Special districts interested in partnering with the State of California and other entities to perform wildfire mitigation and watershed protection have a new ally in Sacramento and a developing regional program for planning and collaborating.
Keali’i Bright, Division Director of Land Resources Protection within the California Department of Conservation is a featured speaker for the Climate Adaptation breakout session during the 2021 Virtual Special Districts Legislative Days. Director Bright has offered that any special districts interested in learning more about partnering with the state to mitigate the risk of wildfire, as well as protect our watersheds, are welcome to contact him directly at Kealii.Bright@conservation.ca.gov.
Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program
A Mid-Program Report on the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program provides regional-level descriptions of the important work the State of California has facilitated to-date. Director Bright discusses this work and the vision for the program moving forward during the Legislative Days breakout session.
According to Mid-Program Report, “The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity (RFFC) program offers a different approach: more akin to silver threads, that if strengthened through regionally responsive, nimble capacity investments, and if woven together through strategic prioritization and planning, are positioned to move the needle from reactionary disaster management to landscapes and communities more resilient to the next inevitable wildfire.”
“The RFFC program takes a noncompetitive block grant approach to funding regional entities (i.e., those working at a county-wide or larger scale) to decentralize fire-resilience strategies, such that regions (rather than the State) discern how to best invest in fire resilience strategic planning, capacity building, and project readiness. A key goal of the program is a strategic pipeline of "shovel-ready" fire resilience projects that ideally dovetail with state implementation programs and dollars.”
The Mid-Program Report features a number of special districts, including:
- Cachuma Resource Conservation District
- East Bay Regional Park District
- Feather River Resource Conservation District
- Inland Empire Resource Conservation District
- Las Virgenes Municipal Water District
- Marin Municipal Water District
- Pit Resource Conservation District
- Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County
- Resource Conservation District of San Mateo County
- Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County
- San Bernardino County Fire Protection District
- San Bernardino Flood Control District
- San Bernardino Valley Municipal Water District
- Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space District
Forest Management Task Force
In addition to the new RFFC program, special districts should reach out to California’s new Forest Management Task Force to engage and tackle specific issues. Among the Task Force’s goals are to:
- Strategically coordinate the state’s investments in forest health.
- Expand and improve forest management to enhance forest health and resiliency.
- Minimize regulatory barriers for prescribed fire, forest health, and fuels reduction projects.
- Increase public education and awareness of the importance of forest health and resiliency to achieving California’s long-term climate, watershed, wildlife, economic, and public health goals.
California Vegetation Treatment Program
The Climate Adaptation breakout session also features Jessica Morse, Deputy Director of Forest Resources Management with the California Natural Resources Agency. She will provide a robust overview of the wildfire challenges facing our state and the opportunities for meeting those challenges, including the latest regulatory reforms that will expedite the work of special districts. In addition to attending Legislative Days, special district officials can learn more by visiting the California Vegetation Treatment Program (CalVTP) webpage.
The CalVTP includes the use of prescribed burning, mechanical treatments, manual treatments, herbicides, and prescribed herbivory as tools to reduce hazardous vegetation around communities in the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), to construct fuel breaks, and to restore healthy ecological fire regimes. The CalVTP Program Environmental Impact Report (Program EIR) provides a powerful tool to expedite the implementation of vegetation treatments to reduce wildfire risk while conserving natural resources. For more information about the CalVTP, please visit the websites linked below.
Learn more about these developing programs and hear directly from the state officials helping to implement them by attending the 2021 Virtual Special Districts Legislative Days.
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