CalRec Vision Whitepaper
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.
Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division
Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division
The Office of the State Fire Marshal’s Community Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation Division works with federal, state, and local agencies, Native American tribes, non-profit entities, and other stakeholders to prepare California communities against the devastating effects of wildfire. The various programs within the division allow CAL FIRE to continue to build local and regional capacity, as well as developing, prioritizing, and implementing strategies and projects that create wildfire prepared communities. The tasks involve working with stakeholders on wildfire planning to reduce or eliminate fire hazards and risks, modifying the environment by removing or reducing receptive fuels, conducting fire hazard compliance inspections, and providing education and grant opportunities for wildfire prevention efforts.
RESOURCES
California Incident Data and Statistics Program (CalStats)
CAL FIRE’S Land Use Planning Program
Congress' plan to save California’s giant sequoias from worsening wildfires
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.
RESOURCES
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Provide $103 Million for Wildfire Mitigation and Resilience
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to Provide $103 Million for Wildfire Mitigation and Resilience
President Biden and the Department of the Interior will support firefighters and reduce wildfire risk across the nation.
Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, announced the allocation of $103 million in fiscal year 2022 for wildfire risk reduction efforts throughout the country from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the establishment of an interagency wildland firefighter health and wellbeing program.
RESOURCES
US Department of the Interior: Five Year Monitoring, Maintenance and Treatment Plan
CalVTP: Testing a New Tool for Forest Health Project Planning
CalVTP: Testing a New Tool for Forest Health Project Planning
In January 2020, CAL FIRE launched an effort known as CalVTP (California Vegetation Treatment Program) to reduce hazardous fuel conditions across California. Although CAL FIRE has primary responsibility for program implementation, the CalVTP Environmental Impact Report establishes processes that may also assist with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance for fuel-reduction projects by other entities. In the Sierra Nevada, local organizations are learning what this new tool might mean for increasing the pace and scale of work to restore resilience to our forested landscapes.
RESOURCES
Black Butte: Reducing wildfire risk by saving an iconic landscape
Black Butte: Reducing Wildfire Risk By Saving an Iconic Landscape
Apr 25, 2019: Recently, Pacific Forest Trust partnered with Michigan-California Timber Company (MCTC) and The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to permanently conserve MCTC’s 5,006-acre Black Butte Working Forest just outside Weed, California. Here’s a quick overview of why that project fits into all of our work to protect wildlife #habitat, reduce the risk of #wildfire, and keep this iconic land productive and free from the pressures of development.
CONTACTS
Meet the Scientists Working To Save Fire-Ravaged Giant Sequoias
Meet the Scientists Working to Save Fire Ravaged Giant Sequoias
April 30, 2022 – A collection of scientist, foresters and land managers is trying to rebuild the ancient sequoia stands lost in California’s historic wildfires and ensure survival of the hallowed giants. The San Francisco Chronicle profiled them in a fascinating column.
RESOURCES
CAL FIRE Reforestation
Services Program
National Park Service
Giant Reforestation
Overview
How is California Saving its Forests?
Can California Forests Be Saved?
April 20, 2022 – KQED, the public TV station in Northern California, produced this excellent video called, appropriately enough, Reforestation. The 9:00 minute long video explains the scientific process that geneticists are using to replant our state’s burnt forests. You’ll see the climbers who collect conifer cones in dizzying footage that shows the lofty efforts that are being made to rejuvenate California’s forests by authorities like CAL FIRE and U.S. Forest Service.
RESOURCES
U.S. Forest Service Identifies California Landscapes at High Wildfire Risk
U.S. Forest Service Identifies California Landscapes at High Wildfire Risk
April 20, 2022 – As part of the Forest Service’s strategy for Confronting the Wildfire Crisis, two landscapes within the Stanislaus and Tahoe national forests will receive targeted investments to increase forest resiliency and health through a broad range of treatments. These two forests will collectively receive $28.6 million in 2022 and an additional $52.1 million over the next three years, for a total of $80.7 million. This funding is being appropriated through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.
The North Yuba Landscape Resilience area on the Tahoe National Forest and the SERAL (Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape) area on the Stanislaus National Forest are two of 10 landscapes selected nationally to receive this funding. Overall, the 10 landscapes will receive $131 million this year to begin implementing our 10-year strategy for protecting communities and improving resilience in America’s forests.
Communities are embracing controlled burns
Communities are embracing ‘controlled burns’ to protect themselves
The past few years have led to record wildfires across the U.S. Decades of suppressing fires has led to overgrown forests, and a warming climate has increased their intensity and frequency. Christopher Booker reports from California on community-led efforts to preemptively set controlled fires, reducing the risk from large out-of-control fires while also restoring the ecological health of the forest.