Within the scott river valley the california department of forestry and fire protection has identified the communities of fort jones, etna, and callahan, CA as being communities at high risk of damage…

This Cooperative Agreement award from the Department of the Interior Fish and Wildlife Service Region 8 under the National Fire Plan-Wildland Urban Interface Community Fire Assistance (CFDA 15.674) program provides $300,000 to the Lomakatsi Restoration Project, a non-profit organization, to conduct fuels reduction and habitat restoration activities on 300 acres of land adjacent to the communities of Fort Jones, Etna, and Callahan, California. Key project activities include removing or thinning conifer trees up to 12 inches in diameter that are encroaching on oak habitats, conducting prescribed underburns on up to 200 acres to restore habitat function and reduce fuels, and disposing of project-generated slash through hand-piling and burning or chipping. This work aims to make the lands surrounding these high-risk wildfire communities more resilient, while also conserving oak-associated bird habitats. The project will be implemented from September 1, 2023 through December 31, 2027.

Within the scott river valley the california department of forestry and fire protection has identified the communities of fort jones, etna, and callahan, CA as being communities at high risk of damage from wildfire on federal lands. Additionally, much of the private lands within and adjacent to these communities contain OAK habitats capable of supporting OAK associated birds of conservation concern including the OAK titmouse and white-breasted nuthatch. As such, the goals of the scott river valley OAK habitat fuels reduction and community protection project are to make lands adjacent to the communities of fort jones, etna, and callahan, CA, more resilient to wildfire while concurrently restoring and conserving habitat for OAK associated birds. To achieve these goals, this project will remove or thin conifers that are increasing fuel loads and degrading OAK habitat function between these communities and adjacent federal lands. Specifically, conifers up to 12 inches in diameter that are encroaching upon OAK habitats will be removed or thinned on 300 acres. Project generated slash will be piled by hand and burned or chipped. Up to 200 acres of OAK habitats will also be treated with prescribed underburns. Underburn acres will include approximately 50 to 100 acres of the 300 acres treated for conifer encroachment as part of this project as well as 50 to 100 acres of previously thinned areas or areas only needing fire to restore their habitat function and reduce fuels. The project consists of three treatment areas (north valley, etna, and south valley), all of which occur in the wildland urban interface between neighboring federal lands and the communities of fort jones, etna, and callahan, CA.