To: Board of Directors of Ag + Open Space
Department or Agency Name(s): Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District
Staff Name and Phone Number: Kim Batchelder, 565-7355
Vote Requirement: Majority
Supervisorial District(s): Fourth, Fifth
Title:
Title
Southern Russian River Watershed and Forest Health Project Agreement
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Recommended Action:
Recommended action
Authorize the General Manager of the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District to execute an 18-month grant implementation agreement with Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District for grant management, technical assistance, and capacity building in Russian River Watershed totaling $268,250.00, effective from August 23, 2023 and ending June 30, 2025. This agreement is being funded by a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant and will support technical assistance and capacity building to improve forest and watershed health, wildfire resilient lands and communities, prevention of soil erosion throughout the Southern Russian River watershed and leverage the funding from the PG&E Settlement Fund. (Fourth and Fifth District)
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Executive Summary:
On June 12, 2023, the Board authorized the General Manager to enter into a Grant Agreement with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) for $353,173.79 to support capacity building and technical assistance to landowners, community organizations and resource managers. The Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District (Ag + Open Space) has prepared a professional service agreement with Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (RCD) to implement the Southern Russian River Watershed Conservation and Forest Wildfire Resilience Project. This agreement will enable RCD staff to coordinate technical workshops and provide direct technical assistance to landowners and communities to improve forest health, reduce soil erosion, enhance wildfire resilience and carbon sequestration across a variety of habitat types and landscapes.
Discussion:
National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant
In May 2023, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) awarded $353,173.79 to Ag + Open Space to fund the Southern Russian River Watershed Conservation and Forest Wildfire Resilience Project. This grant funding will help develop a technical assistance program for farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners in the Russian River watersheds in a variety of technical areas including: vegetation management, wildfire resilience, soil erosion prevention, watershed health and carbon sequestration. Ag + Open Space, in partnership with Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District (RCD) and other local organizations as discussed below, will provide technical assistance to landowners in the Russian River watershed to support their voluntary adoption of conservation practices. Technical assistance services will lead to improvements in wildfire resilience, reduce soil erosion and protect soils, store and mitigate the loss of carbon embedded in forestland resources, and protect and enhance watershed health. Partners will provide specialized training to natural resource professionals, hand crews and fire crews, resulting in safer and more effective implementation of conservation practices.
Participants in workshops will be introduced to a wide range of fuel treatments like shaded fuel breaks, prescribed fire, prescribed grazing, defensible space and wildland treatments. Forest thinning and invasive plant removal, mastication and chipping, and the proper use of tools and safety equipment will provide landowners, crews, students, resource managers with a comprehensive approach to reducing the threat of wildfires while improving the health of forested landscapes and ecosystem services.
The NFWF’s California Forest: Headwater Resilience 2022 grant program specified that the geographic location of the grant activities must be within the Russian River watersheds. The aim of this grant was to be technical assistance to landowners. This grant provided an excellent opportunity to support additional capacity building in the areas where the Vegetation Management Grant Program (VMGP) was actively supporting communities to address fuel loads and collaboration to support landscape-scale fuel management efforts within the Russian River corridor. Currently, the VMGP has funded 20 projects within the Russian River and an additional six grants are proposed within the southern portion of the Russian River.
Through technical assistance, landowner coordination and workforce training, the proposed project will support land managers in addressing a wide variety of natural resource concerns related to wildfire fuels management and forest health (including improving forest stand structure, assessing forest disease and pathogens, controlling invasive species, reducing fire hazard, identifying hazard trees, enhancing ecosystem services, and developing holistic management plans), soil and watershed protection (including post-fire erosion control, arresting stream incision, controlling erosion and sediment to reduce flow impairment, and implementing agricultural soil conservation practices such as cover cropping, non-tillage cultivation, wind/hedgerow planting, and other soil carbon-beneficial farming), and carbon sequestration (e.g. reducing fuel loads and protecting forest stands with shaded fuel breaks will reduce the chance of high-mortality forest crown fires and will retain carbon in forest vegetation and forest soils).
The project will protect resources in key salmonid restoration watersheds including, Dutch Bill Creek, Green Valley Creek, Mark West Creek, Dry Creek, Austin Creek, Maacama Creek, and Guerneville North watersheds. The success of the project will be assessed by the number of people reached with technical assistance activities, such as technical site visits, incentives application assistance, project development, educational field tours, presentations and workshops.
The grant proposal identified Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District as a project partner to provide technical assistance and grant management including subcontracting and working with the other identified project partners: Sonoma Resource Conservation District, Sonoma Ecology Center, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, and Fire Forward. Gold Ridge RCD was selected as a single-source implementation partner to complete this work due to its unique familiarity with all the contractors and consultants defined in this grant proposal. Each of the above listed project partners bring expertise and local knowledge to support the wide variety of subject areas and best management practices to pass along to local landowners throughout the Russian River watershed. Specifically, the RCD has worked closely with Occidental Arts and Ecology Center staff to promote watershed restoration workshops and prescribed grazing. The RCD is working with Audubon Canyon Ranch / Fire Forward to provide landowners to use prescribed fire to reduce fuel loads within the Russian River corridor. Green Valley Farm and Mill is hosting workshops on wood utilization and forest thinning in collaboration with RCD staff and will be contracted directly by Ag + Open Space under a separate agreement. And the RCD has organized, managed and facilitated the Sonoma County Forest Conservation Working Group - including the recently successful Living with Fire: Sonoma County Forest Conservation Conference in June 2023. This agreement utilizes the RCD’s strong technical team and sound administrative practices to be able to implement these workshops and technical assistance in a practical, landowner-friendly and professional manner.
Under the Agreement, the RCD will plan, coordinate and implement a series of technical workshops for landowners, resource managers and community members in high fire risk areas and provide direct technical assistance in strategically important areas within the Southern Russian River Watershed for a not to exceed amount of $268,250.00, with all funding coming from the NFWF grant.
The NFWF grant agreement requires a 1:1 match which will be drawn from the PG&E Settlement funds for capacity building and technical assistance funding approved by the Board on January 10, 2023. Ag + Open Space has developed a Memorandum of Understanding to leverage the PG&E Settlement funds to support community organizations in high fire risk areas to address fuel management and reduce the threat of wildfire.
Strategic Plan:
The National Fish and Wildlife grant will help the County and its many partners to offer more training opportunities for landowners and engage more communities in wildfire resilience planning and strategies. This grant application was successful largely because of the prospect for leveraging the PG&E Settlement Fund for capacity building efforts with communities across the county.
This item directly supports the County’s Five-year Strategic Plan and is aligned with the following pillar, goal, and objective.
Pillar: Climate Action and Resiliency
Goal: Goal 1: Continue to invest in wildfire preparedness and resiliency strategies
Objective: Objective 3: Leverage grant funding to support sustainable vegetation management program.
Prior Board Actions:
January 10, 2023 - The Board of Supervisors approved a Budget Resolution to invest up to $600,000 of the PG&E Settlement Funds for capacity building through a series of workshops, webinars, field events to community organizations and resource managers and landowners.
June 12, 2023 - Board of Directors authorized General Manager to enter into Grant Agreement with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for a grant of $353,173.79 to be matched with $353,174.00 of PG&E Settlement Funds.
Fiscal Summary
|
Expenditures |
FY 23-24 Adopted |
FY 24-25 Projected |
FY 25-26 Projected |
|
Budgeted Expenses |
$143,250.00 |
125,000.00 |
|
|
Additional Appropriation Requested |
|
|
|
|
Total Expenditures |
$143,250.00 |
$125,000.00 |
|
|
Funding Sources |
|
|
|
|
General Fund/WA GF |
|
|
|
|
State/Federal - Natural Resources Conservation Service |
$143,250.00 |
$125,000.00 |
|
|
Fees/Other - PGE Settlement Fund |
|
|
|
|
Use of Fund Balance |
|
|
|
|
Contingencies |
|
|
|
|
Total Sources |
$143,250.00 |
$125,000.00 |
|
Narrative Explanation of Fiscal Impacts:
On January 10, 2023, the Board approved $600,000 of PG&E Settlement funds for capacity building and technical assistance to communities so that future proposals for funding with the Vegetation Management Grant Program and other funding sources would be more technically sound and addressed the threat of wildfire in high fire risk areas. On June 12, 2023, The Board authorized the General Manager for Ag + Open Space to enter into a grant agreement with National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for $353,173.79 to provide technical assistance and capacity building to landowners and communities within the Southern Russian River watershed.
Narrative Explanation of Staffing Impacts (If Required):
None
Attachments:
1) Agreement with Gold Ridge Resource Conservation District
2) National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Grant Agreement
Related Items “On File” with the Clerk of the Board:
None