The Forest Health Research Program is a grant program coordinated by CAL FIRE’s Fire and Resource Assessment Program.
Donor Name: California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)
State: California
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 01/31/2024
Size of the Grant: $500,000 to $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
The Forest Health Research Program (hereafter “FHRP” or “Research Program”) was established as part of CAL FIRE’s plan for implementing the California Forest Carbon Plan. It is one of several CAL FIRE programs funded in part or whole through California Climate Investments (CCI) and the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The mission of the Research Program is:
- to identify and prioritize research topics in forest health and wildland fire science critical to the State of California,
- to fund sound scientific studies that support landowners, resource agencies, and fire management organizations within the state,
- to ensure scientific information generated from the program is made available to support decision making and policy.
Priority Research Topics
- Disturbance, Recovery, and Strategies for Forest Resilience:
- Post-wildfire recovery, restoration, regeneration, and reforestation strategies.
- Improved prediction of threats (drought, wildfire) and their impacts on forest structure.
- Climate adaptation and mitigation strategies for healthy, resilient forests.
- Vulnerability of forests to high-severity wildfire or type conversion.
- Large high-severity patch impacts on wildlife.
- Interactions of drought and wildfire.
- Impacts related to invasive species.
- Changes in water balance and geomorphic processes after high-severity fire.
- Implementation, Effectiveness, Impacts, and Tradeoffs of Management Strategies:
- Implications of increased pace and scale of prescribed fire and forest health treatments.
- Scale of treatment needed for whole watershed resilience to severe disturbances.
- Optimal mix and timing of wildfire mitigation, suppression, and management mechanisms.
- Contemporary Range of Variation and Trends in California Ecosystems:
- Quantification of current and past indigenous land use and management practices.
- Historical and paleo-ecological investigations.
- Changes in modern-era disturbance regimes.
- Long-term trends in ecosystem functions and resources.
- Changes in ecosystem carbon pools and wildfire-related emissions.
- Climate-induced species range shifts.
- Range of variation in ecosystem water balances and sediment budgets.
- Development of enhanced methods for systematic collection of ecosystem monitoring data.
- Forest Products and Utilization of Forest Residues:
- Emerging approaches, technologies, and harvested wood products.
- Methods and barriers to obtain greater production, utilization, and supply stability.
- Impacts of products and utilization on greenhouse gas emissions or ecosystem services.
- Impacts on local, regional, and state economies.
- Substitution options for imported wood products from local products produced from forest restoration activities.
- Human Dimensions, Socio-economic Considerations, and Environmental Justice:
- Utilization of traditional ecological knowledge along with Western science.
- Integration of private and community land management into scientific processes.
- Public perceptions of wildfire risk and willingness to take mitigating action.
- Barriers to mitigating actions.
- Total cost of uncontrolled wildfire.
- Identification of communities and populations vulnerable to wildfire impacts.
- Equity in resilience to and recovery from fire and other disturbances.
- Interactions of public health, psychology, and forest health and management.
- Impacts of wildfire and prescribed fire on public health.
- Improved Prediction of Wildland Fire Spread, Behavior, and Severity:
- Improved prediction of fire weather and near-term fire danger.
- Atmospheric coupling in wildfire models.
- Ember generation, lofting, transport, and likelihood of structure ignition.
- Improved measurement of fuels.
- Identification and evaluation of wildfire safety zones for firefighting, evacuation, or shelter in place areas.
- Expected wildfire dynamics under predicted future climate conditions.
Funding Information
The Research Program intends to award a minimum of $4,500,000.
- Wildfire and Forest Research (General): $750,000
- Demonstration State Forests Research: $750,000
- Graduate Student Research: $100,000
- Science Synthesis and Tool Development: $750,000
- Special Topics Research: $250,000
Eligible Activities
Original research may be based on empirical data (i.e., collection and analysis of field or remotely sensed data), model development or application, technology development or testing, or any combination thereof. Development and testing of new technologies are allowed but must be associated with formal scientific investigation and/or hypothesis testing typical of academic research and provide results appropriate for publication in peer-reviewed scientific journals.
Projects may physically manipulate resources (e.g. thinning, prescribed burning, etc.) in an experimental fashion, but any ground-disturbing activity must comply with all pertinent federal, state and local regulations, including CEQA and NEPA. While scientific rigor is paramount, research activities themselves must not significantly degrade ecosystem health, function or services over large areas. Applicants must incorporate all reasonable and legally required measures to avoid adverse impacts to fish, wildlife, native plants, water, and other resources in project design and development. A California Registered Professional Forester or NASP-Certified Silviculturist must design and oversee any forest vegetation treatments and removal to be performed using grant funds.
Eligibility Criteria
CAL FIRE will grant funds from the Research Program to public and other nonprofit universities and affiliated academic institutions, local agencies (e.g. counties and special districts), state agencies, federal agencies, Native American tribes, private forest landowners, and non-profit 501(c)(3) organizations (e.g. fire safe councils, and land trusts). To be eligible, organizations must be able to obtain a US Employer Identification Number (EIN) or Tax Identification Number (TIN).
For more information, visit CAL FIRE.
