NFWF and USDA Forest Service Award $1.1 Million in Grants from Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership
Four projects will improve forest resilience and reduce the risk of wildfire on National Forests
SAN FRANCISCO (December 9, 2019) – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) and the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Region (Region 5) today announced $1.1 million in grants to improve forest resilience and reduce the risk of wildfire in Lassen National Forest, Los Padres National Forest, San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Six Rivers National Forest.
The grants were awarded through NFWF and USFS’s Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership. The four projects awarded grants will generate $1.7 million in matching contributions for a total conservation impact of $2.8 million.
“Our Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership with the Forest Service protects vital habitat for fish and wildlife, while at the same time helping to protect local communities from catastrophic fires,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “The four projects selected for grants are ready for implementation and we are excited for our partners to begin their work.”
The projects supported by the four grants announced today will implement best management practices on more than 1,300 acres of forestland to reduce wildfire risk and conduct prescribed burns to improve forest health. The funds will support fuels reduction treatments and prescribed burns that will increase wildlife habitat, encourage forest resilience, and reduce the intensity of future wildfires.
“Our partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation has allowed us to work with outstanding partners across the landscape to help improve forest health, and protect habitats and communities,” said Randy Moore, regional forester for Region 5. “Grants funded by this partnership have been rapidly implemented and have shown on the ground results in a short amount of time.”
This year’s Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership grant recipients include:
- American Conservation Experience ($321,252) will restore forest health across 203 acres to improve wildlife habitat and reduce the risk of severe wildfires in the Golden Cup plantation area of Crystal Lake within San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. The project will provide training to a fuels reduction crew that will implement necessary fuels treatments to promote forest health and resilience.
- Mid Klamath Watershed Council ($500,000) will conduct manual thinning to increase fire safety around the Orleans and Somes Bar communities within the Six Rivers National Forest, and implement fuels reduction treatment along strategic fuelbreaks to manage future fires and prepare for large-scale prescribed fires. The project will prioritize thinnings to create buffers along private properties and critical routes and oversee strategic fuelbreaks across 430 acres.
- Lassen County Fire Safe Council, Inc. ($73,626) will conduct prescribed burns to reduce wildfire risk, contribute to the landscape-level goals of community and habitat protection, and improve overall forest health of the Diamond Mountain project area within Lassen National Forest. The project will facilitate burning piles across 1,075 acres of hand-thinned, overly dense conifers.
- The Student Conservation Association, Inc. ($212,273) will reduce wildfire risk by treating vegetation around existing facilities and widely used areas, restore forest diversity and health, and maintain the health of mature conifer stands and conifer plantations on Frazier Mountain in Los Padres National Forest. The project will support a restoration team that will perform non-commercial thinning on 500 acres and fuels reduction on approximately 250 acres.
The Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership is a grants program focused on fuels management that reduces the threat of catastrophic wildfires and creates safer conditions for the return of historic fire regimes. The program strives to protect healthy forest conditions that support fish and wildlife, recreation, water quality and carbon sequestration.
For more information about the Pacific Southwest Fuels Management Partnership and to download the 2019 Grant Slate, visit www.nfwf.org/pswfuels.
About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 4,500 organizations and generated a conservation impact of more than $5.3 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.
About the USDA Forest Service
The mission of the Forest Service, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation’s forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands the Forest Service manages contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation’s clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency also has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.
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