Planting sequoia seedilings

American Forests Partners with USDA Forest Service

Planting sequoia seedilings

American Forests Partners with USDA Forest Service to Expand Reforestation Across National Forests


On December 6, American Forests announced a $20 million agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service to help the agency address a 4-million-acre backlog of burned, damaged forests nationally over the next five years. Over 40% of the 4 million acres identified for reforestation are in California. Built on the foundation of the REPLANT Act, this will expand nursery production, grow the forestry workforce and increase seed collection capabilities. Together, the Forest Service and American Forests will use landscape-level planning and climate-informed restoration practices to advance goals identified in the agency’s National Forest System Reforestation Strategy.

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Forest work along a road

$287 Million Available in CAL FIRE Grants for Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health

Forest work along a road

$287 Million Available in CAL FIRE Grants for Wildfire Prevention and Forest Health


$117 million will be allocated through CAL FIRE’s Wildfire Prevention Grant Program. Awarded projects will address the risk of wildfire and reduce wildfire potential to communities. Funded activities will include hazardous fuel reduction, wildfire prevention planning, and wildfire prevention education with an emphasis on protecting communities, improving public health and safety, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. CAL FIRE also conducted a virtual workshop (watch it here) to explain the grant process and requirements. Applications are due January 10, 2024.

$120 million for Forest Health and $50 million for Post-Fire Reforestation and Regeneration projects are open for the solicitation through CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program. Projects are intended to proactively prevent catastrophic wildfires and restore forests to healthy, functioning ecosystems while also sequestering carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Applications are due January 15, 2024.

Wildfire Prevention Grants Program

New Online Treatment Dashboard to Track Wildfire Resilience Projects

New Online Treatment Dashboard to Track Wildfire Resilience Projects


On August 29, the Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force launched the beta version of a first-of-its-kind Interagency Treatment Dashboard beta that displays the size and location of state and federal forest and landscape resilience projects in California.

The dashboard offers a one-stop-shop to access data, provide transparency, and align the efforts of more than a dozen agencies to build resilient landscapes and communities in California. It reports treatment activities such as prescribed fire, targeted grazing, uneven-aged timber harvest, mechanical and hand fuels reduction, and tree planting. Users can sort treatments by region, county, land ownership and more.

The beta version of the dashboard will continue to be refined to include additional data, including projects by local and tribal entities, along with revisions based on public feedback. An official launch is expected in spring 2024 with more complete data on projects implemented in 2022.

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Progress on the Ground

June Progress on the Ground

Progress on the Ground

June Progress On The Ground


USFS Concow Resilience Project: Replanting trees is not as simple as it seems. The US Forest Service (USFS) and partners are restoring areas impacted by devastating wildfires in recent years, including the 2018 Camp Fire, and mitigating risks of future catastrophic wildfires with the Concow Resilience Project. The project re-establishes widely spaced oak and pine woodlands to more closely resemble how the land looked prior to European settlement.

USFS Teams up with Shasta College to Provide a Hands-on Learning about Forest Health: Shasta College’s Heavy Equipment Construction and Heavy Equipment Logging students have invested 120 hours this summer in the completion of a fuels reduction project at the Hirz Campground on Shasta Lake with implementation oversight provided by the USFS. Funding for the project was provided by the Shasta Resource Advisory Committee and funding for the Heavy Equipment Logging Operations Program is from California Climate Investments and administered by the CAL FIRE Forest Health Program.

River Pines Community Fuel Break: In the wake of the nearby 2021 Caldor Fire, local residents in Amador County are working with the Amador Fire Safe Council to put CAL FIRE Vegetation Management Program grant money to work to create a fuel break around their community.

The Vegetation Management Program (VMP) is a cost-sharing program that focuses on the use of prescribed fire, and some mechanical means, for addressing wildland fire fuel hazards and other resource management issues on State Responsibility Area (SRA) lands.

Landowners may choose to apply for participation in the Vegetation Management Program. If approved, CAL FIRE assumes the liability for conducting the prescribed burn.


State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience Cover, Creek running through rocks and trees, Grasslands

State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects

State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience Cover, Creek running through rocks and trees, Grasslands

State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects


State Agencies Fund Wildfire Resilience, Habitat Restoration and Conservation Projects:

State Coastal Conservancy $78 Million for Climate Resilience, Public Access, Habitat Restoration and Wildfire Resilience: On June 1, the State Coastal Conservancy approved nearly $78 million for 34 projects to protect and restore coastal lands, increase coastal resilience to climate change, improve public access to the coast, and reduce the impact of wildfire on coastal lands.

SNC Approves $22.5 Million to Build Resilience, Boost Recreation, and Conserve Land: On June 1, the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) approved roughly $22.5 million for 24 different projects that will benefit wildfire recovery and forest resilience, expand recreation opportunities, and conserve strategic land throughout California’s Sierra-Cascade region.


Park with Trees

State and Federal Agencies Make Significant Investments in Urban Greening

Park with Trees

State and Federal Agencies Make Significant Investments in Urban Greening


USFS Grants Will Increase Equitable Access to Urban Tree Canopy: The U.S.  Forest Service is requesting proposals from entities that are working to provide equitable access to trees and green spaces and the benefits they provide. The funding, made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act, is part of a $1.5 billion investment in the USFS’ Urban and Community Forestry Program.  Of the total funding, the USFS is allocating nearly $47 million directly to the Pacific Southwest Region — $43.2 million to California. The application period ends June 1.

CNRA Invests Over $47 Million in Urban Greening: On April 6, the California Natural Resources Agency (CNRA) awarded 23 grants totaling $47.5 million through the Urban Greening Grant Program. The selected projects will create more sustainable communities by using natural and green infrastructure approaches, such as replacing schoolyard asphalt with native trees, plants, pollinator gardens and nature-based outdoor play areas, restoring wetlands or riparian corridors, or constructing new commuter paths to reduce vehicles miles traveled.

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CalFire Firefighters putting out brush fires

CAL FIRE Forest Health Awards

CalFire Firefighters putting out brush fires

CAL FIRE Awards $142 Million For Critical Wildfire Resilience Projects Statewide


CAL FIRE recently announce that $142.6 million has been awarded for statewide investments in projects intended to enhance carbon storage while restoring the health and resilience of existing and recently burned forests throughout California.
CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program awarded 27 grants to local and regional partners implementing projects on state, local, tribal, federal, and private lands spanning over 75,000 acres and 24 counties. Fuels reduction and prescribed fire treatments funded under these grants are aimed at reducing excess vegetation and returning forest and oak woodlands to more fire, drought, and pest-resilient conditions.

“These investments demonstrate CAL FIRE’s ability to deliver on the Governor’s Action Plan and are vital to protect the health of our forests and the safety of our communities.”
  –  Patrick Wright, Director, California Wildfire & Forest Resilience Task Force

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Planscape Header (A Planning Tool to Maximize Wildfire Resilience + Ecological Benefits)

Planscape now lives on the Task Force website

Planscape Header (A Planning Tool to Maximize Wildfire Resilience + Ecological Benefits)

Planscape Now Lives on the Task Force Website


A collaborative effort between CA Natural Resources Agency, USFS, UC Berkeley, Spatial Informatics Group and Google.org, Planscape is a decision support tool that empowers regional planners to prioritize resilience treatments across the landscape and inform the funding process. Planscape partners provided a demonstration of the tool at the March 30 Task Force meeting. This version of the tool is available for beta testing, with the region-specific scenarios released this summer through fall.

Go To Planscape

RESOURCES



Pondersoa Pine Seedling

CAL FIRE Announces New Grants Available For Multiple Initiatives

Pondersoa Pine Seedling

CAL FIRE Announces New Grants Available For Multiple Initiatives


Funding is now available for a wide range of critical needs, from forest health and post-fire reforestation to workforce development and green school yards.

WILDFIRE PREVENTION GRANTS PROGRAM: Up to $120 million for projects focused on protecting people, structures, and communities.

FOREST HEALTH GRANT PROGRAM: Up to $120 million for landscape scale forest restoration and resilience projects.

POST FIRE REFORESTATION AND REGENERATION: Up to $50 million for reforestation treatments.

BUSINESS AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: Up to $7.5 million for wood products and up to $5 million for biomass transportation subsidy projects.

GREEN SCHOOL YARDS: Up to $117 million to improve tree canopy cover on California K-12 public school campuses and nonprofit childcare facilities.

TRIBAL WILDFIRE RESILIENCE PROGRAM: Up to $15 million is available for wildfire resilience implementation projects. These grant funds will assist California Native American tribes in managing ancestral lands, implementing and promoting Traditional Ecological Knowledge in wildfire resilience, and establishing wildfire safety for tribal communities.

RESOURCES



What is the Reforestation Pipeline Partnership? Chart

California Reforestation Pipeline Partnership Aims to Address Key Reforestation Challenges

What is the Reforestation Pipeline Partnership? Chart

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.

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RESOURCES


Read the Study