HomeMy WebLinkAbout04.28.21 FW_ Butte Co. CWPP Funding and Implementation Project
From:Snyder, Ashley
To:Paulsen, Shaina
Cc:Reaster, Kayla
Subject:FW: Butte Co. CWPP Funding and Implementation Project
Date:Monday, May 10, 2021 12:30:04 PM
Attachments:#5GG17123_FinalAccomplishmentReport.pdf
Hi Shaina –
Can you please ensure that this is archived under BOS Correspondence for the 5/11 Meeting?
Thanks
Ashley N. Snyder
Assistant Clerk of the Board
Butte County Administration
25 County Center Drive, Suite 200, Oroville, CA 95965
T: 530.552.3307 | F: 530.538.7120
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From: Pickett, Andy <APickett@buttecounty.net>
Sent: Wednesday, April 28, 2021 8:06 AM
To: Snyder, Ashley <ansnyder@buttecounty.net>
Subject: FW: Butte Co. CWPP Funding and Implementation Project
Andy
530-552-3310 (Office)
From: Messina, John@CALFIRE <john.messina@fire.ca.gov>
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2021 5:26 PM
To: Pickett, Andy <APickett@buttecounty.net>; Hatcher, Casey <CHatcher@buttecounty.net>;
Teeter, Doug <DTeeter@buttecounty.net>; Ritter, Tami <TRitter@buttecounty.net>; Kimmelshue,
Tod <TKimmelshue@buttecounty.net>; Ritter, Tami <TRitter@buttecounty.net>; Connelly, Bill
<BConnelly@buttecounty.net>
Subject: Butte Co. CWPP Funding and Implementation Project
ATTENTION: This message originated from outside Butte County. Please exercise judgment before opening
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County Supervisors,
Attached is the final report from the Sacramento River Watershed Program’s “Butte County
Community Wildfire Protection Plan Funding and Implementation Project”. This project was funded
by a $475,206 CAL FIRE CCI fire prevention grant that was awarded just prior to the Camp Fire. One
of the main deliverables of the grant was to produce a data portal that could be used to help
collaborators come up with potential projects for the CWPP and other grant opportunities. The
report has links to many map projects created in the data portal that showcase its features. In the
portal, one can view many maps of various information. Something of interest is the “PROJECT” link
in the portal. It geographically shows every fuel reduction project currently in progress by all groups,
agencies, non-profits, districts ect… in the county. I pass this along to you because it is one of the
best examples of collaboration between state and federal agencies, fire safe councils, districts,
private land owner, reserves ect.. we have seen. While it may seem slow, our county cooperators
and stakeholders are doing an awesome job in making the county a safer place, especially the
BCFSC!
John Messina
UNIT CHIEF
CALFIRE – BUTTE UNIT
Butte County Fire Department
Cities of Biggs, Gridley & Town of Paradise
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Grant Number: 5GG17123
Final Reports are an explanation of what occurred during the longevity of the grant. In
the Final Report please explain what occurred during the grant (i.e. plans made,
challenges faced, problems with plans, etc.). Please include any details about the
project/workshop/purchases that you made in fulfilling your project. In addition, please
attach pictures from the duration of the grant using a .jpeg.
Summary of activities that occurred during the grant. (i.e. expenditures, workshop
agenda and purpose, after actions identified, etc., Please include pictures).
SRWP lead the Butte County Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Funding and
Implementation (Project) and provided administrative and fiscal oversight including
managing the grant and contracts, tracking budgets, coordinating and communicating with
members of the project team and subcontractors, and reporting and invoicing. SRWP and
34 North with support from the Project Team that includes the Butte County Fire Safe
Council (BCFSC), Butte County Resource Conservation District (BCRCD), and CALFIRE
developed a Landscape Scale Project Area Analysis and Prioritization Framework
(Prioritization Framework).
Grant Number: 5GG17123 1
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
The Prioritization Framework includes a synthesis of existing fuels reduction and forest
restoration guiding documents and research and planning activities meant to provide
access to the best available science and outline the steps needed to effectively plan and
implement at the regional and local scale to ensure a successful and meaningful decrease
in high-severity fire and increase resilient landscapes.
34 North with support from members of the Project Team and the CWPP Workgroup
developed the Butte County Fuels Reduction and Forest Restoration Planning Tool
(Planning Tool) that includes a comprehensive user interface with custom content including
a wide-ranging planning map library, real time data dashboards, project pages, parcel
tracker, and other collaborative planning and mapping tools to facilitate project planning,
implementation, and post treatment monitoring.
Butte County Fuels Reduction and Planning Restoration Tool Homepage
34 North with support from SRWP collected, organized, styled, processed, and synthesized
key datasets and information, customized and developed project and science-based
catalogs, designed and implemented a data directory, customized project tables and
queries for project area analysis, and developed reporting tools and a regional projects
map. 34 North with support from SRWP acquired and processed LiDAR data that will help
to describe stand-level spatial patterns that influence key aspects of resilience and
ecosystem function for planning and restoration efforts.
34 North worked with members of the Project Team and CWPP Workgroup, and regional,
state and federal partners to create methodologies and criteria for strategic planning and
prioritization. The organization and schema of prioritization criteria is associated with data
Grant Number: 5GG17123 2
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
and geo-processing inputs and the prioritization framework is being implemented as part of
the Planning Tool to filter through the 11 planning areas to discover and analyze locations
that are best suited for key aspects of the CWPP and other guiding documents.
Prioritization Data Workflows
SRWP with support from members of the Project Team coordinated and facilitated quarterly
Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) Workgroup meetings to discuss planning,
restoration and recovery efforts in Butte County and the iterative development of the
Planning Tool.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 3
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
CWPP Workgroup Meeting
The BCFSC and BCRCD with support from SRWP and members of the CWPP Workgroup
coordinated and facilitated Butte County Forest Health and Wildland Task Force meetings
from April 2019 through February 2020 to discuss and develop a collective countywide
vision of forest health including planning, management and recovery efforts focusing on the
Concow Basin. In January 2020, SRWP with support from the BCFSC and BCRCD.
Wildland Task Force Meeting
Grant Number: 5GG17123 4
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
The SRWP, Butte County Fire Safe Council BCFSC, and the BCRCD worked together to
develop, formalize and sustain the Butte County Collaborative Group (BCCG) including:
Developing and supporting steering committees and working groups as needed to
guide the work of the BCCG;
developing internal and external communication tools (BCCG listserv, Collaborative
Workspace); and ensuring that the BCCG meets with the frequency necessary to
achieve shared goals, and
set up the infrastructure needed to advance goals at and between meetings.
The BCFSC with support from SRWP developed several committees including the
Development, Biomass, Grazing, Prescribed Fire, and Firewise Committees and
coordinated and facilitated meetings to focus on specific tasks to research, summarize and
address with the full BCCG.
Amye Osti, 34 North Presenting at the BCCG Meeting
Members of the Project Team coordinated and facilitated workshops, forums, and meetings
to discuss and develop a collective countywide vision of forest health including planning,
management and recovery efforts. SRWP and members of the Project Team joined and
participated in committees including the Ame
Woods, Forest Biomass Transportation Incentive (FBTI) steering committee and the Butte
County Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) to keep apprised of forest health improvement
efforts and opportunities and share information and updates on the Project.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 5
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Throughout the Project, SRWP researched potential partnership and funding opportunities
to advance planning, management, and recovery efforts in Butte County. SRWP and
members of the Project Team participated in regional and statewide meetings including the
Forest Management Task Force and Sierra Eastside Regional Prioritization Group monthly
meetings, bi-annual meetings, the
Watershed Improvement Program (WIP) Annual Summits, and the CA Association of
annual meeting and met with regional, state and federal
partners to discuss state and federal investment in collaborative forest restoration and
CARCD remote presentation (during covid)
SRWP and 34 North with support from members of the Project Team researched potential
partnership and funding opportunities to advance planning, management, and recovery
efforts in Butte County and coordinated and facilitated meetings with more than 30 local,
state, and federal partners including CALFIRE, Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC), US
Forest Service, Sierra Institute, Bureau of Land Management, American Forest Foundation,
Metropolitan Water District, CSU, Chico Ecological Reserve and Geographic Information
Center, WA State University, Department of Water Resources, Town of Paradise, City of
Chico, Pacific Forest Trust, and the Butte County Department of Conservation and Water
Resources to gain support and identify opportunities for investment. Members of the Project
Team participated in more than 50 educational and informational webinars and peer
learning opportunities to increase knowledge and develop resources to improve landscape
level restoration and management efforts.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 6
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Members of the Project team participated in and presented
at the
Workshop and the Secretary Speaker Series event titled
Fires must be
present to scale risk reduction effectively.
Members of the Project Team with support from members
of the CWPP workgroup and community partners held
meetings in person and remotely and led field trips to
Wildland Urban
Interface (WUI) including areas in and around the Camp
Fire and North Complex Fire footprints to view success
stories, discuss recovery, management and restoration
goals, and provide examples and technical guidance for
SRWP ED Holly Jorgensen and BCFSC
ED Calli-Jane DeAnda with AFF Director,
forestry practices pre and post fire.
Fire & Western Conservation Tom Hill
Post Camp Fire Field Trip
34 North with support from the members of the Project Team conducted in person and
remote workshops and trainings to show stakeholders how to upload, explore, and utilize
data and information and create maps for education, outreach, planning, reporting and
decision-making.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 7
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Planning Tool Training with BCFSC staff (pre-covid)
Planning Tool Training with BCFSC, BCRCD, and CALFIRE staff (during covid)
Members of the Project team participated in an interview and process with the News and
Review to develop a forest health themed publication titled Path to a Safer Forest that
with direction on forest health topics including ways they can engage in their communities to
improve forest health and included information on the Sacramento River Watershed Data
Grant Number: 5GG17123 8
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Portal and Planning Tool and its part in reducing wildfire risk and restoring forest health in
Members of the Project Team Participating in interview with the News and Review
Members of the Project Team developed and distributed outreach materials to provide
information about the Project and wildfire mitigation/forest health improvement efforts in the
County including a Project handout, CWPP Workgroup handout, and a BCCG handout.
The BCFSC with support from 34 North and SRWP aggregated information, photos and
maps and developed a handout to share with over a dozen state legislators including
Assemblyman James Gallagher and Senator Jim Nielsen in an effort to educate legislators
on the conditions of our forests and the resulting issues and demonstrate that it is
imperative that we revise state policies and practices to facilitate wildfire mitigation efforts.
Challenges faced during the grant. (i.e. delays due to the weather, contract bids coming
in higher or lower than planned, change of project manager, location change, etc.)
While we made great progress on the development of the Planning Tool and supporting a
number of stakeholders during the project, we had a very difficult time interacting with the
local fire safe councils and key stakeholders due to wildfire events and covid-19 restrictions.
The Project focus changed significantly because of the Camp Fire and the urgent need for
data, information, and planning tools to aid recovery efforts. The majority of 2019 was
spent working with the BCFSC, BCRCD and members of the CWPP Workgroup to
Grant Number: 5GG17123 9
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
develop the Planning Tool and produce outputs for use in supporting and developing
recovery efforts. Due to this significant need and influx of funding for recovery efforts,
planning efforts were not a high priority for the majority of Butte County stakeholders and
were delayed. The majority of the budget for developing the Planning Tool was used to
amount of funding for the remainder of the work.
The onset of covid-19 and the North Complex Fire in 2020 further complicated and delayed
collaborative planning efforts. While the SRWP spent a significant amount of time working
to build and formalize a Countywide collaborative, the 50+ members of the newly formed
BCCG struggled to focus on planning efforts as they continued to face immediate threats.
Planning Tool development and training were mostly focused on immediate threats and
without a formalized user group and planning process, SRWP and 34 North struggled to get
the much-needed project data, information, and feedback required for iterative development
of the Planning Tool.
Relation of activities identified to overall goals, deliverables. (i.e. completed 30 acres
out of 100 acres planned, or 30% of planned acres were treated, put on 2 out of the 5
planned workshops, etc.)
SRWP coordinated and facilitated quarterly meetings with members of the CWPP
workgroup and coordinated and facilitated 4 meetings with the newly formed BCCG.
Despite the onslaught of challenges presented during the project, member of the Project
Team put on more than the 10 planned local workshops and facilitated 60 and 90-minute
online seminars instead of the planned 30-minute online seminars for the duration of the
project.
Members of the Project Team conducted more than 100 meetings and calls with key
stakeholders to discuss their data and information needs, potential use cases for their
planning, restoration and recovery efforts, and the role of a Countywide collaborative in
Butte County.
34 North with support from the members of the Project Team and CWPP Workgroup along
with key stakeholders completed all of the Planning Tool development tasks identified in the
Scope of Work and completed a significant amount of additional product enhancements and
tasks based on the needs of the community due to unprecedented wildfire events
throughout the County.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 10
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
How challenges impacted the overall grant accomplishments and how you remedied
the situation. (i.e. one month delay in completing CEQA but we were able to redirect
additional camp crews to work on the project so we were able to complete within the grant
period, will be treating fewer acres, etc.)
Since a significant portion of the planning efforts during the project period was focused on
immediate recovery efforts, we had limited opportunities to work with and get feedback from
the Countywide collaborative. We reached out to and worked with individuals and small
groups to support their efforts and document user needs and challenges and used our
experiences with and feedback from other collaborative groups we are working with to
develop and improve the Planning Tool.
We continued to provide Planning Tool support and training after the budget was exhausted
and the project ended and will continue to work with local, regional, state and federal
partners to continue to provide training and support. Once users are trained and proficient,
they will be able to utilize the Planning Tool to cooperatively plan fire management and
forest health improvement efforts across Butte County.
The Planning Tool was created and developed to support a collaborative to work
systematically to organize and prioritize projects across the landscape, seek agreement,
and take action. SRWP will continue to communicate and coordinate with the BCFSC,
BCRCD, and County staff to develop and formalize a countywide collaborative including:
Creating a mission, goals, and objectives
Developing a strategic wildfire mitigation vision for the County and strategic action
plan to guide implementation
Forming governance and staffing structures
Coordinating outreach and collaborative building activities that connect stakeholders
to each other and the landscape and build support for the wildfire mitigation vision
Developing a funding model for sustaining the Collaborative over time and secure
funding and support to implement priority wildfire mitigation activities
Working with the Collaborative to assess stakeholder needs
Overall accomplishment and impacts (i.e. treated 110 acres instead of the 100 acres
planned within funding allotted, exceeding accomplishments by 10%, were able to train 200
employees on <insert date>, provide education to X attendees at X community education
th
events during the Fresno County Fair from July 15-18, etc.). Include how we plan on using
Grant Number: 5GG17123 11
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
the accomplishments beyond the grant period and include pictures (before and after for
fuels reduction projects) and copies of materials published using grant funds.
This Project provided much needed capacity to Butte County stakeholders and supported
their efforts to complete and submit grant applications and secure funding for planning and
implementing forest health restoration activities, programs, and projects across the County.
Members of the Project Team conducted more than 100 meetings and calls with key
stakeholders to discuss their data and information needs, potential use cases for their
planning, restoration and recovery efforts, and the role of a Countywide collaborative in
Butte County. SRWP worked with members of the Project Team and CWPP Workgroup
and key stakeholders to establish the foundation (Countywide collaborative, planning tool,
and prioritization framework) for the development and formalization of the CWPP
Landscape Framework and Countywide Action Plan.
SRWP with support from 34 North, BCFSC, and BCRCD coordinated and facilitated 4
BCCG meetings in 2020 to provide updates on the Project and receive input and feedback
re aligning community identified needs with data, information, and mapping to cooperatively
plan and implement activities, programs and projects. The SRWP, BCFSC, and BCRCD are
working together to combine the efforts and members of the CWPP Workgroup and
Wildland Task Force into the BCCG to work systematically to organize and prioritize
projects across the landscape, seek agreement, and take action.
34 North with support from SRWP and members of the Project Team and CWPP
Workgroup developed a web-based Planning Tool within the SRWDP that includes:
a sub site with only Butte county data and information accessible for watershed
scale assessment and linking projects along county borders;
a comprehensive planning map library, data dashboards and accompanying
database to show where forest restoration activities are being conducted and
planned in the Sacramento River Watershed (SRW);
https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/maps/build-a-map
reporting templates to facilitate and support efforts to secure adequate long-term
funding and independent oversight for monitoring programs;
a platform that includes interactive maps, dashboards and web-pages to involve
stakeholders and facilitate regular communication;
consolidation of all project and treatment data (including CEQA) for northern
California that allows lead agencies to review and update this data and provide
updates to local, regional, state, and federal partners; and
a parcel tracker with the ability to add and remove parcels, configure and revise
Grant Number: 5GG17123 12
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
metadata and attributes and annotate with data and information.
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/maps/10473
Fuels Reduction and Forest Health multi-stakeholder Project Aggregation:
o Projects: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/projects/butte-county-projects
o Sample Planning and Project Area Profiles and Analysis for Local Fire Safe
Council Grant Writing:
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/projects/county-planning-areas
o Sample Planning Area: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/wiki/74
Data Directory and Interactive Map
Planning and Project Area Analysis
Grant Number: 5GG17123 13
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Parcel Project Tracker
34 North with support from the Project Team aggregated and processed all primary Highly
Valued Resource and Asset (HVRA) data and developed primary HVRA products and
multiple scales. 34 North with support from SRWP created and distributed a HVRA survey
to stakeholders including members of the CWPP workgroup/BCCG for a second iteration of
analysis and developed a comprehensive risk analysis for the county:
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/maps/8438
Wildfire HVRA Risk Survey and Assessment
Grant Number: 5GG17123 14
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
In addition to the scope of work described in the original agreement, 34 North with support
from members of the Project Team completed the following product enhancements and
tasks based on the needs of the community and stakeholder feedback:
Interactive CWPP: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/cwpp/community-wildfire-protection-plan
Interactive CWPP Map Story
Map Stories and County Additional Use of Platform:
Paradise Parks and Rec Fuels Buffer and Trail Story:
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/projects/10117
Parks and Rec Map Story to Promote Parks as Buffers
Grant Number: 5GG17123 15
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Map Stories and County Additional Use of Platform :
Vegetation Overview: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/wiki/vegetation
Tree Mortality View: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/wiki/tree-mortality
LIDAR Data Processing, Land Management Unit and Forest Structure (EcObject
Implementation): The contract asked that we host completed LiDAR data where available.
34 North tracked down LiDAR from USGS (pre and post camp fire) from a raw point cloud,
ran all processing, made available for use in a project area analysis, and set up forest
structure analysis tools. This includes extra data processing for post Camp Fire LiDAR.
LiDAR Forest Structure Analysis Tools
Grant Number: 5GG17123 16
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
Historic Fire conditions dashboard including analysis of are burned in WUI:
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/cwpp/historic-fire-conditions
https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/maps/11349
Data Analysis Tools:
1. Vegetation and Fire Return Interval Analysis Tool: Measure conditions for
vegetation,
2. Forest Activities Tool: CALFIRE THP by status, CALFIRE THO by Silviculture
treatments, THP by Landowners, THP by Year, Facts Fuel Treatments, Activity,
Treatment Type, Year
3. Project Area and WUI Analysis Reporting Tools: Queries project area to answer key
grant questions including: HVRA Risk, parcel analysis, vegetation type, FRID class,
fire hazard severity, ownership, responsibility and protection areas, parcels and
structure analysis including improvement values, general plan designations, valuable
assets, and projects in the AOI.
4. Priority Analysis Tool: Describes if project AOI qualifies as a state and federal
priority area.
5. Project management parcel database customized to incorporate PLSS, Zoning,
Vegetation, etc.
Additional Resources:
Preparing for wildfire resources: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/wiki/9205
Best available science repository: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/docs/publications
Collaborative support and workspace:
https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/asset_management/current-agenda-and-documents
County Data Product Examples:
WUI/USFS Prioritization: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/maps/9270
Biomass Assessment Data: https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/maps/9298
WUI Risk Assessment: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/bookmarks/11022
Fuels Modeling: IFTDSS 2019, ran again post camp fire
https://buttecounty.sacriver.org/maps/8166
Regional Treatment Map: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/bookmarks/9290
Land Management Units: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/maps/9617
Ingress/Egress: https://buttecounty.opennrm.org/maps/8037
34 North with support from the members of the Project Team conducted more than 30 in
person and remote workshops and training for Butte County stakeholders responsible
for managing forested lands in Butte County and will continue to work with stakeholders and
partners throughout the county and state to identify and secure funding and other
opportunities to provide additional support and training.
Grant Number: 5GG17123 17
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
California Climate Investments
Fire Prevention Grant Program Final Report
SRWP and 34 North met with SNC staff and members of a consultant team that is working
with the SNC to review the Tahoe-Central Sierra Initiative (TCSI) pilot project and identify
tools and lessons learned that could be applied in Butte County and other parts of the Sierra
and shared our experiences using data and decision support tools in a forest collaborative
setting. The consultant team will develop and recommend specific actions for the SNC to
increase the pace and scale of forest restoration, while promoting and advancing the values
and needs of collaborative decision-making bodies, such as the collaboratives associated
with the TCSI that will be extremely helpful in wildfire mitigation planning.
Working with the local FSCs, CALFIRE Butte Unit and RCD, we have created a
comprehensive countywide data picture for fuels reduction and forest restoration projects
and activities, an interactive CWPP and a regional baseline data and conditions workspace
for the newly formed BCCG. This Project has supported substantial grant writing programs
for the development of future biomass facilities, fuels reduction and forest restoration
activities as well as an innovative parks buffer plan in partnerships with the Town of
Paradise and the Paradise Recreation and Parks District and a recreational land swap for
the FAC of which SRWP is a member.
Wildfire Impact (i.e. was the grant/activity impacted by a wildfire in the immediate vicinity
(within 1 mile). If yes please email FPGrants@fire.ca.gov immediately.)
N/A
Grant Number: 5GG17123 18