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Wildfire Resilience and Forestry Assistance Grants

Department of Forestry and Fire Protection · 58527

Eligibility details

Applicants submitting projects addressing action items 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14 are limited to Resource Conservation Districts (RCD’s) and special districts capable of acting as lead agency for CEQA projects. These applicants must demonstrate they have the capacity to deliver a forestry based technical and financial assistance program to non-industrial forest landowners. Applicants submitting projects addressing action items 1.10 are limited counties, resource conservation districts, special districts, and 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations.

Matching funds & resources

Source matching-funds field: Not Required. Cost share is the portion of the project cost not funded by the awarding agency (CAL FIRE) and is provided by the applicant and/or other sources (e.g., nonprofit organizations, public agencies, and/or other entities). Cost share must support the proposed project and be spent during the term of the awarded grant. Cost share is not required as discussed on page 4, item 1.13, but is a scorable item.

Matching funds and leveraged resources are different requirements. Read the description and reviewed rules below before determining resource commitments.

About this opportunity

The purpose of the grant solicitation is to meet Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force Action Plan goals through allowing a prospective grantee the ability to provide a program of financial and technical forestry assistance to nonindustrial forest landowners, where the grantee, as the supervising entity, receives the grant from CAL FIRE and provides outreach and/or technical/financial assistance to landowners in order to conduct forest restoration or management activities on their property. The grantee will be responsible for payments of financial assistance to landowners. Projects should seek to: 1. Make funding available through agreements with landowners to pay for specific, noncommercial ecological forest improvement and wildfire resilience practices. 2. Provide technical assistance to promote information sharing and education on the full range of effective forest management practices and opportunities as well as forest management education and management planning. The following includes but is not limited to eligible practices that project applicants shall provide to nonindustrial forest landowners under this funding: Projects Addressing Action Item 1.10 • Eligible practices are limited to implementing a Forest Stewardship Education Program that includes workshops for forest landowners to develop management plans and implement stewardship projects. Projects Addressing Action Item 1.11, 1.13 and 1.14 • Forest Management Planning - Forest Management Plans must be prepared by a Registered Professional Forester (RPF). The RPF may be either an in-house employee or a consultant. New Management Plans shall be written using either one of the approved CFIP templates or a plan acceptable to the NRCS EQIP program. • Technical Assistance - Eligible practices are limited to providing in-person or on-site consultation with forestland owners to help them address their land management needs with the goals of developing a forest management plan for the landownership or providing updated information to landowners that are already in possession of a forest management plan. • RPF Supervision • Site Preparation • Tree Planting • Tree Protection - This practice includes the cost and installation of tree protectors such as VEXAR® tubes, shade cards, or other animal damage barriers. • Timber Stand Improvement • Pruning • Follow-up - i The following practices will not be funded by this grant program: • Minor road upgrading such as road rocking or installing rolling dips unless needed to protect an existing or replacement structure or where needed to prevent erosion to a watercourse. If there is no hydrologic connectivity, minor road upgrading will normally not be eligible. • Construction of new roads or bridges. • Fencing to protect stands from livestock. • Planting of Christmas trees and greenery. • Costs of land, water, irrigation, or purchase of tools or equipment. • Projects designed solely for the production of fuelwood.

Funding geography: No specific geographic areas. All forested areas in CA are eligible where they are owned by a nonindustrial forestland owner. Publicly owned lands are not eligible.

Funding instrument: Grant. Issuing jurisdiction: California. This is not a geographic eligibility determination.