Butte County Resource Conservation District

Chico State Herbarium is hosting a virtual presentation this Thursday evening on gardening and landscaping in fire-prone areas.

Good Fire Helps Control the #ParkFire -- When wildfire broke out in Upper Bidwell Park Thursday night, the triple-digit temperatures and bone-dry humidity had most of us at least a bit worried. But we in Chico breathed easier knowing a 50+ acre patch of black was sitting right between the fire and Chico's eastern neighborhoods. Those black acres were thanks to a prescribed burn done on May 17th by Chico Fire Department (pictured), in league with the City of Chico - Parks Di...vision and land stewards from Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve. Special thanks go to Deer Creek Resources and friends for the burn planning that made that burn run so smoothly. BCRCD was proud to play a teensy role by helping to develop the programmatic EIR that reduced planning time for that burn from the usual months or years to literally days. Here's to many, many more good burns in the Park in the future that will also be streamlined under that EIR. The City's May 17th prescribed fire burned east to Horseshoe Lake. From what I hear, the Park Fire burned west to ...Horseshoe Lake. Having nice deep black on the Park Fire's western line likely freed up resources that could be moved sooner toward #Cohasset and Forest Ranch, saving time and keeping everybody safer. As I write this, the Park Fire is being mopped-up at 600 acres. Based on reports about the moderate rate of spread, there's a strong chance this fire did lots of good in the native oak woodland. I hear people online grieving the "loss" of 600 acres. Actually, those 600 acres are still here.... but not only that: when the next big fire comes we may find reason to rejoice those 600 acres were already *found* by fire. If you're like me, you cannot wait to get out into that burn "scar" and see the fire effects! #GoodFire #blueoakwoodland #upperpark #bidwellpark #MechoopdaTerritory

Mark your calendars for COHASSET DAY, July 7th! From 6-7:30 pm at the Community Center, join the Fire Safe Council for a celebration of all the work and forest thinning that has taken place in Cohasset this year. BCRCD will be there too, sharing info about the #buttePBA and how you can put #goodfire on your land. Learn what permits you'll need for your specific situation, ask CAL FIRE anything, and most importantly, meet your fellow Cohasset Ridge fire enthusiasts who will show up with pitchforks when you need 'em. You're not alone or helpless, and you don't have to sit and wait for fire to come to you: Together, let's take control of fire as a community!

To assist landowners in reforesting their land after the devastating #CampFire and #NorthComplexFire, Kimberly Romero, our lovely AmeriCorps member, has been giving native plant saplings to folks throughout the community. However, this would not be possible without generous donations. The most common question Kimberly receives is if there are any dogwood or pine species available? Unfortunately, Kimberly has the hard job of informing them that we do not. To ensure that these fire-stricken communities have the opportunity to replace cherished trees such as dogwood and pines in the future, please join us by donating to the BCRCD Tree Planting Fund. https://www.nvcf.org//Butte-County-Resource-Conservation-D

#CampFire survivors, come get free trees! In partnership with American Forests and The Camp Fire Restoration Project, we will give away native hardwoods that need to be planted in fall: oaks, redbud, dogwood, juneberry, hollyleaf cherry, and elderberry. We'll help you pick the trees that are right for your property. You must sign up in advance (see link) for a pickup slot. Hours are Sat. Nov 7th, 1-5 and Sun., Nov 8th, 9-1, at the #Paradise Grange. #buttestrong #paradisestrong https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0d49a4a62ca1fcc34-oakand

TODAY at noon, Wolfy will be talking about bringing good fire onto your farm or ranch, and local hero Farmer Cheetah will be talking about using fungi for post-fire regeneration. There will also be a speaker from Sonoma County about tribal burning expertise. Sorry for the super late notice, join us if you can! https://eco-farm.org//holistic-perspectives-farm-scale-fir

BCRCD is featured in this nice article about prescribed burn associations. Thanks, Sierra Club Magazine! https://www.sierraclub.org//prescribed-burn-associations-a

Great article in this season's American Forests magazine about how the RCD, the U.S. Forest Service-Plumas National Forest, the Bureau of Land Management - California, and Butte County forest landowners are envisioning a new, climate-resilient forest in the Camp Fire burn scar. The work we've done together over the past two years holds promise for resilient restoration in the #Bearfire footprint too. https://www.americanforests.org//arti/replanting-paradise/

The effects of smoke and ash on plants outside the fire is a mixed bag. On one hand, plants reduce their photosysnthesis so much they can go almost dormant, a form of self-defense. Depending on timing, this might mean the plant misses completing its reproductive cycle that year. On the other hand, the cooler temps and overcast help reduce overall water stress, and the fine rain of ash itself is very rich in nutrients. After the first rain (or if you've been overhead-watering your garden) you may see a flush of super vigorous growth. Could ash drift from forest fires significantly improve soil fertility in non-burned areas over time? https://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/glad/amoke-ash-plants

SOME GOOD NEWS: We just learned 2 of our grants were successful through the Wildlife Conservation Board's Forest Conservation Program. That means just over $1.6 million will be coming to Butte County for new forest health projects. With this money, we will help our Federal partners complete NEPA-CEQA on landscape-scale #foresthealth thinning, #goodfire, and meadow improvement projects across over 17,000 acres of high-priority lands. This will be an unprecedented new scale of... #sharedstewardship for us. Read on for details! 1.) Upper Butte Creek Forest Health Initiative: Near Jonesville, we'll help complete NEPA-CEQA on about 15,800 acres designated as a high priority by the Almanor Ranger District of the Lassen National Forest. These lands include the headwaters of #ButteCreek and much of this area has not burned in 100 years. RCD and USFS share a vision for this area that includes integrating traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) into forest health treatments, improving climate resilience for species at risk like aspen and the Cascades frog, better wildfire safety for the communities of Jonesville and Butte Meadows, and many miles of great new trails for hiking, biking and more. WCB tells us this work can start fall 2021. 2.) Concow Pyrodiversity Project: Around Concow and Pulga, we will be able to help the USFS and CAL FIRE/Butte County fuels managers get up to 1500 priority acres shovel-ready for restoring a more resilient vegetation community and a healthier fire regime. This good fire planning project is in coordination with Sierra Pacific Industries. This work can start December 2020. Thank you to everyone who wrote letters of support and provided helpful feedback as we developed these projects. And a BIG thank you to California Department of Conservation for funding the work that made this possible. We can't wait to continue working with you to bring our forests and meadows back into balance. Butte County Fire Safe Council American Forests Sierra Forest Legacy Point Blue Conservation Science Butte County Administration Butte Meadows Hillsliders Snowmobile Club Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, and Jonesville Cabin Owners Association.