Workers in the forest
With funding from the Forest Health Program, the Ukiah Emergency Fuels Reduction Project is performing vegetation management activities along ridgetops in strategic locations for firefighting and protecting critical infrastructure. The project — led by the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) with the support of the Mendocino Fire Safe Council, the County of Mendocino, the City of Ukiah, and other key stakeholder groups — involved the construction of 14 miles of shaded fuel breaks at the edges of densely populated housing in Ukiah and the forested mountains that surround the Ukiah Valley. These activities will reduce the intensity of potential future wildfires and control its rate of spread. In addition, brush and small trees were removed along roadsides to improve evacuation routes for communities. As of December 2019, these efforts employed more than 8,000 personnel hours from state government, local governments, and private industry.
The Ukiah Fuels Reduction Project is one of 35 priority projects outlined in the Community Wildfire Prevention and Mitigation Report, which was prepared by CAL FIRE in response to Governor Newsom’s Executive Order N-05-19. These 35 projects were identified as fuel reduction efforts that could be initiated almost immediately to protect lives, health, property, and natural resources.
Continuing into the spring of 2020, CAL FIRE will conduct controlled burning around the Ukiah Valley to strategically reduce accumulated fuels. Recognizing that residents have a critical role in creating defensible space around their own homes and property, project partners have engaged neighborhood groups and property owners to inform them of necessary steps that should be taken on and around private property to improve fire safety.