Building a new fire policy (and budgets) in California

On January 8, Governor Newsom’s Forest Management Task Force released a Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan outlining actions the state will pursue to improve landscape resilience to wildfire and enhance communities’ preparedness for inevitable fires. PFT has been a key part of the Task Force since the beginning, advocating a holistic approach to managing fire and proposing a dramatically increased proactive use of “good” prescribed and managed fire. Our goal is to align fire management actions with those for climate, water, and biodiversity. We are pleased to see these prominently in the final plan, as well as the emphasis on additional regional planning and improved coordination of forest conservation programs. With the Resilient Forest Coalition, we’ve advocated for major increases in funding (see 11.18.20 letter & 12.16.20 letter). We’re optimistic that this Plan will amount to more than ‘just another plan’ because it was announced in tandem with a $1 billion state funding proposal from the Governor. We are advocating that at least $323 million will be distributed before the 2021 fire season, with the remainder following in July. Watch for future Flashes to learn more about this significant opportunity! More info…

Growing the Leadership Cohort at PFT

PFT is delighted to welcome Kaarsten Turner as our new Vice President for Conservation and Stewardship. Kaarsten has spent over 20 years working in the fields of forest investment, stewardship and management. She has a background in both forestry and business, and, working with The Forestland Group, she catalyzed, led and managed the conservation of millions of acres of TFG lands. A native of California, with roots in Siskiyou County, Kaarsten has worked in forests throughout the US, as well as internationally, assessing them for their conservation values from wildlife habitat to water services to climate and carbon values.

“I am delighted to be joining the Pacific Forest Trust, which I have known and admired for some 20 years! PFT’s innovative approaches to conserving working forestlands, managing them for all forest values, and bringing landowners new incentives and financial return for doing so are what we need to ensure future generations can rely on and enjoy forests even as we do today. My own experiences in developing conservation easements and carbon projects for a major forest investment firm brings valuable insight and capacity to advance the next phase of PFT’s work.” — Kaarsten Turner

PFT’s PET Projects to Restore Forest Diversity

PFT has some new PETS! That is, Potentially Elite Trees. A concept advanced by Dr. Steve Sillett of Humboldt State University, these trees fundamentally underpin the rich biodiversity characteristic of our old and old-growth forests. Potentially Elite Trees develop complex structures that can support upper canopy communities of ferns, flowering plants, and animals more rapidly than their surrounding trees. They fuel the biodiversity of the forest and are critical for increasing forest water stores as well as overall forest productivity. The Polypodium scouleri (commonly known as the leatherleaf fern—see Forest Flash December 2020) fern mats which they host hold massive amounts of water which then recirculate in the forest, much as what occurs in many moist tropical forests.

While most of the forests that PFT manages are considered old in human terms, close to 100, they are relatively young in natural terms and need special efforts to ensure they gain these old-growth functions. On our California van Eck forests, trees are now tall enough to begin acquiring the structural characteristics (such as large branches and reiterated tops) necessary to support old-growth associated species. So, PFT is introducing Polypodium scouleri mats into the crowns of potentially elite trees to jump-start old-growth functions in these forests. The tree pictured here is one such PET, identified this January on van Eck California.