Several Wildfire Prevention Projects Funded In Tuolumne County

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Sonora, CA — CAL Fire has announced funding for 94 wildfire prevention projects across the state, with a big chunk of money coming to Tuolumne County.

In total, $90 million is being awarded. $769,440 is coming to the Tuolumne Fire Safe Council for the Belleview/Kewin Mill Fuels reduction project. It will be a 148-acre, 2.1-mile, shaded fuel break. It will help reduce the wildfire risk near Belleview Elementary School and sections of Big Hill Road and Kewin Mill Road. Kewin Mill Road is the primary egress for the Cedar Ridge subdivision.

In addition, the Tuolumne Fire Safe Council is receiving $510,496 for the 90-acre Dragoon Fuels Reduction project in the City of Sonora. The project has three treatment components- maintenance of the existing fire break/dozer line that was constructed to protect Sonora during the 2021 Washington Fire; a 17-acre, approximately 200 feet wide shaded fuel break along Dragoon Circle/Ponderosa Lane/Cottage Court to protect those homes and the Sonora Knolls Subdivision; and fuels reduction project along the ridge from the edge of the dozer line to Racetrack Road. Mastication treatment is 73 acres and hand treatment 17 acres. The Dragoon Fuels Reduction will provide protection to around 6,000 homes.

The Tuolumne County Resource Conservation District is receiving $566,813 for the Pine Mountain Lake Fuels Reduction Phase II project. It is a 150-acre hazardous fuels reduction effort that will connect multiple fuel breaks and protect the eastern flank of Pine Mountain Lake and the community of Groveland. It will expand other recent fuel breaks completed in that area by the US Forest Service, Pine Mountain Lake Homeowners Association, and the Tuolumne Fire Safe Council. This project is designed to decrease the wildfire threat to the 1,363 households within Pine Mountain Lake, and the approximately 858 households within the Groveland Community Service District. The project’s intent is to continue to develop a defensible fuel break to the east of Pine Mountain Lake and Groveland while restoring and maintaining the Sierra mixed conifer landscape in this area.

The Stanislaus County Office of Education Foothill Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project in Tuolumne County is receiving $517,700 to reduce hazardous fuels, and improve shaded fuel breaks, and defensible space, on 81 acres of the publicly owned Foothill Horizons School property on Lyons Bald Mountain Road. There will also be efforts to increase community outreach and education to promote wildfire awareness

The Tuolumne Utilities District is receiving $166,381 to reduce wildfire risk around three water treatment plants and five water storage tanks serving 15,000 residents in high-hazard fire areas.