Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency - Technical Assistance for Project Development
Project Overview
Basics
Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency - Technical Assistance for Project Development
- Address Climate Change and Extreme Event Effects, Impacts and Vulnerabilities
- Engage with Regional Partners to Inform High Quality Planning and Implementation
- Ensure that Disadvantaged and Underrepresented Communities Benefit from Initiatives
- Respect Local Autonomy and Local Knowledge in NCRP Planning and Implementation
- Work across Jurisdictional Boundaries to Achieve Common Objectives Effectively and Efficiently
NCRP RFFC Technical Assistance (DOC)
Completed
The Spy Rock community sits on some of the steepest and most erodable soils in the world, surrounded by thousands of acres of over-stocked forests and underbrush. We intend to use Technical Assistance funding to further project planning on 1000+ private acres to remove ladder fuels then increase ground absorption, catchment of fines and slowing of erosion through calculated re-use of that ladder fuels woody biomass in drainage outlets and direct burial. This work is intended to slow the hydrologic cycle back down, allowing the earth to heal and improving climate resilience in this hard-to-reach watershed that delivers to the Mainstem Eel River.
2023
2023
2024
3/21/2025
Project Attributes
General Information
Project Description Narrative (1,000 character limit)
The Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency project needs technical assistance to develop hydrologic and forestry planning on 1000+ acres of private land within the Spy Rock Community, to reduce ladder fuels and remove encroaching and diseased Douglas Firs from Oak Woodlands and overstocked fir forestlands. Calculated placement of fresh woody biomass will be used to slow erosion and prevent sediment delivering in high-elevation watershed gullies, fixing hydrologic connectivity for drainage of the single road leading in and out. Biomass will also be used subsurface or as biochar to increase absorption of soils before storm waters reach drainages, further capturing carbon and reducing erosion while increasing groundwater. Our work will endeavor to slow the hydrologic cycle while preventing hundreds of cubic yards of clay silts currently entering the Eel River. Proscribed burning over time, with native resources will help maintain advances made by the project.
Solutions
Capacity - Data and Planning, Capacity - Technical Assistance, Climate Action - Adaptation, Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration - Water, Fire Resilient Forests - Fuel Management
Spatial Information
Tribal Region
None
Project Size (Acres)
1000
acres
Location
Point plotted is roughly in the middle of the Spy Rock Community
Organizations
| Contract Manager | |
| Funder | |
| Project Sponsor | |
| Local and/or Political Support | Spy Rock Ready Fire Safe Council, Simmery Ranch Road Assocition, members from the Iron Peak Road Association, JackJ |
Contacts
Heidi Wordhouse - Ethos Environmental (Ethos Environmental) (heidi@ethosenvironmental.org)
| Contact | |
|---|---|
| Authorized Contact |
|
Project Benefit Performance Measures
Expected Project Benefit Performance Measures
| Capacity Enhancement - # of projects | 1 count | |
| Capacity Enhancement - Type(s) of CE | Type: Technical Assistance | 1 |
| Capacity Enhancement - Type(s) of CE | Type: Planning | 1 |
| Environmental justice and social equity - # of projects | Activity focus: Capacity building | 1 count |
| Jobs created or retained (FTE) | 0.1 | |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Assessments/ Appraisals/ Reports | 1 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Plan development | 1 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Organizational development/strategic planning | 1 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Project Design | 1 |
Reported Project Benefit Performance Measures
| Capacity Enhancement - # of projects | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Units | |
| 1 | count | |
| Total | 1 | count |
| Capacity Enhancement - Type(s) of CE | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type | 2024 | Units |
| Planning | 1 | number |
| Technical Assistance | 1 | number |
| Total | 2 | number |
| Environmental justice and social equity - # of projects | ||
|---|---|---|
| Activity focus | 2024 | Units |
| Capacity building | 1 | count |
| Total | 1 | count |
| Grant applications submitted - # of proposals | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Units | |
| 4 | number | |
| Total | 4 | number |
| Grants received - dollar amount awarded | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Units | |
| $1,269,024 | ||
| Total | $1,269,024 | |
| Jobs created or retained (FTE) | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Units | |
| 0.1 | number | |
| Total | 0.1 | number |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | ||
|---|---|---|
| Type of Technical Assistance | 2024 | Units |
| Assessments/ Appraisals/ Reports | 1 | number |
| Grant applications | 4 | number |
| Plan development | 1 | number |
| Project Design | 1 | number |
| Total | 7 | number |
Financials
Budget
| Comment: | None provided |
|---|
Reported Expenditures
| 2023 | 2024 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| NCRP Technical Assistance (CA Dept of Conservation) | $0.00 | $15,000.00 | $15,000.00 |
| Grand Total | $0.00 | $15,000.00 | $15,000.00 |
| Note: | None provided |
|---|
Project Types
Project Types
Geospatial forest and lidar data will be used to understand fuel loads, hydrologic issues and high priority forest zones. Gullies and ecosystems enhancement areas will be mapped relative to significance and proximity to ladder fuels. Monitoring points, criteria, and photo documentation will be used to collect data. Monitoring and reporting of forest health parameters and restoration success will be used to enhance community knowledge and provide feedback for adaptive management. Later stages of the project may include modeling of the hydrologic cycle as it relates to forest health.
This technical assistance bolsters the collaborative efforts of Spy Rock Ready Fire Safe Council and Iron Peak Fire Safe Council members working together with Ethos Environmental to add local sustainable resiliance to the Spy Rock Community. The technical assistance providers will be collaborating with representatives from all three entities to identify ladder fuels for removal as well as dangerously eroded areas of the watershed for rehabilitation using that biomass and develop a plan with stakeholder input.
This technical assistance strongly supports several nonprofit and ecological professionals by not only funding part of their Forest Health prep work, but also giving the goal Forest Health grant a stronger basis in proven scientific principles and modern environmental understandings. This stronger basis is likely to result in stronger work done within the Eel River watershed and therefore more opportunity for organizations to continue their efforts in future.
This technical assistance grant will not only economically help the chosen consultant, but also the supporting consultants who are helping develop the forest health grant, some of which are local or woman-owned, including Ethos Environmental, Ridge to River and Village Eco-systems, and Spy Rock Ready Fire Save Council amongst others.
Forest health is improved with projects like that that mitigate fire risk by reducing fuels through thinning, cutting ladder fuels, using fire as a tool to further reduce fuels. Fire can also be used to create biochar with various onsite methods, such as terra preta, and jack pot burns, that allow burn piles to smolder, creating a soil additive that sequester carbons and and cycled nutrients back into the ecosystem. The forest as a whole benefits with biomass is re-used and ecological restoration is integrated into the project. When the hydrologic cycle is restored (slowed), then groundwater
This technical assistance will increase community health and safety by identifying and creating a plan to remove ladderfuels in an as-yet-unburnt remote area of Mendocino county. The resultant project will act as a demonstration for surrounding households so the fuel break becomes even wider, protecting not only the community, but also fire fighters by creating safer zones from which to work in the event of another wild fire.
For this project to fully come to fruition, it will be important to secure funding for road repairs and upgrades. This will include both hydrologic connectivity and gully repair, as well as culvert replacement. For example, rusted and undersized culverts would be replaced so they don’t wash out, and plastic culverts would be replaced so that they don’t melt. This will increase safety, road access, and also have ecological benefits of reduced sediment. Ethos is open to concurrently apply for watershed grants if this doesn’t fit under Forest Health.
Climate change exhibited by prolonged droughts followed by the devastating rain and snow storms of winter 2022-23 created massive water events deeply eroding drainage pathways, carrying demonstrable tons of clay silt and debris into the Eel river. This Technical Assistance will specifically identify locations to best slow down the hydrologic cycle, allowing the earth to heal, thereby improving climate resiliency
This technical assistance would create a map and plan for mitigating the effects of climate change caused significant storm water damage and how that erosion can be resolved through the application of ladder fuel biomass (recycling!)
Project Details
Attachments
TA Project Development for Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency Application Supplement Form
- Uploaded On
- 10/31/2023
- File Type
- Word (DOCX)
- Description
- Containing the Application Supplement forms including Certification of Authority, Organization Statement of qualifications, Supplemental forms for Ethos Environmental's TA application for the Spy Rock/ Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency Application.
Ethos Certificate of Authority for TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency
- Uploaded On
- 10/31/2023
- File Type
- Description
- Certificate of Authority for Ethos Environmental's TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency request
Ethos' Organization Statement of qualifications for TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency project
- Uploaded On
- 10/31/2023
- File Type
- Description
- Ethos' Organization Statement of qualifications for TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency project
Ethos' Supplemental Solicitation documents for TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency project
- Uploaded On
- 10/31/2023
- File Type
- Description
- Ethos' Supplemental Solicitation documents for TA Spy Rock/Eel River Watershed Forest Resiliency project
Forestry Report
- Uploaded On
- 5/6/2024
- File Type
- Description
Notes
No Notes entered.