Grantee research provides critical information and tools to forest landowners, resource agencies, fire management organizations, and policy makers across California 

October 3, 2023 - Sacramento – The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Forest Health Research Program has awarded $5.5 million to support 15 scientific research studies. The results of these studies will provide critical information and tools to forest landowners, resource agencies, fire management organizations, and policy makers across California on a variety of topics related to forest health and forest management. Research projects are expected to produce scientific publications, outreach and education events, and decision support tools.

Proposals selected for award include research projects focused on post-fire restoration, forest resilience to pests, new decision support tools for communities and homeowners, and the use of national Forest Inventory and Analysis data to inform biomass estimates in forests and shrublands. Grantees include the University of California, Northern Arizona University, University of Wyoming, and the USDA Forest Service, among others.

“The Forest Health Research Grant Program continues to attract high quality research projects focused on a range of wildfire and forest health issues,” says Chris Keithley, Assistant Deputy Director of Fire and Resource Assessment at CAL FIRE. “Collectively, the results help inform CAL FIRE and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force on the changes in environmental conditions, climate related impacts to forests and wildfire behavior, and the effectiveness of forest management.”

The Forest Health Research Program was established as part of California Climate Investments to answer important questions that further our knowledge in forest health and resilience, impacts of wildfire on communities and the environment, science-based tools that aid in land management planning and best practices, effectiveness of fuel treatments, carbon storage and uptake, and many other topics.

Funding for these grants comes from Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds through the California Climate Investments program and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience budget package.

Managed as part of CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program, the Forest Health Research Program allocates funds to five different project types: projects on CAL FIRE Demonstration State Forests, projects on other forestland in California, graduate student research, scientific synthesis and tool development, and special topics of interest. This year the special topics projects focused on leveraging national Forest Inventory and Analysis data.

A complete list of the awarded projects and their summaries can be found on the Forest Health Research website.