Governor Newsom Signs Executive Order to Further Improve Community Hardening
Governor Newsom Signs Executive Order to Further Improve Community Hardening and Wildfire Mitigation
On February 6, Governor Newsom signed an executive order to launch key initiatives to continue adapting to future wildfires and strengthen community resilience to urban conflagration (large destructive fires that spread beyond natural or artificial barriers wherein structures themselves become the fuel that spreads the fire). The executive order:
- Directs the State Board of Forestry to accelerate its work to adopt regulations known as “Zone 0,” which will require an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of structures located in the highest fire severity zones in the state.
- Tasks the Office of the State Fire Marshal with releasing updated Fire Hazard Severity Zone maps for areas under local government responsibility, adding 1.4 million new acres of land into the two higher tiers of fire severity, which will update building and local planning requirements for these communities statewide.
- Requires CAL FIRE and Cal OES to work with local, federal and tribal partners on improvements to the Federal resource ordering system for wildfire response.
California Public Seed Banks Complete Historic Cone Collection Year
California Public Seed Banks Complete Historic Cone Collection Year
December 5, 2024 – California’s two public seed banks collected a total of 11,330 bushels of conifer seed-bearing cones in 2024. The U.S. Forest Service Placerville Nursery collected 6,700 bushels and CAL FIRE’s L.A. Moran Reforestation Center collected 4,630 bushels. 30% of the bushels collected in 2024 were supported by the California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership which helped increase cone collection in public seed banks in 2024 by 275% from the total collected in 2023. In addition to public seed banks, voluntarily reported private sector seed collection in California totaled 8,670 bushels which brings the statewide total to at least 20,000 bushels which could potentially reforest as much as 681,000 acres.
California Passes Proposition 4 — Providing $1.5 Billion for Wildfire Resilience
California Passes Proposition 4 — Providing $1.5 Billion for Wildfire Resilience
November 5, 2024 – Californians passed Proposition 4, the first-ever climate bond to go before California voters. The proposition provides $10 billion in bond funds for critical wildfire, flood protection, and other climate resilience projects around the state, including $1.5 billion for wildfire resilience. This funding will enable agencies to improve landscape health and resilience and protect communities from wildfire risks through programs such as the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. The funding also includes $50 million for long-term capital infrastructure projects that utilize wildfire mitigation waste for non-combustible uses.
In addition to funding wildfire resilience, $1.2 billion will be used to protect natural lands and preserve biodiversity, with $870 million directed to the Wildlife Conservation Board to help the state to meet its goal to protect 30% of lands by 2030. The approval of Proposition 4 is a major advancement for California’s efforts to increase the pace and scale of wildfire and landscape resilience treatments, adapt to a changing climate, and reach goals set in the California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.
State and Federal Investments Conserve Forestlands in Perpetuity
State and Federal Investments Conserve Forestlands in Perpetuity
October 29, 2024 – CAL FIRE and the U.S. Forest Service have announced grant awards to protect forestlands threatened with conversion to non-forest uses. Together, these investments improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk throughout the state.
CAL FIRE awarded $8.5 million through California Forest Legacy to four projects that ensure long-term land stewardship on properties that will continue to provide, in perpetuity, such benefits as sustainable timber production, wildlife habitat, recreation opportunities, carbon sequestration, watershed protection, and open space. One funded project will enable the Colfax-Todds Valley Consolidated Tribe to acquire the Owl Creek property in Placer County; while Placer Land Trust will hold a conservation easement to ensure protection of the property, the Tribe will manage the land using Indigenous management practices.
The USFS awarded more than $265 million to 21 projects nationwide through the federal Forest Legacy program to conserve nearly 335,000 acres of private forestlands. In California, a $1.5 million grant will conserve 94 acres of unique montane mixed-conifer forest in the recreation destination of Lake Arrowhead, east of Los Angeles. The property provides habitat for 7 federal and 4 state species of concern.
State Commission Adopts Report on Wildfire Insurance Crisis
State Commission Adopts Report on Wildfire Insurance Crisis
November 7, 2024 – The nonpartisan Little Hoover Commission adopted a report on California’s ongoing property insurance crisis which was issued for public review earlier in the week. The report, which was developed over the course of 2024 through hearings, interviews, and public comment from impacted stakeholders, contains several recommendations to state lawmakers for addressing California’s insurance crisis for areas with high wildfire risk, including:
- Allowing insurers to use catastrophe models for pricing, but requiring that wildfire mitigations performed by homeowners are reflected in those models;
- Creation of an independent panel of experts to evaluate the usage of those models, rather than relying on the California Department of Insurance’s internal processes; and,
- Forming a state working group of wildfire experts to develop a minimum set of wildfire mitigation standards for homeowners and communities to undertake.
California IBank Invests $25M in Wildfire Innovation Fund
California IBank Invests $25M in Wildfire Innovation Fund
September 3, 2024 – California’s Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (IBank) announced $25 million from the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund will be invested in the California Wildfire Innovation Fund to reduce wildfire risk. Funds will be used to restore California forests, improve forest health, and put new biomass technologies to work.
The California Wildfire Innovation Fund is managed by Blue Forest, a conservation finance non-profit that supports entrepreneurs and companies working toward forest restoration and economic revitalization.
The fund offers flexible, low-cost financial support for emerging opportunities across California’s forest restoration and wood utilization sectors.
U.S. Forest Service Announces Funding to Reduce Wildfire Risk
U.S. Forest Service Announces Funding to Local Businesses and Underserved Populations to Reduce Wildfire Risk
$25M Funding Opportunity to Reduce Wildfire Risk
August 6, 2024 – The U.S. Forest Service announced a funding opportunity through the Hazardous Fuels Transportation Assistance program to reduce wildfire risk, increase market opportunities, and support local jobs.
The program is available to local businesses that remove hazardous fuels from national forests and transport the material to be processed for wood products or services. Transporting the materials out of the national forest prevents them from being burned in the forests or left in place where they are subject to insects and diseases that increase the risk for wildfire.
The funding focuses on the removal of hazardous fuels with little commercial value, creating economic opportunities while improving overall forest health and resilience.
$15M to Help Underserved and Small-Acreage Landowners Access Climate Markets
August 28, 2024 – The U.S. Forest Service announced it is investing $15 million to connect underserved and small-acreage forest landowners with emerging climate markets. These investments will expand access to markets that were previously out-of-reach for underserved and small-acreage landowners to access new economic opportunities to maintain healthy working forests as pressures increase to convert forests to other uses. In California, nearly $2 million will go to the Shelterwood Collective, a 900-acre Indigenous, Black, Disabled, and Queer-led community forest and collective of land protectors and cultural changemakers.
CAL FIRE Funds 94 Wildfire Projects
CAL FIRE Funds 94 Wildfire Projects to Build Climate and Community Resilience
August 20, 2024 – CAL FIRE announced grants with $90.8 million in funding for 94 local wildfire prevention projects across California. Wildfire Prevention Grant projects include hazardous fuels reduction and wildfire prevention planning and education, with an emphasis on improving public health and safety while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Over two-thirds of the projects will go to communities that are low-income and disadvantaged. These grants bring CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grants Program total funding to $450 million that have supported over 450 projects across the state which have collectively accelerated progress toward the goals of California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan.
UC Berkeley Launches Tool to Select Plant Seeds in a Changing Climate
UC Berkeley Launches Tool to Select Plant Seeds in a Changing Climate
July 14, 2024 – UC Berkeley released a new spatial tool to help land managers in California select plant seeds for resilience to climate change. With the new online tool, called Seeds of Change, users can search by plant species, specify species parameters and climate change scenarios.
Users can search by plant species, specify species parameters and climate change scenarios, and click on the map to identify places to collect seeds to plant or places to plant with seeds from that site. Users can export a geographic information system (GIS) file of the results.
Climate resilient planting is an important strategy to create and maintain healthy landscapes that are less susceptible to catastrophic wildfire and adapted to a rapidly changing climate.
New Reports on Post-fire Restoration & Public Health Impacts of Wildfire
New Reports on Post-fire Restoration & Public Health Impacts of Wildfire
New Report on Emergency Forest Restoration Teams: Small private landowners often lack the funding, expertise, or time to undertake restoration work. To address these barriers, California’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan called for the establishment of Emergency Forest Restoration Teams (EFRTs). In June, 2024 a report on lessons learned was released from three pilot EFRTs that were developed in late 2021 in response to the Dixie, Tamarack and Caldor Fires. The report provides key recommendations for future EFRTs to be successful.
New Report on the Public Health Impacts of Wildfire: This new scoping report covers the intersections of wildland fire and public health. Developed by UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment in partnership with the Climate and Wildfire Institute, the report investigates key issues in the physical and mental health impacts of wildfire, provides an overview of the current state and federal policy landscape, and presents key recommendations for future resilience.