CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program funds active restoration and reforestation activities aimed at providing for more resilient and sustained forests to ensure future existence of forests in California while also mitigating climate change, protecting communities from fire risk, strengthening rural economies and improving California’s water & air.
Donor Name: CAL FIRE
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline (mm/dd/yyyy): 03/04/2022
Size of the Grant: $750,000 – $5 million
Details:
Through grants to regionally-based partners and collaboratives, CAL FIRE seeks to significantly increase fuels management, fire reintroduction, treatment of degraded areas, and conservation of forests.
The Forest Health Program is part of California Climate Investments (CCI), a statewide program that puts billions of Cap-and-Trade dollars to work reducing GHG emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment – particularly in disadvantaged communities. The CCI program also creates financial incentives for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution. CCI projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero-emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling, and much more. As required by AB 1550, at least 35 percent of these investments are to be located within and benefit residents of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households across California.
CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program awards funding to landscape-scale land management projects that achieve the following objectives:
- Restore forest health and disaster resilience to California’s forests.
- Protect upper watersheds where California’s water supply originates.
- Promote long-term storage of carbon in forest trees and soils.
- Minimize the loss of forest carbon from unnaturally large high severity wildfires.
- Further the goals of the California Forest Carbon Plan, California’s Natural and Working Lands Implementation Plan, and AB 32 Climate Change Scoping Plan.
Funding Information
The minimum grant amount requested should be no less than $750,000. The maximum allowable amount is $5 million.
Required Scale of Forest Health Projects
Forest Health projects must focus on large, landscape-scale forestlands composed of one or more landowners, which may cover multiple jurisdictions. Large landscapes will usually include watersheds, firesheds, or larger logical management units. The total project area should aim to be no less than 800 acres in size; landscape units do not have to be contiguous.
Project Activities
Project activities funded by CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Grant Program may include:
- Forest fuels reduction
- Prescribed fire
- Pest management
- Reforestation
- Biomass utilization
- Conservation easements and/or land acquisition through the Forest Legacy Program
- Research through the Forest Research Program
Eligibility Criteria
- CAL FIRE will enter into grant agreements with local, state, and federal public agencies; Native American tribes; universities; special districts; industrial and nonindustrial private forest landowners; and non-profit organizations.
- Applicants should work cooperatively with local partners to implement projects in a coordinated and expedited manner. Collaboration and support can be demonstrated by private and public involvement in the planning, funding, and implementation of the project. Collaboration should leverage resources to achieve an outcome that is larger than the sum of the individual projects that may have been undertaken by each partnering organization independently. Applicants should take care to clearly indicate what work will be completed with funds from this solicitation.
For more information, visit Forest Health Grants.
