Forestry & Wildfire
The Gold Ridge RCD partners with landowners, local fire safe councils, fire departments, the County of Sonoma, CAL FIRE and others to plan, design and implement community wildfire and forest resilience projects. Sonoma County, like many California counties, is annually threatened by catastrophic wildfire, particularly in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). Our local topography, fuels, and Mediterranean climate make our county subject to periodic wildfires. Combined with 100 years of effective fire suppression across the state, these conditions have led to uncharacteristically high fuel loads which has resulted in several devastating wildfires recently impacting our community.
The RCD has a long history of collaborating with local community and agency stakeholders to provide county residents with educational, science-based solutions, and cost share assistance. Our new Forestry and Wildfire Resilience programs assist rural landowners and communities through comprehensive wildfire management planning processes, community-based organizing, education, increased access to fuels management services, and funding for non-commercial forest improvement activities (such as thinning, planting, pruning, and fuel hazard reduction) to mitigate wildfire risk and improve forest health in this highly fire-prone region.
Frequently served: Forestland owners, farmers, fire safe councils and communities
Technical Assistance for Forestland Owners and Managers
The RCD provides non-industrial forestland managers with assistance to support conservation activities through technical education, site visits, planning services, project funding and project management. Priority resource concerns include forest susceptibility to drought, pest, disease, and wildfire; post-fire damage; community susceptibility to wildfire; degraded wildlife habitat; degraded water quality. If you aren’t already working with a registered professional forester, we can help you connect with one, including our staff forester. We may also put you in contact with the technical staff of your local Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE), or the California Department of Forestry and Fire Management (CAL FIRE).
Ways to participate:
- Interested in getting assistance? Let us know by submitting our Forestland Owner Interest Intake Form
Resources:
- Intro to Sonoma County Forest Management Assistance 2022-23
- Sonoma County RCDs Forest Conservation Programming 2022-23
- Learn more about technical assistance for forest and wildfire resilience here
LandSmart® Grazing for Community Resilience
This LandSmart® program, in partnership with Match.Graze and the County of Sonoma, connects lands with high vegetative fuel loads at risk of wildfire with contract grazers. Gold Ridge RCD and Sonoma RCD are partners in the LandSmart Grazing Program. This project supports interested neighbors or community groups to utilize grazing to reduce their land’s fuel load and make their communities safer in the face of wildfires. Grazing has added co-benefits: Grazing comes with additional benefits: low impacts to air quality and noise; ease of access near structures and on steep slopes; natural fertilization; and if timed right, control of noxious weeds.Grazing can also be the most financially accessible and easiest to implement due to lack of permit requirements compared to other fuel treatments such as hand crews, mowing, masticating or prescribed burns. The benefits to community cohesion, coordination and morale are also anticipated to grow.
Project examples:
Ways to participate:
- None at this time. We are seeking additional funding.
Resources:
- Learn more about LandSmart® Grazing for Community Resilience here (English)
- En Espanol: Información del Programa LandSmart Grazing (Spanish)
- Learn more about vegetation management for wildfire resilience here
Community Wildfire Defensible Space
In order to prevent homes and infrastructure from being lost in a wildfire, CALFIRE and local fire districts require that residents maintain a safe barrier (“defensible space”) around them. Adequate defensible space acts as a barrier to slow or halt the progress of fire that would otherwise engulf your property. It also helps ensure firefighter safety while defending your home. Defensible space is the first line of defense for your home against wildfire. The RCD supports our county’s pre-fire partner, Fire Safe Sonoma, and other fire safe councils in providing technical assistance to our communities.
Project examples:
Ways to participate:
Resources:
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- CALFIRE’s Defensible Space Zones
- Learn more about Community Wildfire Defensible Space here
Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group
Community Wildfire Protection Planning
A Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) is a community-based plan focused on identifying and addressing local hazards and risks from wildfire. A CWPP identifies wildfire risks and provides a roadmap of actions, including improving emergency communications, structure hardening, defensible space around buildings and infrastructure, vegetation management projects, suppression resources, and public education.
Project examples:
Ways to participate:
- None at this time
Resources:
North Bay Forest Improvement Program
The North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP) is an innovative incentives program funded through CAL FIRE. Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs) in Sonoma, Mendocino and Napa Counties the Clear Lake Environmental Research Center (CLERC) have partnered with Rebuild North Bay Foundation to form the North Bay Forest Improvement Program (NBFIP) to help private non-industrial small forestland owners/managers (between 5 and 500 acres) implement non-commercial forest improvement activities such as thinning, planting, pruning, and fuel hazard reduction.
The North Bay Forest Improvement Program is an incentives program, similar to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) and the California Forest Improvements Program (CFIP), providing public funds to support private investment in forest health and resilience projects; reducing vegetative fuel loads and risks of wildfire, insect infestation, and disease epidemics on private properties in the North Bay’s diverse and valuable forestlands. This program is intended to blend the best parts of CAL FIRE’s California Forest Improvement Program (CFIP) and NRCS’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) within the confines of the NBFIP grant guidelines.
Project examples:
- Project examples are provided by our partner After the Fire USA
Ways to participate:
- Applications for Project Implementation can be submitted any time, and are funded in the spring and fall each year. The Spring 2023 application window has closed. Applications for Project Implementation will be accepted again in September 2023.
- Applications for a Forest Management Plan (FMP) can be submitted anytime.
Resources:
- North Bay Forest Improvement Program Official Website
- Learn more about the North Bay Forest Improvement Program here
Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group
The Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group (Forest Working Group) is a network of local forest landowners, land managers, foresters, land trusts, watershed councils, non-profits, government agencies, researchers and educators. The Working Group brings forestry and conservation expertise to educational events and projects designed for the public. The Working Group’s mission is to protect forests across landscapes and through generations. The Working Group exists to perpetuate sustainable, healthy, and diverse forests, woodlands and watersheds across the Sonoma County landscape, and to be a catalyst, source of information, and point of contact for forestland owners.
Ways to participate:
- Any member of the public can join the Forest Working Group at no cost.
- June 23rd and 24th: Living with Fire: Sonoma County Forest Conservation Conference held at Shone Farm in Forestville, CA
Resources:
