The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) announced the availability of up to $155 million for fire prevention and forest health projects. CAL FIRE is soliciting applications for projects that will help prevent catastrophic wildfires and restore forest health while also sequestering carbon and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The solicitation for forest health grants opened on October 1. The call for applications for fire prevention grants will open on October 17, 2018; applications are due December 19, 2018. The grants will be awarded in March 2019.
CAL FIRE’s Fire Prevention Grants Program provides funding for local projects that address the risk of wildfire and reduce wildfire potential to communities in, and adjacent to, forested areas. Qualified activities include hazardous fuel reduction, fire planning and fire prevention education with an emphasis on improving public health and safety.
CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Grants Program provides funding for collaborative projects that include a mix of treatment activities at the landscape scale. Conservation easements and land acquisitions are also eligible under the Forest Legacy Program. In addition to the $155 million, up to $3 million will be made available specifically for applied research studies that examine forest management and health to support forest landowners, resource agencies, and fire management organizations in California.
Public workshops covering the Forest Health Grant Program will be held throughout California starting October 2.
For more information on all of CAL FIRE’s grant programs and to sign up for announcements visit: www.fire.ca.gov/grants/grants.
These grant programs are part of California Climate Investments, 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 disadvantaged communities.
These programs are also part of a broader effort outlined in the forest management Executive Order issued by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. earlier this year and the State Forest Carbon Plan, which seek to increase the ability of our forests to capture carbon and improve forest management, including reducing dangerous tree mortality and the impacts of wildfires.