California’s
Mariposa County Resource Conservation District
(RCD) is joining forces with county, state and federal agencies to implement fuels reduction, reforestation and biomass utilization projects.
The RCD has combined two grants–totaling more than $3 million–to put toward that effort, which will impact nearly 3,000 acres of forestland, in some cases with multiple treatments. One grant for more than $2 million came in August from CAL Fire’s California Climate Investments Forest Health grant program, while the other for $1.3 million was secured from the Wildlife Conservation Board’s Forest Conservation program.
“Everyone’s already working as hard as they can, to the maximum budget they have, and it’s not enough,”
RCD Program Manager Melinda Barrett said
. “By joining our efforts, we improve the timing, coordination and effectiveness of everything we’re all doing.”
|
G. Michael Zupko
is the executive director of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), an intergovernmental committee of federal, state, tribal and local officials convened by the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Defense and Homeland Security dedicated to consistent implementation of wildland fire policies, goals and management activities. Prior to this position, he advised the Southern Governors’ Association on natural resource issues and served as executive director for the Southern Group of State Foresters.
Zupko resides with his family in Monroe, Ga., where he operates his natural resource and sportsmen’s consulting firm. Recently, he shared time with NACD to discuss wildfire management.
The general public may hear wildfire and automatically think of California and western states, but fire affects lands across the United States. Talk about wildfire and fire management that you experience near where you live in Georgia.
Wildfire touches all corners of this great nation. As you mention, I work nationally, but am able to live in the southeast where I was raised. Although the southeast usually doesn’t have the large fires that media captures during the western fire season, throughout the fire year the southeast experiences many fires.
The number of fires any given southern state experiences is typically much higher than in western states, and although they are of shorter duration, it taxes the state and local wildland fire response system. We are also fortunate in the southeast to have both a strong network of roads as well as many local and volunteer fire departments scattered throughout the landscape that are often very effective at catching a wildfire quick. In a given fire year, wildfire can be seen as a progression across geographies.
Historically, one region or subregion would experience fires and as they diminished, another region would often increase. Recently, each region is experiencing longer fire seasons which create challenges for those geographies that have their fire starts later in the year. Resources can be tied up or unavailable.
|
A partnership between
Middle Clear Fork Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) and the West Texas Nursery is helping to upgrade windbreaks in central Texas.
For more than 30 years, Middle Clear Fork SWCD has been part of the Central Texas Restoration and Recovery Program, an effort through Texas A&M Forest Service’s nursery that grows and provides seedlings to landowners for reforestation and conservation by creating, restoring and improving windbreaks.
“We’ve been partnering with them since they began the nursery,”
said Gary Bomar, Middle Clear Fork SWCD clerk and tree sale program coordinator. "It’s our main source of product and materials for people to do the plantings.”
With the district’s help, more than 50,000 windbreaks have been established since the partnership began. Efforts to monitor, replace and restore existing windbreaks continue on an annual basis.
|
|
Ohio
District helps
residents prepare for spotted lanternfly
The invasive species was confirmed in Pennsylvania, in both Beaver and Allegheny County, directly across the border from Columbiana County, Ohio.
The
Columbiana Soil and Water Conservation District has been working closely with other agencies in putting together educational workshops for the public that will cover identification, monitoring and control of the spotted lanternfly.
|
California
RCD helping bring back oaks to state park
In February, the RCD organized a planting day with area volunteers to plant 100 coast live oak seedlings and 100 acorns.
|
Illinois
SWCD organizes prescribed burning workshop
Sean Jenkins, a professor of landscape and fire ecology from Western Illinois University, discussed how burning can be a management tool for local plants.
|
Add your conservation district's tree sale, state association meeting, field day or celebration to NACD's calendar!
Click the button above to submit an event. Events will be reviewed by the website administrator and published to
NACD's online calendar when approved.
|
|
