Yuba Water awarded $6.9M for forest health project

Apr. 25—The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) announced this week that Yuba Water Agency will receive about $6.9 million in funding for its forest health project in the Yuba County foothills.

Part of $142.6 million that has been awarded for other statewide projects that are "intended to enhance carbon storage while restoring the health and resilience of existing and recently burned forests" in California, Yuba Water received $6,993,937 for its New Bullards Bar 2023 Forest Health Project.

"This project will improve forest health on 3,499 acres of public and private lands in the Yuba County foothills," according to the program's description. "Treatments will include mastication, mechanical biomass chipping, tractor/hand piling, and follow-up herbicide application, providing multiple benefits including forest health and vigor, climate change resiliency, species biodiversity, stabilized carbon and sediment, catastrophic fire risk reduction, increased water yield, and direct support for hydro and bio-energy facilities."

Several statewide agencies and groups have been working to thin forests in areas that pose increased wildfire risks. Due to the cost of trying to alleviate these issues in overgrown areas, achieving meaningful progress has been difficult.

"We are excited that Cal Fire has awarded Yuba Water approximately $7 million to advance work in the Yuba River watershed," JoAnna Lessard, Yuba Water Agency watershed manager, said in a statement. "This project was strategically developed with our partners to include treatments around New Bullards Bar, which will reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire for our foothill communities and help safeguard our water supply."

Earlier this month, the U.S. Forest Service announced that Tahoe National Forest was providing the National Forest Foundation with $117 million to implement forest management work in the North Yuba Landscape to help prevent or lessen extreme wildfire events.

"These fuels reduction efforts will significantly lower wildfire risk and change fire behavior to protect communities, escape routes and utility infrastructure while also improving forest health to protect important habitats and enhance resilience to climate change," U.S. Forest Service officials previously said.

Lessard previously said there is a "desperate need" for this work to be done in the Yuba River watershed. While the watershed hasn't experienced the type of catastrophic wildfires seen in other areas of the state, many of the same conditions and characteristics as neighboring watersheds that have been devastated by wildfire do exist, she said.

"Fuels reduction and prescribed fire treatments funded under these grants are aimed at reducing excess vegetation and returning forest and oak woodlands to more fire, drought, and pest-resilient conditions," Cal Fire officials said. "Several projects include work within landscapes severely burned in recent wildfires. Ten awarded projects focus on post-fire reforestation and regeneration activities over the landscape of 11 catastrophic fires in California over the past 10 years. These fires include the Antelope, Bobcat, Beckwourth, Caldor, CZU Lightning Complex, Dixie, KNP Complex, McKinney, Mosquito, North Complex, and Rim."

Cal Fire officials said about two-thirds of the awarded projects will benefit disadvantaged or low-income communities.

"The economic opportunities provided by these investments are in addition to the expected benefits from forest management activities, including reduced threat of catastrophic wildfire, reduced risk to nearby communities, improvements in water quality and habitat, and climate change mitigation from carbon storage in wood products and retaining and improving forest carbon sinks," Cal Fire officials said.

Cal Fire said many of the grants awarded were "made available through California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars toward achieving the state's climate change goals while also strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities."

Officials expect additional grants to be awarded this summer for both wildfire prevention work and "Tribal Wildfire Resilience."