A Million Dollars To Fund Calaveras Forest Projects
Calaveras County, CA — Two grants, totaling $1-million, are coming to Calaveras County to help reduce the risk of wildfire.
The money is being allocated by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy, and the source of the revenue is the 2014 voter approved Proposition 1 water bond. $500,000 will go to the South Fork Mokelumne Watershed Restoration project. 217 acres of hazardous fuels will be treated on Bureau of Land Management property near the town of Railroad Flat. It is part of an effort to stop the spread of wildfire up the steep slopes of the South Fork Mokelumne River canyon, while increasing forest resiliency to wildfire, drought and disease.
In addition, $500,000 is going to the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority to complete hand thinning and mastication across 314 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest. Developed collaboratively with the Amador-Calaveras consensus group, the project is part of a larger 14,065 acre Hemlock Landscape Restoration Project.
The two Calaveras projects are among the $3.5-million in total grants awarded by the Sierra Nevada Conservancy at its last meeting. Other projects to receive money are in Lassen, Shasta, Plumas, Nevada, Sierra and Mono counties. Executive Director Jim Branham notes, “We’re happy to see the level of attention and investment in these kinds of projects increasing in California as our decision-makers embrace the value of proactive, forest restoration projects for our climate, our communities, and our water.”
The Sierra Nevada Conservancy is a state agency whose mission is to improve the environmental, economic and social well-being of the Sierra Nevada region.
