Grant SWCD and partners helping to restore New Mexico forestlands

GRANT SWCD AND PARTNERS HELPING TO RESTORE NEW MEXICO FORESTLANDS

Aug. 26, 2019

As a single-person, part-time office, the Grant Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) has its work cut out when it comes to implementing on-the-ground projects, so the SWCD is partnering with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to undertake forest restoration in New Mexico.

The timing couldn’t be better, as New Mexico’s Gila National Forest, which is located in part in Grant County and near the Grant SWCD headquarters in Silver City, has been focusing on restoration efforts to reduce high fuel loads, especially near communities and neighborhoods adjacent to the forest.

“We don’t have funding where we can hire a forester or a technician, so it’s really important we partner with these outside agencies to help us conduct these projects,” Grant SWCD Project Manager Rebecca Benavidez said .

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RCD OF GREATER SAN DIEGO COUNTY LEADS COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO BATTLING WILDFIRE

The Resource Conservation District (RCD) of Greater San Diego County will use funds from the California Department of Conservation (DOC) and the California Natural Resources Agency to further regional work on reducing local wildfire threats and impacts.

The RCD was awarded $1.425 million from the California DOC this year as part of a block grant that will be directed toward the RCD/Fire Safe Council of San Diego County through the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. The funds will be used in part to develop a regional fire priority plan, project demonstration and regional outreach and education.

“What this grant is designed to do is work collaboratively with our fire agency partners to support each other’s projects and to work more on a regional scale,” RCD Executive Director Sheryl Landrum said . “We’re trying to make California more fire resilient.”

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JEFFERSON CD

HELPS EDUCATE POLICYMAKERS

ON WILDFIRE

FUNDING NEEDS

The Jefferson Conservation District (JCD) is putting a face on forest conservation issues in Colorado by testifying before state legislators and showing them the benefits of continuing to fund program grants at the state level.

In March – the third time in the past five years – district staff, landowners and Colorado Association of Conservation Districts’ (CACD) lobbyist Brett Moore (pictured far left) attended a House Rural Affairs and Agriculture hearing on House Bill 19-1006 (Wildfire Mitigation [in] Wildland-Urban Interface Areas), which provides state funding for grants to agencies like JCD for wildfire mitigation projects on private lands. The committee approved and forwarded the bill, and it has since become law.

“These grants are critically important to getting forest conservation work done on the ground,” JCD Director Garrett Stephens said . “Most of the testimony these legislators hear is from agency officials and lobbyists, so it was especially compelling for us to bring private landowners to share their perspective.”

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Ohio

SWCD organizes workshop to discuss woodland management resources

Darke Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD) is offering a forestry workshop on Oct. 5 at Chenoweth Trails.

There will be experts on site to discuss woodland management resources, timber stand improvement, timber harvesting, logging and wood utilization, and woodland wildlife management.

Registration is $10 and includes educational materials, refreshments and lunch.

California

District program helps restore forestland following wildfire

Butte County Resource Conservation District will pay 75 percent of the costs of restoring forestland to those who lost forestland in the Camp Fire . Anyone with more than a few acres of burned forest is eligible to get financial help removing dead brush, replanting trees, protecting seedlings and erosion control under the USDA's Emergency Forest Restoration Program.

Baby Ponderosa Pines, Douglas firs and oaks will be available as early as March 2020. Landowners can choose their own contractors and funds are available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Illinois

District remakes student program to cater to adults

Vermilion County Conservation District is offering “Outdoor School for Adults” from Sept. 9-12, 2019 .

The four-day program will follow the district's successful program that has been provided to school students for 46 years.

Highlights will include tours of several Illinois nature preserves; forest habitat exploration including the popular “critter crawl”; wetland habitats with a tour; and prairie plant identification and exploration.

The fee for all four days is $100 or $75 if registered by the early bird deadline on Aug. 9 . All participants will receive a copy of the Outdoor School workbook and a naturalist gift pack.

FORESTRY NEWS

USFS and TNC help support prescribed fire training exchanges

How biomass helps farmers make the most of 'waste wood'

American Forest Foundation announces intent to revise ATFS Standards of Sustainability

How wildfires trap carbon for centuries to millennia

CALENDAR

Sept. 23-26 – NASF Annual Meeting l Asheville, N.C.

Oct. 30-Nov. 3 – SAF National Convention l Louisville, Ky.

Nov. 20-21 – Partners in Community Forestry Conference l Cleveland, Ohio

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