USDA and After the Fire/Rebuild NorthBay Foundation and partners to leverage $4.9M in CA to implement land management practices

barren trees in a forest shot from a low perspectiveUSDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and After the Fire/Rebuild NorthBay Foundation in partnership with local governments, NRCS, CAL FIRE, Clear Lake Environmental Resource Center (CLERC), and Resource Conservation Districts (RCD) from Colusa, Mendocino, Napa, Solano, Lake and Yolo Counties are leveraging $4.9M in CA to implement land management practices which minimize wildfire impacts.

Our project, “Building Fire Resiliency in California’s Coast Range Forests and Grasslands”, will harness the power of partnership to help bring about solutions to wildfire impact on private lands and deploy this assistance needed to reduce fuel loads, improve forest and rangeland health, prevent soil erosion, and recover from wildfire damage - together.

A Coordinated Approach

“The Regional Conservation Partnership Program is public-private partnerships working at their best,” said NRCS Acting Chief Terry Cosby. “These new projects will harness the power of partnerships to help bring about solutions to natural resource concerns across the country while supporting our efforts to combat the climate crisis.”

Across America, producers are seeing the impacts from climate change. Farmers, landowners and local communities can be a major part of the effort to combat climate change.

Under the Biden Administration, USDA is engaged in a whole-of-government effort to combat the climate crisis and conserve and protect our nation’s lands, biodiversity and natural resources including our soil, air and water. Through conservation practices and partnerships, including those through RCPP, USDA aims to enhance economic growth and create new streams of income for farmers, ranchers, producers and private foresters. Successfully meeting these challenges will require USDA and our agencies to pursue a coordinated approach alongside USDA stakeholders, including state, local and Tribal governments through projects like this one.

About RCPP

Through RCPP, conservation partners work in collaboration with NRCS to help farmers, ranchers and forest landowners throughout the nation to implement systems that conserve water and soil resources, improve the health of wildlife habitats, and increase climate resilience.

RCPP partners offer value-added contributions to amplify the impact of RCPP funding. These projects offer impactful and measurable outcomes. Throughout its history, RCPP has leveraged partner contributions of more than $1 for every $1 invested by USDA, resulting in nearly $3 billion collectively invested in natural resource conservation on private lands. The Department anticipates the investments made today will generate at least $440 million in additional conservation funds by communities and other partners.

Click image for interactive map of NRCS Regional Conservation Projects - and find our project in CA