Awards Include Funding to Accelerate Recovery from the CZU Fire and Promote Long Term Climate and Fire Resiliency in Santa Cruz Mountains

August 23, 2024 - The Wildlife Conservation Board (WCB) approved 23 habitat conservation and restoration projects spanning 22 counties across nearly 7,891 acres at its Aug. 22 quarterly meeting.

One of the grants will fund fuels reduction efforts and preparation for prescribed fire in an area badly damaged by the CZU Fire in 2020. Jointly owned by the Peninsula Open Space Trust and Sempervirens Fund, the 8,532-acre San Vicente Redwoods property connects 27,500 acres of protected woodland and supports one of California’s most iconic species. The CZU Fire—one of the most severe fires in California’s history—impacted more than 86,000 acres in this area.

The WCB’s $1.05 million grant to Save the Redwoods League will support work that will protect the delicate balance of the redwood ecosystem and make it less likely to be ravaged by intense forest fires in the future.

"Four years after the devastating CZU Wildfire, Save the Redwoods remains committed to restoring the burned redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains,” said Anthony Castaños, land stewardship manager of Save the Redwoods League. “This collaborative project serves to support the rejuvenation of California's iconic redwoods and accelerate the old growth characteristics and wildlife habitat that thrived here years ago. Save the Redwoods is grateful to the Wildlife Conservation Board for consideration of the project for funding."

Notably, most of WCB’s grants advance Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goal of conserving 30 percent of California’s lands and coastal waters by 2030, an initiative known as 30x30. The initiative seeks to protect biodiversity, expand access to nature for all Californians and address climate change.

Other funded projects include:

• A $2.65 million grant to the East Bay Regional Park District—in a cooperative project with the National Park Service, State Coastal Conservancy, and Alameda County—to convert an empty industrial lot to eight acres of bayfront parkland, incorporating into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Regional Shoreline in the City of Oakland. This project, known as the Tidewater Day Use Area, serves surrounding severely disadvantaged communities of East Oakland by creating accessible green space to promote mental and physical well-being. It also serves as a gateway to the San Francisco Bay Trail and boating in the San Leandro Bay and Oakland Estuary.

“East Bay Regional Park District is grateful for the Wildlife Conservation Board’s staff recommendation and Board consideration of this critical investment in environmental justice,” said Katy Hornbeck, grants manager with East Bay Regional Parks District. “The project’s location in a formerly redlined community has resulted in decades of systemic inequities that have left these neighborhoods with restricted access to green spaces and exacerbated environmental challenges. The creation of accessible green spaces, like Tidewater, not only promotes the physical and psychological well-being of East Oakland residents but also contributes to the overall quality of life for Californians.”

• A $520,000 grant to the American Indian Council of Mariposa County for the acquisition of 96 acres of ancestral land. This project, known as Big Rock, protects ancestral lands and biodiversity, promotes cultural preservation, and ecological stewardship, and offers a unique opportunity for the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation to re-connect with their traditional lifeways.

Situated in the majestic Sierra Foothills, the site supports great gray owl, western pond turtle, and multiple rare plants. It includes meadow wetlands, a year-round pond, and a significant archeological site, including dozens of Native American bedrock mortars, and cupules, utilized for processing acorns, medicinal plants, and foods.

"The Southern Sierra Miwuk have survived the trauma of displacement brought on during the Gold Rush, the Mariposa Indian War, and even the Muir Conservation Era,” said Tara Fouch Moore, director of landscape stewardship and secretary of Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation. “Despite these tragedies, our indigenous families have maintained ties to our natural landscape, waters, and plant and animal relatives through cultural and spiritual traditions that teach us to honor that sacred relationship.”

"Sierra Foothill Conservancy is honored to work in partnership with the American Indian Council of Mariposa County and Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation to return first stewards to the land with the Big Rock Project,” said Bridget Fithian, executive director of Sierra Foothill Conservancy. “Rematriation of this land is part of our ongoing collaboration which focuses on restoring the ethics and values of indigenous people and indigenous stewardship to the land. The principles of reciprocity are values that we seek to cultivate in our own organization and the conservation community at large. We thank the Wildlife Conservation Board for supporting this work and vision."

• A $2.87 million grant to the State Coastal Conservancy to allow the public to access ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway. The former 125-acre Orick Mill property in Humboldt County was acquired by the Save the Redwoods League in 2013 for the ecological restoration of Prairie Creek and the creation of a new southern gateway to Redwood National and State Parks and Yurok ancestral lands.

“We are very grateful to the Wildlife Conservation Board for its continued support of the ‘O Rew Redwoods Gateway Project,” said Sam Hodder, president and CEO of Save the Redwoods League. “Providing this key funding allows the team to complete the project in 2025 and open this new visitor and community gateway to the redwoods in early 2026, to coincide with Save the Redwoods League transfer of property ownership to the Yurok Tribe for co-stewardship with RNSP. Creating this gateway is an ambitious goal that we have worked hard toward for many years and without our partnership with WCB this would not be possible.”

• A $3.7 million grant to the State Coastal Conservancy, for a cooperative project with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Save the Redwoods League, to restore a half mile of instream and backwater habitat and nearly 16 acres of wetland habitat at a former mill site on lower Prairie Creek, in the town of Orick in Humboldt County, conserving and enhancing a key watershed in a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The project, ‘O Rew Lower Prairie Creek Floodplain Restoration, creates rearing habitat for three listed salmonids, including Southern Oregon/Northern California coast Coho salmon, Northern California steelhead, and California coastal Chinook salmon and finalizes restoration by extending the creek and reconnecting it to its historical floodplain. When construction is complete, the 125-acre site will be transferred to the Yurok Tribe who will permanently co-manage the site with the National Park Service and California State Parks.

“We can’t thank the Wildlife Conservation Board enough for its long-standing support for our work at ‘O Rew,” said Amy Hutzel, executive officer of the State Coastal Conservancy. “WCB was a key early funder for the ‘O Rew Prairie Creek Floodplain Restoration Project and its support set the stage for the team’s successful fundraising with other state and federal agencies for this project. Having their continued partnership as we enter the home stretch to complete full restoration of a former mill site on lower Prairie Creek into a thriving and vibrant stronghold for salmon is the fitting final chapter to this restoration success story.”

For more information about the WCB, please visit wcb.ca.gov. To learn more about the newly approved habitat conservation and restoration projects, please visit our StoryMaps pages.
Source: CDFW