Cherry Creek Forest Resilience Project
Project Overview
Basics
Cherry Creek Forest Resilience Project
- Address Climate Change and Extreme Event Effects, Impacts and Vulnerabilities
- Conserve, Enhance and Restore Watersheds and Ecosystems that Support Biological Diversity
- Develop, Collect and Analyze Data at a Variety of Spatial Scales to Inform Priority Projects/Actions
- Integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge in Collaboration with Tribes
NCRP RFFC Technical Assistance (DOC)
Planning/Design
We are seeking to develop a forest resiliency project description/design for the community to enhance local capacity for individual & group collaborative implementation project planning and to increase capacity for project funding. An RPF will collect & analyze existing data to determine conditions in our forest/watershed & recommend treatment & priorities to restore forest resiliency, increase creek flow, enhance biodiversity & protect the community from high-intensity wildfire. We plan to apply for the next available Cal Fire grant. To prepare for that grant application, we need to first craft a project description, get landowners on board & prioritize project areas and treatment types.
2025
2025
2026
6/2/2025
Project Attributes
General Information
Project Description Narrative (1,000 character limit)
We are seeking technical assistance to develop a project description/design for our 6,600-acre heavily forested landscape to inform and assist the development of landscape-scale implementation projects, with community collaboration, and increase capacity to obtain project funding, intended to reduce high-intensity wildfire risk while promoting forest and watershed health and biodiversity. The RPF will use GIS tools (LIDAR, aerial & satellite photos, digital surface, slope & soil type data maps) to evaluate erosion and fire risk, forest/watershed health, & species habitat & biodiversity and will recommend strategies & treatments to increase forest resiliency to fire & pests, enhance watershed health and increase community fire safety, through fuels reduction, fuel breaks, removal of highly flammable invasive species, and through controlled burning. The completed project description/design will also provide a valuable tool to educate the community on the need for landscape stewardship.
Solutions
Capacity - Technical Assistance, Ecosystem Conservation and Restoration - Conservation Planning, Fire Resilient Forests - Fuel Management
Spatial Information
Tribal Region
None
Project Size (Acres)
6600
acres
Location
Cherry Creek Ranches incorporates the entire watershed for Cherry Creek, a blueline creek and tributary of Outlet Creek and the Eel River.
Organizations
| Contract Manager | |
| Funder | |
| Partners | |
| Project Sponsor | |
| Local and/or Political Support | Mendocino County Supervisors - John Haschak |
Contacts
| Contact | |
|---|---|
| Additional Representative |
|
| Authorized Contact |
|
Project Benefit Performance Measures
Expected Project Benefit Performance Measures
| Capacity Enhancement - # of projects | 1 count | |
| Capacity Enhancement - Type(s) of CE | Type: Planning | 1 |
| Capacity Enhancement - Type(s) of CE | Type: Technical Assistance | 1 |
| Community Health and Safety - # of projects | Project type: Other | 1 count |
| Education & Outreach - # of events | 3 | |
| Grant applications submitted - # of proposals | 2 | |
| Jobs created or retained (FTE) | 0.1 | |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Grant applications | 2 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Project Design | 2 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Plan development | 2 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: GIS/mapping | 1 |
| Technical Assistance - Type(s) of TA | Type of Technical Assistance: Assessments/ Appraisals/ Reports | 1 |
Reported Project Benefit Performance Measures
Reported Project Benefit Performance Measures are not relevant for Projects in the Planning/Design stage.
Financials
Budget
| Comment: | None provided |
|---|
Reported Expenditures
No Expenditures have been reported for this Project.
| Note: | n/a - proposal stage |
|---|
Project Types
Project Types
The Forest Health Action Plan will include scientifically collected and analyzed data by an RPF on the natural environment of Cherry Creek Ranches, including forest & watershed health, wildfire behavior, indigenous and invasive species, proven treatment recommendations and priorities, as well as monitoring methods for evaluating results, which will increase community knowledge of our environment and inform effective and successful implementation projects.
The Forest Health Action Plan will be developed in collaboration with Cherry Creek Ranches community members and regional organizations such as the Long Valley Fire Protection District, CAL--FIRE and others, to advance community understanding, capacity, and involvement in planning and prioritizing forest health improvement projects that address needs identified in the Action Plan to improve forest and watershed health and resiliency, and to reduce wildfire risk in the community.
The Forest Health Action Plan will provide technical support to enhance local capacity for individual and group collaborative project planning and implementation of recommended forest health and watershed improvements, and to increase capacity for project funding from sources such as EQUIP and CFIP grants or larger grants from CAL-FIRE (CCI) or CA Wildlife Conservation Board, and other well-funded organizations.
The Action Plan's goal of building capacity to identify and implement forest health projects will benefit the local work force by providing landscape wide related jobs which will support the local economy.
The Action Plan will require community outreach and education and will provide a source of information on forest health and land stewardship that can be shared in many different ways, including community events, among the larger Mendocino County community.
A main goal of the Forest Health Action Plan will be to evaluate and facilitate understanding of the current state of forest vulnerability to wildfire, as well as to recommend ways to mitigate risk and improve resiliency within our community. The Action Plan will include information on beneficial fire and wildfire risk mitigation, forest and grassland management and resiliency, forest biomass use, stream flow enhancement and sediment reduction, and the importance of native species habitat versus detrimental invasive species.
The Action Plan will enhance and support fire-preparedness work that our Firewise Community is already engaged in, while also educating the community about wildfire risks, topographical wildfire behavior in our community, fire mitigation strategies, and by incentivizing the creation of additional projects to protect the community through home hardening, projects to maintain or improve evacuation routes, forest fuel reduction, projects, and creation of shaded fuel breaks.
The eventual vegetation treatments recommended in the project description/design will improve safe ingress/egress to the residences in the project watershed for both fire department personnel and residents, as well as their access and use of designated emergency escape routes, all of which will serve to protect lives and residences.
The Action Plan will identify sedimentation and stream flow issues and causes within our community's creeks and will recommend mitigation strategies to address these in order to support a healthy environment for native fish and other native aquatic species. It will recommend methods of reducing overstocked forests in order to recharge ground water, increase stream flow, and restore forest health. The Action Plan will also identify oak woodlands in which encroachment of firs have occurred and need removal. Native species habitat improvements and removal of invasive species will be addressed.
The Action Plan will recommend thinning overstocked forests and creating shaded fuel and fire breaks to decrease the chance and negative effects of catastrophic wildfire on the environment and climate. Action Plan recommendations that promote native perennial grasses for erosion control and meadow restoration will also increase long-term carbon storage in the soil within their underground, fire-resilient roots. Action Plan strategies to preserve and promote the health of oak woodlands also increase their ability to withstand climate-caused drought and fire damage.
Project Details
Attachments
NCPR MOMU
- Uploaded On
- 2/21/2025
- File Type
- Description
- Signed MOMU
No attachments
No attachments
Supplemental Documents
- Uploaded On
- 5/28/2025
- File Type
- Description
- Cover Page, Certification of Authority, Supplemental Questions, and Organizational Statement of Qualifications
No attachments
Notes
No Notes entered.
External Links
No External Links entered.