WILLOWS >> Lake County received over $16 million from a USDA Forest Service to reduce wildfire risk and invest in wood products as well as to provide innovation projects on May 21.
According to U.S. Forest Service public affairs officer Laura Leidner, Lake County communities with sparse resources, which are at high risk from wildfire will be receiving $16 million from USDA Forest Service's Community Wildfire Defense Grants and Wood Innovations Program. The awards were prompted in light of recent disasters when wildfires have become more destructive throughout California.
District 5 Supervisor Jessica Pyska, and also the vice chair of the Lake County Community Risk Reduction Authority, noted the county has taken the initiative to reduce climate-linked risks. "Lake County has been aggressively working to mitigate climate-related risks, partnering with District Ranger Frank Aebly and local Forest Service staff have been an important facet of those efforts for many years," said Pyska. And she added, "We appreciate the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recognition that hardening economically vulnerable communities is a matter of national priority."
The Forest Service announced funded proposals for three Lake County projects under the Community Wildfire Defense Grants program on May 14. Clear Lake Environmental Research Center will be awarded $ 8 million. This is aimed at reducing vegetation fuels and restoring fire-adapted ecosystems on private lands and roadways, which is a follow up to their $9 million award in 2023, and also provides a blueprint for what a fire-resilient community looks like.
In addition, Lake County Resource Conservation District (LCRCD), along with Tribal Eco Restoration Alliance (TERA) is awarded $7.3 million for its "Fire in Hand, Healing lands. "It is a project that practices traditional ecological knowledge-based methodology to vegetation reduction, including indigenous-lead restoration and beneficial burning," noted Leidner. A vital component is education and training through Lake County's Training Exchange Program, known as TREX. Seigler Springs Redevelopment Association, is receiving $249,000 to develop a new Community Wildfire Protection Plan aimed to reduce wildfire in the Cobb Mountain area, that has yet to fully recover from the Valley Fire.
On May 15, more awards were announced under the Wood innovations program grant. Wood Innovation's grants are intended to prompt innovation, generate new markets for wood products and renewable wood energy from sustainably sourced wood and boost the production rate for processing facilities.
Scotts Valley Energy Corporation, a wholly-owned corporation of the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians receives a $409,000 award for a Central Wood Processing Campus and Wood-to-Energy Generation in Upper Lake, the doorway to the southern portion of the Mendocino National Forest and presents local profit potential. District 3 Supervisor Eddie Crandell said, "I am ecstatic about the funding that has been awarded to Lake County to bolster the county for community wildfire and also wood innovations, which covers Northshore communities and Lake Pillsbury."
"I do share Supervisor Crandall's enthusiasm for all of this funding to complete these much-needed projects, which is why we worked so hard to get the Countywide 2023 Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) approved! Having an approved Countywide CWPP made CLERC, LC RCD/TERA, and SSCRA eligible to apply for these Community Wildfire Defense Grants funds from the USDA," said Terre Logsdon, Chief Climate Resiliency Officer and tribal liaison for the County of Lake.
Logsdon added that in the 2023 CWPP, an appendix was added in anticipation of the creation of additional hyper-local CWPPs, like SSCRA will complete. Other organizations such as Fire Safe Councils, FireWise Communities, Fire Protection Districts, non-profits, or other government jurisdictions can seek funding to create their own. For questions about creating a CWPP, residents can contact the Lake County Fire Safe Council, a program of the Lake County RCD.
"With the ongoing mass tree mortality due to bark beetles (which the County declared a local emergency for in 2022), and now with the spread of the Mediterranean oak borer, we need as many ways as possible to mitigate threat of wildfire in our communities, and all of the awarded projects will help protect us," said Logsdon.
Both the Community Wildfire Defense Grant and the Wood Innovations Grant are made possible in part by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act. More information about the funded proposals, and announcements about the grant program, is on the Community Wildfire Defense Grants website and the Community Wood Grants and a Wood Innovations Grants.
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