Conservation districts (CD) like Skagit and San Juan Islands CD in Washington State are partnering with local, state and federal agencies to update decades-old Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP).
The U.S. Forest Service has guidelines for updating CWPPs, but the process is left up to the local groups coordinating the effort. That can present both opportunities and challenges.
The Skagit CD developed the first county-wide CWPP in 2008 alongside Skagit County, as they updated their Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan (NHMP), relying on community members, the county Department of Emergency Management, county officials, and state and federal staff as partners.
In 2019, the county was updating its plan and requested the conservation district do the same, with the idea that the CWPP would become the wildfire section of the NHMP. However, it proved a challenge, said Skagit Conservation District Community Wildfire Resilience Coordinator Jenny Coe.
“There were a lot of lessons learned,” Coe said.
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SPECIAL REPORT: WOODLAND POLLINATORS |
While honeybees account for approximately 75 percent of crop plant pollination and many tree species count on wind pollination, several other animals and insects help pollinate grasslands and forests, including birds, bats and other mammals, lizards, flies, moths, butterflies and beetles, and more than 4,000 native species of bees in the U.S., like mason, sweat and carpenter bees.
This is why conservation districts like the ones below are beginning to explore management plans that incorporate woodland pollinator habitat:
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NACD FORESTRY RPG WEBINAR SERIES NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE |
The NACD Forestry Resource Policy Group (RPG) hosted a series of seven Zoom discussions on Tuesday, Aug. 11.
Each 50-minute session covered a different topic relevant to conservation district forestry professionals. An archive of all seven webinars is now available on NACD's website.
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California
RCD awaits cooler temperatures to resume reforestation efforts
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The Butte County Resource Conservation District (RCD)'s Forest Health Watershed Coordinator Wolfy Rougle has helped coordinate replanting projects on lands ravaged by the 2018 Camp Fire, with help from a $230,000 grant from the California State Department of Conservation. Most of the projects took place in the spring, when she coordinated events as part of handling the Butte County Forest Health Plan.
Currently, while the weather is hot and dry, replanting must wait until cooler temperatures return, and the soil on forest land is more amenable to growth.
Thankfully, lands are recovering well in the burn scar area, Rougle said. But there is still much work to be done.
“To be resilient, California has never been just a natural, hands-off landscape,” Rougle told the Enterprise-Record. She emphasized the use of old methods like using “good” fire to burn off grass, along with grazing and clearing where needed, which will require help from private landowners. |
Michigan
District organizes virtual Conservation Week
The Chippewa Luce Mackinac Conservation District is planning a virtual Conservation Week from Sept. 14–18.
Conservation district staff are offering a variety of topics for the virtual event, including forestry, agriculture, erosion, invasive species, recreation, technology, native plants and more. Videos will be posted multiple times per day during the week. |
Add your conservation district's tree sale, state association meeting, field day or celebration to NACD's calendar!
Click the button above to submit an event. Events will be reviewed by the website administrator and published to NACD's online calendar when approved. |
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