Regional
- Details
- Written by: Cal Fire
Pile burning will only be conducted during cool weather conditions and with ample fire-suppression resources available at the site.
The fire agencies will provide fire engines and crews to manage the burning process throughout the day, and Regional Parks staff will work in collaboration with the fire agencies.
To reduce smoke and air pollution, we are following best management practices. The burn piles have been cured over several months, reducing the moisture content of the woody material and providing the conditions for a more complete and efficient burn.
The upcoming pile burning at Gualala Regional Park is a continuation of fuels reduction work that began earlier this year with the California Conservation Corps providing the workforce to thin vegetation along the forested windrows and stack the material into burn piles.
This work will help reduce wildfire severity by thinning vegetation to minimize surface and ladder fuels and help protect the remaining trees and adjacent communities from wildfire.
It will also help build and foster collaboration between Parks and fire agency personnel.
For more information about fire safety or controlled burning and its benefits, visit the Cal Fire website at www.fire.ca.gov or call your local Cal Fire facility.
- Details
- Written by: GOVERNOR’S OFFICE
The Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery, or CDBG-DR, funds announced Friday are for foundational infrastructure projects that must be completed as communities work to build and rebuild needed housing, especially housing for low- and moderate-income Californians, and ensure that every household that was displaced in these disasters has the opportunity to return home.
“California remains committed to uplifting and supporting every community impacted by devastating wildfires as they work to rebuild,'' said Gov. Newsom. “Rebuilding after communities are tragically destroyed due to extreme weather is an opportunity to restore economic opportunities and strengthen communities giving them an opportunity to heal.”
In August 2018, the Carr Fire and the Mendocino Complex fire erupted in Northern California, followed in November 2018 by the Camp and Woolsey fires.
These were the most destructive and deadly fires to hit California that year. In total, more than 1.6 million acres burned during 2018.
“We are inspired by residents coming together and working in partnership with the state to rebuild their lives, restore economic opportunities and create a more resilient future,” said Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Secretary Lourdes Castro Ramírez. “These dollars represent a major milestone for communities that withstood unimaginable tragedy because of these devastating wildfires. We will continue to work closely with our federal partners in the Biden Administration to bring resources to communities faster and more equitably when disasters hit.”
Communities were awarded funding based on their unmet infrastructure needs and have the flexibility to use the grants to support projects based on their priorities to rebuild in a safe, sustainable, and resilient way.
The Town of Paradise has been awarded nearly $200 million, which will be used to construct critical projects that will accelerate their capacity to rebuild higher density and more affordable housing, business corridors, and critical evacuation routes in the event they face future disasters.
“Rebuilding together is the foundation of the ongoing recovery effort in the Town of Paradise,” said CA Department of Housing and Community Development Director Gustavo Velasquez. “This award of nearly $200 million will support critical infrastructure for the Town as it rebuilds with resilience and climate mitigation central to its goals. We remain committed to supporting the residents of Paradise to recover and rebuild.”
CDBG-DR funds are administered by HCD after receiving the federal allocation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) through the federal CDBG-DR program.
Following is a list of awards announced today:
• Butte County: $72,722,679.61
• City of Chico: $12,388,409.65
• City of Malibu: $47,276.93
• City of Redding: $22,563,043.51
• City of Shasta Lake: $6,326,184.69
• Los Angeles County: $3,788,157.86
• Town of Paradise: $199,592,735.75
Total: $317,428,488
- Details
- Written by: Caltrans
COLUSA COUNTY, Calif. — Caltrans is alerting motorists to expect around-the-clock one-way traffic control next week on State Highway 16 in Colusa County.
Motorists are advised to allow additional travel time when driving on a 7-mile segment of roadway between the Highway 16/Highway 20 junction and the Colusa-Yolo county line.
Construction crews are scheduled to conduct continuous reversing one-way traffic control at various locations from 6 a.m. Monday, Aug. 22, through 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 26, for pavement work.
From Aug. 29 through the end of October, motorists can expect one-way traffic control in the construction area from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, with possible roadwork occurring on Saturdays.
Flaggers will be stationed at each end of the construction zone during traffic control.
The schedule is subject to change due to weather, equipment or material availability or other unexpected events. Knife River Construction of Chico is the contractor for the $6 million paving project.
Caltrans advises motorists to “Be Work Zone Alert.” The department will issue construction updates on Twitter @CaltransDist3 and on Facebook at CaltransDistrict3. For real-time traffic, click on Caltrans’ QuickMap quickmap.dot.ca.gov/ or download the QuickMap app from the App Store or Google Play.
- Details
- Written by: Cal Fire
Acquisition of these forested properties increases opportunities for critical research, forest restoration and public recreation.
These two new properties, comprised of 2,246 acres along South Cow Creek in Shasta County and 267 acres in the headwaters of the Bear River in Nevada and Placer counties, were acquired as part of the Pacific Watershed Lands Stewardship Council’s commitment to permanently conserve watershed lands for the public good.
The lands are being donated from Pacific Gas and Electric and will be managed in partnership with the Shasta Land Trust and Bear Yuba Land Trust who will hold conservation easements on the properties.
“The addition of the Cow Creek and Bear River properties to the Cal Fire demonstration state forest system is another exciting chapter in California state forest stewardship,” said Kevin Conway, Cal Fire’s State Forest Program manager. “The properties that currently make up the forest system were first acquired nearly a century ago as clear-cut forests. Since then, we have successfully demonstrated how to re-grow forests, restore habitat, and provide for public recreation, among many other values. These recently acquired acres have not been as extensively logged, and we’re excited to steward these areas for forest health, conservation and restoration, climate and fire resiliency, and the many other values that these special areas provide.”
California’s demonstration state forests serve as a living laboratory for how to care for and manage California’s forest lands for multiple benefits — recreation, watershed protection, wood products and sustainable timber production, and habitat restoration — given a changing climate and increasingly severe and intense wildfire seasons.
The forests provide unique research and demonstration opportunities where environmental scientists, foresters, and other researchers can study the effects of various forest management and restoration techniques to help inform management practices for government, nonprofit and private forestland owners.
“These important additions to our state forest system offer an opportunity to further the valuable research and ecological work underway on California state forestlands while contributing to critical climate goals. Adding these parcels to the California state forest system bolsters Cal Fire’s continued commitment to providing forest landowners and others with timely, relevant information about forest management,” said Cal Fire Deputy Director for Resource Management Matthew Reischman.
Common activities on state forest lands include evaluating sustainable timber harvesting techniques that test current forest practice rules, watershed restoration, a variety of university research projects to help answer pressing forest management questions, and other activities such as cone collecting for seed, and recreation such as mushroom collecting, hunting, firewood gathering, horseback riding, camping, mountain biking and hiking.
Adding these properties follows the 2019 acquisition of the North Fork Mokelumne River property comprising 1,054 acres in Amador County.
In total, Cal Fire will receive seven properties from the Stewardship Council by early 2023 bringing the total acreage of California’s demonstration state forest system to over 84,000 acres statewide. These properties will increase the diversity of forest types under Cal Fire’s stewardship and create new opportunities for research and demonstration of sustainable forestry techniques.
Cal Fire will work collaboratively and closely with the Bear Yuba Land Trust and Shasta Land Trust who hold the conservation easements on these properties to ensure that the scenic, open space, forest, wildlife habitat, recreation, and historic and cultural values are protected forever.
The properties will be stewarded for these multiple uses under a Forest Management Plan to be approved by the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection.
For more information about California’s demonstration state forests, visit the Cal Fire website.
How to resolve AdBlock issue?