Credit: CAL FIRE
Projects protect communities, reduce fire threat and greenhouse gases
Mariposa County:
Applicant: Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, Inc.
Project Name: Stumpfield Mountain Fuel Break
Requested Funds: $674,577
This project will break up both vertical and horizontal continuity of fuels, creating a shaded fuel break to help firefighters reduce the size and intensity of wildfires, meet GHG emission targets, protect the communities of Ponderosa Basin, Usona and Bootjack from large and damaging wildfires, prevent spread to Ahwanee, Nippiniwassee, Oakhurst and Madera County, and safeguard lives, property, natural and manmade resources. The Chowchilla River drainage would be made less vulnerable to soil damage and erosion caused by high intensity wildfires, such as the 1961 Harlow Fire, increasing quality and quantity of water available in watershed and improving wildlife habitat and forage for grazing.
Applicant: Mariposa County Fire Safe Council, Inc.
Project Name: Foran Fuel Reduction Project
Requested Funds: $232,854
This project will break up both vertical and horizontal continuity of fuels along a strategic non-county maintained road, creating a fuel break, and allowing firefighters safe access to the Alta Vista ridge line, a critical location for fire suppression and monitoring. Removing heavy fuels will allow select specimens to sequester carbon at a greater rate helping meet GHG emission targets. This strategic fuel break will reduce the size and intensity of wildfires coming from the Merced River Canyon and directly protect the town of Mariposa and Mt. Bullion area from large and damaging wildfires. It would reduce the intensity of fires moving from hwy 140 into the community of Midpines.
March 12, 2020 - Sacramento – CAL FIRE (California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection) this week awarded $43.5 million dollars to local organizations to reduce the risk of wildfires to homes and communities across California. Fifty-five local fire prevention projects are receiving funding for hazardous fuel reductions, wildfire preparedness planning and fire prevention education.
“We have doubled down on our efforts to clear brush, inspect homes for defensible space and reduce the risk of wildfires,” said Chief Thomas Porter, CAL FIRE director. “These 55 local projects will play a critical role in augmenting our fire prevention efforts.”
An example of this year’s grant awards includes a $1.9 million grant to the San Luis Obispo County Fire Safe Council for removing dead and dying trees and other hazardous fuels on 17 treatment areas throughout San Luis Obispo County. This project alone will reduce fire risk in nine communities, and will include a 600-acre prescribed burn near Lopez Lake park.
Another project receiving funding is a public education grant of nearly $100,000 to Forestry Educators Incorporated for its "2020 Forestry Challenge" in El Dorado County. The Forestry Challenge is an academic competition for high school students in technical forestry and current forestry topics. Participants spend four days in the forest learning about the ecology and management of the forested landscapes that provide communities with water, recreational opportunities and wood products.
CAL FIRE’s Fire Prevention Grant Program is part of the California Climate Investments (CCI).
CCI is a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment – particularly in low income and disadvantaged communities. Award recipients include cities, counties, fire districts, Native American tribes and other non-profits. These projects all meet the goals and objectives of California’s Strategic Fire Plan adopted in 2019.
Since 2014, CAL FIRE has funded over 430 local fire prevention grants totaling more than $150 million. These projects and activities have addressed the risk of wildfire and reduced wildfire potential to communities in wildland urban interface areas.
Source: CAL FIRE
