Forest Health and Fuels Management
Many species and landscapes in California have evolved with low to moderate intensity fire. This resulted in fewer healthier trees per acre and less vegetation on the forest floor. However, wildfire and cultural fire suppression policies within the last century have negatively impacted forestlands, which are now overstocked to ignite and propel extreme fire behavior. Active land management from both public and private landowners is critical to help protect lives and properties from catastrophic wildfire losses and to restore ecological balance across fire-adapted landscapes.
The RCDTC is dedicated to restoring healthy forest stands and supporting fire-adapted communities. Strategic vegetation management activities – including thinning, mastication, biomass treatments, prescribed fire, and more – will help protect communities, promote watershed health, improve habitat conditions, and safeguard biodiversity.
Community Chipping
Reduce the fuels, reduce the risk. You cut, you stack, we chip. A Do-It-Yourself, neighborhood approach for Tehama County residents to create Defensible Space. Call 530-727-1280 for more information.
Defensible Space Assistance Program
As part of the RCDTC's work to strengthen community wildfire preparedness, the TinderSmart Tehama Defensible Space Assistance Program offers no-cost defensible space assistance to residents within Tehama County's State Responsibility Area (SRA), Local Responsibility Area (LRA), and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) zones.
Mill Creek & Surrey Village Community Improvement
This Project serves Surrey Village and Mill Creek. Project work addresses hazardous roadside vegetation to improve resident evacuation routes (egress) and the ability of emergency personnel to access the area (ingress) in the event of wildfire.
Mineral & Stringtown Hazard Tree Removal Project
The RCDTC has partnered with the Mineral Firewise USA® Council to implement Phase I of the Mineral & Stringtown Hazard Tree Removal Project. This project will ultimately serve Mineral's Cool-Air, Lassen Alpine Village, and Meadowview subdivisions in addition to Stringtown at no additional cost to residents to treat dead, dying, and diseased trees, and trees that violate Public Resources Code 4291.
Roadside Fuel Reduction
Roadside shaded fuel reduction work includes the removal of brush and small trees (usually less than eight inches in diameter at 4.5 feet above the ground) from private property at a distance up to 150 feet from the edge of the roadway. Remaining trees are limbed up to a height of 6 to 8 feet. The trimmed woody debris is chipped on-site and broadcast back onto the landowners’ property. Equipment used by trained conservation technicians may include but is not limited to mower, chainsaw, pole saw, masticator, chipper, and/or boom lift.
Samson Slough Hazardous Vegetation Treatment
This fuels reduction project will address hazardous woody vegetation and non-native, invasive plant species in Samson Slough and East Sand Slough in Red Bluff. The majority of work will be completed within municipal parcels and is anticipated to begin in late September or early October 2023. Project work will be complete in June 2024 and will help safeguard community infrastructure, public lands, and private property in the event of wildfire.
Tehama Mendocino Fuel Reduction Partnership
The RCDTC, Mendocino National Forest, and adjacent landowners have designed a large landscape restoration and fuel reduction project that will reestablish natural fire regimes and stabilize ecological functions.
See TinderSmart Tehama for more Forest Health/WUI zone programs
Roadside Fuel Reduction
Fuel Breaks are strips or blocks of vegetation that have been altered to slow or control a wildfire. The RCDTC uses this wildfire readiness strategy to reduce the roadside hazardous vegetation. A shaded fuel break selectively thins and removes flammable understory vegetation (ladder fuels) while leaving the majority of larger, more fire tolerant tree species in place.
Tehama County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Update
In 2023, the USDA Forest Service awarded the RCDTC $102,038 through the Community Wildfire Defense Grant program to update the 2017 Tehama East/Tehama West CWPP. Through anticipated input from over 60 collaborators and the public, improvements in the CWPP planning process and document, and project development based on fuel management strategies and objectives discussed in various State and national planning documents, the Tehama County CWPP Update will support local entities' efforts to reduce wildfire risk to communities and local resources. The update is anticipated to be completed within two years.
This institution is an equal opportunity provider.
The RCDTC has funding to support post-fire recovery efforts for landowners living in the 2019-2021 burn scars in Tehama County. For more information, please contact Seronica Biggs at 530-727-1280 ext. 112 or by email (sbiggs at tehamacountyrcd.org).
The Resource Conservation District of Tehama County (RCDTC) is in the early stages of forming a Prescribed Burn Association (PBA) in Tehama County, or the Tehama PBA. Want to get involved? Fill out an "Interested Landowner" and/or "Interested Volunteer" form.
Choosing the Right Wildfire Resilience Program: Fire Safe Councils, FIREWISE USA®, & Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network®
While our region of California is continuing to experience frequent and more devastating wildfires, several programs have been created to help communities build wildfire resilience. How do you know which is the right fit for your community?
Here is a general breakdown of the three major programs designed to help communities work together to reduce wildfire risk.
It is important to note that all three are intended for group effort, not for individual homeowners. They help build collaboration, connect with others facing similar challenges, and strengthen relationships with communities and emergency personnel.
FireScape Mendocino
FireScape Mendocino is part of the US Fire Learning Network - a national grassroots movement to address forest health related planning, implementation, and adaptive management through knowledge sharing. FireScape Mendocino serves the Mendocino National Forest footprint, including Paskenta, Stonyford, Upper Lake/North Shore, Lake Pillsbury, Covelo/Eel River, and the Red Bluff Recreation Area.
Lake California Firewise
As a certified Firewise USA Community since 2020, Lake CA Firewise's mission is to educate residents of the Lake California Community on how to improve defensible space surrounding their homes and to assist residents with home hardening. Their goal is to acquire grants to help fund fuel reduction projects in Lake California.
Manton Fire Safe Council
MFSC's goal is to protect the people and property of the Manton community from the catastrophic effects of wildfire through prevention, education, cooperation, and action. Learn more about their programs here.
Mineral & Mill Creek Firewise
More information coming soon.
Northern Sacramento Valley Coalition
In 2021, the RCDTC and Northern Sacramento Valley Coalition (NSVC) were awarded an $8.16MM block grant through the California Department of Conservation to support regional capacity building, planning for priority fire resiliency opportunities, pre-project planning and permitting, demonstration projects of new and innovative techniques, and outreach and education across the Region through 2026.
The Regional Forest and Fire Capacity (RFFC) Program seeks to increase regional capacity to prioritize, develop, and implement projects that improve forest health and fire resiliency, facilitate greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and increase carbon sequestration in forests throughout California.
Tehama-Glenn Fire Safe Council
The Tehama-Glenn Fire Safe Council (TGFSC) was formed in 2000 to address issues related to wildfire and fire safety through community-based Fire Prevention Education. The TGFSC is formally recognized as a Fire Safe Council by the California Fire Safe Council and is co-managed by the RCD of Tehama County and the Glenn County RCD.
