On Thursday, California unveiled newly updated, first-of-their-kind dashboards that will help Californians track the state’s wildfire prevention work.

Along with these new tools, state officials announced that 700,000 acres of land were treated for wildfire resilience in 2023, and that prescribed fire more than doubled between 2021 and 2023.

For the first time, all fuels management projects are being tracked in one place, on one map, delivering valuable information for project planning and wildfire response.

“Everything we do to protect California from wildfires is connected, and nowhere else has as many tools to show the full picture while improving land management and supporting firefighters. We’re embracing the technology and best practices that will help us fight wildfires, and making sure Californians see the tireless work in their communities,” said Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Thousands of wildfire resilience projects have been completed across California to protect our communities and landscapes from catastrophic wildfire in recent years, and more are underway,” said Wade Crowfoot, secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency and co-chair of the Task Force. “Thanks to historic investments from our state and federal leaders, dozens of local agencies and hundreds of organizations are delivering these projects. Now for the first time, we have a dashboard that tracks all these diverse projects in one place and on one map. This enables us to measure our overall progress toward building wildfire resilience across the state and provides regional leaders valuable information to plan future projects.”

Interagency Treatment Dashboard

The updated version of the Interagency Treatment Dashboard shows wildfire resilience work (or “treatments”) for three calendar years (2021, 2022 and 2023).

The data, which was sourced from federal, state, local, tribal, and private entities, is now available in a single hub that allows Californians to easily see where treatments (such as prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and tree planting) have been completed. This information is used to inform firefighting efforts, ensure transparency to the public, and track progress toward statewide goals.

The Task Force released a Beta version of the dashboard last year with 2022 data. This updated version now includes data for 2021, revised data for 2022, and new data for 2023.

Over 1 million acres worth of treatment work on 700,000 acres of land

The dashboard shows significant progress on multiple fronts to bolster wildfire resilience in California. In 2023, more than one million acres of treatments were conducted on about 700,000 acres, with many acres receiving multiple treatments such as thinning, prescribed fire, or other practices to improve forest health and community resilience.

The Task Force is tracking both “activity acres,” which reflect the level of effort conducted through various state, federal, and private programs — and “footprint acres” — which show the total geographic area treated in a calendar year.

The 2023 data shows a significant increase in acres treated since 2021. The increase is largely due to a significant expansion of prescribed fire treatments, which more than doubled since 2021.

These efforts have put the state on a solid path toward meeting its joint commitment with the U.S. Forest Service to complete treatments on more than a million acres by the end of 2025.

The Task Force is committed to increasing the pace and scale of statewide actions to address California’s wildfire crisis.

The dashboard is part of a larger strategy to connect the various statewide entities committed to this monumental task.

Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard

Cal Fire also launched a Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Dashboard, which shows how wildfire prevention projects are helping protect communities and landscapes when wildfire strikes.

“Utilizing technology, we can now track in real time when wildfires hit areas where fuel treatments have been conducted. We can then go into an area and see how those treatments affected fire behavior, evacuation routes, firefighting efforts and more,” said Cal Fire Chief/Director Joe Tyler. “This new dashboard is a tool for the public to see how fuels treatments had a positive impact on the firefight and how this work is making a difference.”

“No other state in the country is tackling wildfire resilience at this scale or with this level of innovation,” added U.S. Forest Service Deputy Regional Forester Kara Chadwick. “From groundbreaking prescribed fire projects to comprehensive data tracking systems, we’re setting the standard for what it means to protect our landscapes and communities.”