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Forest Health & Wildfire Resilience
Help Us Identify Future Projects in Mendocino County
Rural Resilience Project is developing a new initiative to help rural landowners and community partners identify, plan, and prepare forest health, watershed restoration, and wildfire resilience projects in Mendocino County.
We are especially interested in hearing from landowners who see opportunities to improve forest health, reduce wildfire risk, address roads and drainage, reduce erosion, restore watersheds, protect habitat, or improve the long-term resilience of their land.
RRP has not yet received funding for this initiative. We are actively pursuing funding opportunities and gathering information now to identify community needs, potential projects, and future partnerships.
You do not need to have a fully developed project or know exactly what work is needed.
What We Are Working Toward
Many rural landowners know where problems exist on their properties but may not know what type of project is needed, which professionals to contact, what permits may be required, or how to pay for the work.
Moving from an identified problem to a fundable project can require site assessments, technical studies, mapping, project design, environmental review, permitting, cost estimates, partnerships, and grant development.
RRP is working to build the capacity and partnerships needed to help bridge that gap.
We Want to Hear About Potential Projects Involving:
Forest Health & Fuels
Forest thinning, vegetation management, fuels reduction, forest restoration, and other activities that improve forest health and wildfire resilience.
Wildfire Resilience
Projects that reduce wildfire risk, improve preparedness, or strengthen the resilience of rural properties and communities.
Roads, Drainage & Erosion
Private road conditions, failing drainage systems, culverts, erosion, sediment, and other infrastructure issues affecting forests, streams, or watersheds.
Watershed & Riparian Restoration
Projects involving streams, riparian areas, water resources, erosion reduction, or watershed restoration.
Wildlife & Habitat
Habitat restoration, invasive species management, and projects that improve conditions for fish, wildlife, and native plants.
Prescribed Fire & Landscape Management
Opportunities involving prescribed fire readiness, vegetation management, and coordinated landscape-level planning.
Post-Fire Restoration
Forest, watershed, road, erosion, or habitat restoration needs following wildfire.
Something Else?
If you have a land stewardship or natural-resource concern that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these categories, we still want to hear about it.
Working Beyond Property Boundaries
Forests, streams, wildlife habitat, roads, and wildfire do not stop at property boundaries.
RRP is particularly interested in identifying opportunities where neighboring landowners share similar needs or where projects could be coordinated across multiple properties.
A failing road or drainage system may affect an entire watershed. Wildfire fuels may extend across dozens of properties. Forest and habitat restoration can have greater benefits when neighboring lands are considered together.
By identifying these connections early, RRP hopes to develop coordinated projects that provide greater benefits for landowners, forests, watersheds, wildlife, and rural communities—and that may be better positioned to compete for future funding.
Fire Safe Road Pods
One concept RRP is exploring within this initiative is Fire Safe Road Pods.
A Fire Safe Road Pod could bring together neighboring rural landowners who share a private road, watershed, or landscape and are interested in coordinating forest health and wildfire resilience projects.
Shared needs might include:
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Wildfire fuels and vegetation management
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Forest health
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Evacuation and emergency access
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Private road improvements
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Culverts and drainage
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Erosion and sediment reduction
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Watershed health
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Water resources
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Wildlife habitat
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Prescribed fire readiness
You don’t need to organize your neighbors before contacting us. If you think nearby properties share similar needs, simply tell us about that in the project interest form.
How RRP Hopes to Help
If funding is secured, RRP hopes to help promising projects move from an identified need toward implementation readiness.
Depending on available funding and the needs of individual projects, future assistance could potentially include:
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Initial project identification and site assessment
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GIS mapping and project prioritization
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Forestry and fuels planning
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Biological and botanical assessments
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Hydrologic, geologic, and engineering assessments
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Project planning and design
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Permitting and environmental review
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Cost estimates and implementation budgets
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Coordination with qualified technical professionals
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Coordination among neighboring landowners
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Identification of potential implementation funding
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Development of future grant applications
RRP’s role will depend on the funding we secure, project eligibility, available resources, and the specific needs of each project.
IDENTIFY → ASSESS → PLAN → PERMIT → FUND → IMPLEMENT
This Initiative Is Currently in Development
RRP is actively pursuing funding for our Forest Health & Wildfire Resilience initiative. Funding has not yet been awarded.
We are gathering information from landowners now so we can better understand local needs, identify potential projects and partnerships, look for opportunities to coordinate work across properties, and pursue appropriate funding.
Submitting your information now helps us understand what is needed in rural Mendocino County.
You do not need to have a project designed, hire a consultant, or know which permits or technical services you may need before contacting us.
