-profits, family businesses, wood products manufacturing facilities and local governments that are building the infrastructure and capacity to sustainably manage California’s forests as outlined in California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.
In addition to grants to non-profits, family businesses, and county and local governments, a $3 million grant will allow Sierra Pacific Industries to begin immediate construction on a new nursery that will be capable of producing 25 million seedlings per year.
California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership Aims to Address Key Reforestation Challenges
California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership Aims to Address Key Reforestation Challenges
The California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership (RPP) is a strategic collaboration to help address challenges related to the scale of post-burn reforestation opportunities on public and private lands between the U.S. Forest Service Region 5, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and the non-profit conservation organization American Forests.
The RPP Cooperative is a new effort of the RPP to increase public-private cooperation on the supply chain that enables reforestation, and is set to kickoff Friday, November 4 in Sacramento with a gathering of top land management officials and forestry professionals.
The need for the RPP emerged from Governor Gavin Newsom’s California Wildfire and Forests Resilience Task Force Reforestation Strategy Working Group, and through a national study, “Challenges to the Reforestation Pipeline in the United States,” which uncovered knowledge and structural gaps that need to be resolved in order to implement solutions at scale across public and private lands.
The 2021 Caldor Fire: One Year Later Video Series
The 2021 Caldor Fire: One Year Later Video Series
October 21, 2022, marks exactly one year since the Caldor Fire was completely contained.
Over the last year and with months of research and collaboration, the Eldorado National Forest released a four-part series examining the Caldor Fire. This series reviews the suppression efforts that took place, the fire behavior challenging firefighters, the road to rehabilitation and restoration, and what is being done now to lower the future risk of fire to communities.
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Episode 1: Initial response and experiences of firefighters who not only worked but also lived in the area
Episode 2: How fire behavior and fuel conditions made for a challenging fire fight
Episode 3: What restoration and rehabilitation work has occurred and its importance
Episode 4: What is being done to reduce extreme wildfire behavior
Private Landowner Assistance Work Group | September 2022 Action Item Updates
Private Landowner Assistance Work Group | September 2022 Action Item Updates
Progress is being made on key Action Items from the Private Landowner Assistance Work Group’s Implementation Strategy. Read the update (link below) for a report on a few emerging EFRTS, NRCS‐CA new forestry technical and financial assistance agreements with partners, and UC Extension Stewardship Workshops.
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CNRA Announces Tool to Improve Wildfire Resilience with Support from Google.org
CNRA announces tool to Improve Wildfire Resilience with Support from Google.org
The CNRA and the USDA FOREST SERVICE, along with support from Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm, has developed Planscape – a new wildfire resilience planning tool that uses state and federal resilience data to create user-friendly models that will be easily accessible to land planners. A demonstration of Planscape was released at the California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force meeting on September 27th, 2022. The new, open-source tool will permit everyone to evaluate fire risks and remedies.
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California State Legislature Invests $150 Million for Green Schools
California State Legislature Invests $150 Million for Green Schools
California officials and climate activists gathered at Pacoima Middle School to celebrate $150 million being invested to help greenify schools across the state.
The funds, approved by the state legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom, will be used to plant grass and trees in asphalt-covered schoolyards. The investment comes at a time when California has been experiencing its longest and most intense heat wave on record.
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CAL FIRE: Urban and Community Forestry
Green Schoolyards of America
SNC to Pilot Wildfire Resilience Landscape Investment Strategy
SNC to Pilot Wildfire Resilience Landscape Investment Strategy
Made possible by increased state and federal funding and cooperation, the the Landscape Grant Pilot Program will give land managers a new tool that seeks to meet the wildfire crisis where it is occurring—at the landscape level. The program will seek to align funding from multiple entities to provide one or two large landscape grants that support strategic portfolios of projects across large landscapes over a 5- to 10-year timeframe. The program will help SNC implement its Sierra Nevada Landscape Investment Strategy
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CAL FIRE Announces New Vision for The Jackson Demonstration State Forest
CAL FIRE Announces New Vision for The Jackson Demonstration State Forest
Based on discussions with tribal governments and key stakeholders, the new vision will inform an update to the Jackson Management Plan with a renewed focus on climate science, restoration ecology and a new model for tribal co-management. CAL FIRE also announced that timber harvest will resume with a focus on small trees, removing slash piles, permanently protecting large trees, and enhancing protection of culturally sensitive sites.
California Demonstration State Forest System Adds 2,500 Acres to Statewide Total For Research, Restoration and Conservation
California Demonstration State Forest System Adds 2,500 Acres to Statewide Total For Research, Restoration and Conservation
CAL FIRE acquired two properties through donation from PG&E including 2,246 acres along South Cow Creek in Shasta County and 267 acres in the headwaters of the Bear River in Nevada and Placer counties. These properties increase the diversity of forest types under CAL FIRE’s stewardship and create new opportunities for research and demonstration of sustainable forestry techniques. CAL FIRE will work collaboratively and closely with the Shasta Land Trust and Bear Yuba Land Trust who hold the conservation easements on these properties to ensure that the scenic, open space, forest, wildlife habitat, recreation, and historic and cultural values are protected forever. The properties will be stewarded for these multiple uses under a Forest Management Plan to be approved by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The acquisitions bring the total acreage of California’s demonstration state forest system to over 84,000 acres statewide.
RESOURCES
Demonstration State Forests
Shasta Land Trust
Bear Yuba Land Trust