SNC awards $27.5 million to help with wildfire recovery and forest resilience throughout Sierra-Cascade

The Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) Governing Board awarded a little over $27.5 million to 16 different projects to help with the planning and implementation of forest-health efforts that promote recovery and resilience throughout the Sierra-Cascade.

“The state appropriated funds to the SNC last year to address wildfire- and forest-resilience priorities throughout the Sierra-Cascade and it is amazing to know that less than one year later most of those funds have now been awarded to the incredible partners and projects that continue to keep our communities safe and our forested landscapes more resilient to disturbances such as wildfire, drought, disease and insects,” said Angela Avery, executive officer for the SNC. “I can’t thank our partners, staff members, and our Board enough for making this happen so effectively and efficiently.”

Critical wildfire and forest resilience project implementation continues

Of the 16 projects awarded at the Board meeting, eight of them went to the implementation of shovel-ready projects in Amador, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Siskiyou, and Tulare counties. The largest award went to the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority in Amador County to conduct critical fuel-reduction treatments on nearly 1,600 acres within the Mokelumne River watershed. This project is part of the 25,671-acre, landscape effort to improve and protect forest stands and wildlife habitat. Additionally, nearly $3.7 million went to the Shasta-Trinity National Forest to help ensure public safety and create fire resilience in Siskiyou County by reducing fuels on 1,157 acres.

Iconic giant sequoias in two well-known groves, Alder Creek and Freeman Creek, will get extra protection as Save the Redwoods League and partners will utilize $2.25 million to reduce hazardous fuel loading on 900 acres in Tulare County. The Tule River Indian Tribe received roughly $1.7 million to reduce the risk of damaging wildfires through fuel-reduction treatments on tribal land. Community protection and habitat enhancement are key goals behind the $1.7 million awarded to the Mule Deer Foundation to reduce fuels and apply prescribed burning on 950 acres in Plumas County.

SNC funds critical plans for wildfire and forest resilience across Sierra-Cascade

While the Board approved funds to begin implementation of several meaningful, landscape-scale efforts throughout the Sierra-Cascade, it helped refill the wildfire and forest resilience project pipeline by also awarding eight projects that span 14 Sierra-Cascade counties: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Fresno, Lassen, Modoc, Placer, Nevada, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Tehama, and Tuolumne.

The largest award went to the Fall River Resource Conservation District, which will use $3.58 million to complete a cross-jurisdictional data assessment and planning to enhance forest and watershed conditions that will reduce wildfire risk across 6.4 million acres within Siskiyou, Shasta, Modoc, Lassen and Tehama counties. In the southern Sierra high country, the National Forest Foundation will use $2.9 million to draft a proposed action for NEPA analysis on roughly 44,000 acres to enhance forest health and reduce wildfire risk in Fresno County near Shaver Lake.

In Sierra Nevada foothills, the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians will prepare a comprehensive land-management plan on Tuolumne Rancheria lands with a grant of $920,000. Sixty miles as the crow flies to the north, the Placer County Water Agency will complete NEPA and CEQA on a 6,200-acre forest-health project near Long Canyon Creek in an effort to protect water quality, habitat for sensitive species, natural and cultural resources, and nearby communities adjacent the Middle Fork of the American River.

Complete list of awarded projects

1. Claremont Forest Resiliency Project (Plumas County) —The Mule Deer Foundation will utilize $1,787,000 to implement fuels-reduction treatments on 950 acres in the Plumas National Forest as part of the first phase of a larger 30,000-plus forest-health project.
2. Soldier Mountain WUI Project (Shasta County)—In partnership with the Lassen National Forest, the Fall River Resource Conservation District will use $1,686,100 to help reduce fuels and build forest resilience to disturbances, such as damaging wildfires, on 2,336 acres.
3. North Vegetation Assessment, Data Development, and Project NEPA (Siskiyou, Shasta, Modoc, Lassen, and Tehama counties) —The Fall River Resource Conservation District and partners will complete environmental compliance and project design to enhance existing forest and watershed conditions, as well as reduce the risk of wildfire across 6.4 million acres with the help of $3,580,500.
4. Taylorsville Community Defense Zone Implementation (Plumas County)—The Sierra Institute for Community and Environment will use $751,665 in SNC funds to implement forest thinning and fuels reduction for a strategic fuel break (300 acres) around the community of Taylorsville.
5. South Fork Sacramento Fire Resilience (Siskiyou County)—Public safety and fire resilience are the main goals of the 1,157-acre project led by the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which will be greatly aided by a $3,628,600 SNC grant.
6. Ishi Wilderness Fire Restoration Planning (Tehama County)—With the help of $641,920, the Resource Conservation District of Tehama County will restore fire-adapted forest ecosystems and protect nearby communities through fuels reduction and prescribed fire.
7. Forest Projects Plan—Phase Two Environmental Planning (El Dorado, Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne, Alpine counties)—With a grant of $723,542, the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority will initiate a landscape-scale plan to improve forest health on a minimum of 40,000 acres within Stanislaus and Eldorado National forests.
8. Long Canyon Watershed Protection Project (Placer County)—The Placer County Water Agency will utilize $657,500 to complete environmental planning on 6,200 acres in the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the American River watershed, just east of the towns of Foresthill and Auburn.
9. Boca/Hobart Forest Health and Meadow Habitat Restoration (Nevada County)—Grant funds of $168,820 will help the Truckee River Watershed Council complete environmental planning for a forest-health project on 2,800 acres within the Tahoe National Forest near Boca and Prosser reservoirs.
10. Tribal Wildfire Resilience and Land Use Plan (Tuolumne County)—The Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians will complete environmental compliance on 2,895 acres of tribal land to improve wildfire resilience, forest health, and community protection with the help of a $920,000 grant.
11. Upper Middle Yuba Watershed Forest Restoration NEPA Planning (Sierra and Nevada counties)—With the help of a $386,100 grant, the Nevada Irrigation District will complete forest restoration and fuel-reduction plans on at least 2,000 acres within the Tahoe National Forest.
12. Forest Projects Plan Phase One-B (Amador County)—The Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority will utilize $4,739,056 to improve forest health on 1,595 acres in the Eldorado National Forest.
13. Northstar Community Services District Wood Energy Facility (Placer County)—The grant of $1,000,000 to the Northstar Community Services District will help pay for the cross-laminated timber building needed to complete a wood-energy facility that will process biomass generated by forest-management projects in the area and generate energy for Northstar Village.
14. Bungalow Resilience and Fuels Reduction Planning Project (Fresno County)—With $2,902,715, the National Forest Foundation will begin environmental planning on roughly 44,000 acres within the Sierra National Forest to improve forest health and wildfire resilience.
15. Parker Peak Forest Restoration and Resilience Project (Tulare County)—A grant of $1,709,130 to the Tule River Indian Tribe will fund treatments on 1,500 acres on the Tule River Indian Reservation to reduce hazardous fuels accumulations, conduct wildfire restoration, and stabilize burn scars from the 2021 Windy Fire.
16. Giant Sequoia National Monument Restoration and Stewardship Phase Two (Tulare County)—Save the Redwoods League will utilize $2,225,300 to implement a 1,462-acre forest-health project to help protect giant sequoias within the Alder Creek and Freeman Creek groves on Sequoia National Forest lands.