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The 2021 Caldor Fire (One Year Later) Header

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

Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act Affecting Health, Climate and the Economy

Biden Signs Inflation Reduction Act Affecting Health, Climate and the Economy. On August 16, President Biden signed a landmark climate change and health care bill into law. The Act includes the most substantial federal investment in history to fight climate change — some $375 billion over the decade, and significant investments in wildfire and forest resilience including:

Wildfire Resilience and Ecosystem Restoration

$1.8 billion for hazardous fuels reduction projects on National Forest System land within the wildland-urban interface.
$200 million for vegetation management projects on National Forest System land.
$250 million for conservation, ecosystem, and habitat restoration projects on National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management lands.

Climate-Smart Forestry for Non-Federal Forest Landowners

$450 million for grants to support climate mitigation, forest resilience, and carbon sequestration and storage practices.

Urban and Community Forests

$1.5 billion for competitive grants to cities, tribal nations, nonprofits, and other eligible entities.

Forest Conservation

$700 million for competitive grants through the Forest Legacy Program.

Forest Products and Innovation

$100 million for grants under the Wood Innovation Grant Program.

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Wildfire Resilience Work Helps Save Yosemite Sequoias

Wildfire Resilience Work
Helps Save Yosemite Sequoias

photo credit: New York Times

Fuels Reduction Partnerships Pay Off In Controlling The Washburn Fire

Some of the world’s most iconic trees in one of the world’s most famous forests are safe today thanks in part to resilience treatments funded through CAL FIRE’s Forest Health grant program.

“This project has meant the difference for the community and the grove. I suspect that if Wawona Road was in the state that it was prior to the project, it could be a very different outcome for the Mariposa grove and the community.”

– Garett Dickman, National Park Service Vegetation Ecologist

photo credit: New York Times

Protecting the ancient, majestic giant sequoias in the largest and most popular of Yosemite’s sequoias clusters was an immediate concern for land managers when the Washburn Fire broke out near Mariposa Grove. Fortunately, a partnership that includes the Mariposa County Resource Conservation District, National Park Service and local private landowners had done the important fuels reduction work that reduced the fire’s severity and helped firefighters protect the invaluable trees.

man looking over burn scar in tree stump

Garrett Dickman, a Vegetation Ecologist at Yosemite National Park was on the fire and observed its behavior. Referring to biomass removal treatments along a key road in the park, he said, “Firefighters [were] able to hold the road with minimal prep,” and the fuels reduction was “…proving critical in our ability to protect the community of Wawona.” Dickman pointed out that flame heights were a few inches to a just a few feet in treated areas, compared to flames that were tens to hundreds of feet long elsewhere.

photo credit: New York Times

CAL FIRE Forest Health provides funding to local and regional organizations that coordinate multiple treatment objectives, within landscape scale projects. Objectives include fuel reduction, prescribed fire, reforestation, biomass utilization and pest management. Land may be owned by tribes, private individuals, private companies, and local, state, or federal governments. The Washburn Fire is a good example of the critical impact these projects have in slowing the spread of wildfire, promoting forest health and, in this case, protecting some California’s most iconic natural treasures.

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CAL FIRE Forest Health

CAL FIRE Forest Health Grants

Mariposa County RCD

Yosemite National Park Fuels Management

by cataskforce

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.

Read The Whitepaper

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Monitoring, Reporting and Assessment

Congress' plan to save California’s giant sequoias from worsening wildfires

Over the past two years, nearly a fifth of all giant sequoias, once considered virtually immune to wildfire, burned so badly they died. Fire experts fear more lethal blazes are imminent.

In a rare show of bipartisanship, California’s Democratic Rep. Scott Peters of San Diego and Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield plan to introduce the Save our Sequoias Act, a bill that would provide money and support to restore and help fireproof the venerable giants.

Read The Article

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