Administration Announces $1 Billion in Community Wildfire Defense Grants
Biden-Harris Administration Announces $1 Billion in Community Wildfire Defense Grants from Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
On July 26, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack launched a new $1 billion Community Wildfire Defense Grant Program. Under this new, five-year, competitive program funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law individual grants of up to $250,000 will be awarded to create and update community wildfire protection plans or conduct outreach and education, and grants of up to $10 million will be awarded for associated infrastructure and resilience projects. Applications will be available soon. Local and Tribal governments are encouraged to conduct planning exercises to assist their communities with wildfire preparedness, response and adaptation efforts.
Forest Service Invests $55M in 41 Projects To Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation
Forest Service Invests $55M in 41 Projects To Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation
The USDA Forest Service will invest nearly $55 million in funding from the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA) to support 41 deferred maintenance projects across California and Hawaii in Fiscal Year 2022.
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USDA Announces $503 Million to Improve Outdoor Recreation and Conservation on National Forests
Forestry project complete at Feather River reservoir
Forestry project complete at Feather River reservoir
The Little Grass Valley Reservoir Watershed Project will have a big impact when it comes to protecting local communities and valuable water infrastructure from wildfire.
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High Risk Landscapes To Receive $80.7M in U.S. Forest Service Funding
Two High Wildfire Risk Landscapes To Receive $80.7M in U.S. Forest Service Funding
Targeted investments for first high-risk areas identified in Tahoe and Stanislaus National Forests.
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.
In addition to state and federal agencies, these two landscape-scale restoration efforts are supported by partnerships with Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions, Tuolumne County, the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk, the North Yuba Forest Partnership – which includes Sierra County and the Nisenan of the Nevada City Rancheria – and several others. To find out more about the initial landscape investments, visit WCS Initial Landscape Investments- USDA Forest Service.
Tahoe National Forest:
The 313,000-acre North Yuba Landscape is one of the largest contiguous “unburned” landscapes remaining in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The North Yuba watershed is also an important water source for residential and agricultural areas surrounding Sacramento. It feeds a reservoir retained by the tallest dam in California, which also provides power to the Sacramento area. Through ecologically based thinning and prescribed fire, the North Yuba Forest Partnership seeks to protect North Yuba communities from the threat of catastrophic wildfire and restore the watershed to a healthier, more resilient state. This landscape is also host to the first two Forest Resilience Bonds, which leverage substantial private sector investment to help fund implementation of this work.
Stanislaus National Forest SERAL:
Within the Stanislaus Landscape a full suite of needed treatments to restore forest resilience at a landscape scale. Named SERAL for Social and Ecological Resilience Across the Landscape, these treatments include mastication, biomass removal, machine piling for burning, hand piling for burning, hand thinning, timber harvest, hazard tree removal, prescribed fire, and fuel break construction and maintenance. Combined, these efforts will reduce hazardous fuels and create a landscape that can better withstand disturbances such as wildfire, insects, disease, and drought conditions, while also protecting local communities, providing for critical species habitat, and supporting forest use and recreational opportunities.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.