Local Forest Health Project Receives $6.9-Million In Funding

Photo by: BJ Hansen

Sonora, CA– A Forest Health project titled “Sustainable Land Stewardship: Tribal Integrated Fuels Management and Targeted Grazing” has been selected for funding through the Forest Health Award Grant Program with $6,999,626.52.

The grant recipient, Tuolumne County, will be working with other partners. The county reports, “This project includes treatments in SERAL and Rim Fire Reforestation projects: 2,364 acres of fuel reductions in the SERAL Phase 3 project area, 100 acres of archeological site treatments within the fuel breaks/fuel management features of the Phase 3 project area, 1,000 acres of pile burning forest wide depending on burn windows and capacity needs, and 600 acres of targeted grazing on National Forest lands in the Rim Fire footprint. This grant allows us extended opportunities to collaborate with our local tribes, the Tuolumne Band of Me-Wuk Indians and the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation in many forest health restoration activities. Each tribe will contribute their unique strengths, traditional wisdom, and contemporary methods to guarantee the sustainable stewardship of our land. We are thrilled about the unique aspects of this grant application that we are eager to undertake.”

Some of the other partners who have been involved include the Yosemite Stanislaus Solutions collaborative, the Stanislaus National Forest, and the Tuolumne River Trust.