Monday January 6, 2025
Sierra Nevada Conservancy via Maven’s Notebook —
A recent grant of nearly $4 million from the Wildlife Conservation Board to the Upper Mokelumne River Watershed Authority (UMRWA) will complement earlier funding from the Sierra Nevada Conservancy (SNC) and CAL FIRE to allow the organization to complete fuel-reduction efforts on more than 25,000 acres within the Mokelumne River watershed.
As only phase one of a much larger effort to improve forest health across 250,000 acres within the watershed, strategic funding from state agencies to well-established partners like UMRWA is helping to dramatically increase the pace and scale of forest restoration in the Sierra-Cascade. This increase is in direct response to the escalation of climate and wildfire risks.
“It was about seven or so years ago when we really started getting into forest health,” said Richard Sykes, executive officer with UMRWA, a joint-powers authority focused on stewarding the natural resources in the Upper Mokelumne River watershed. “There were a few fires that woke people up back then. For us, what woke us up was the Rim Fire, which was just north of us that burned over 200,000 acres. So, now, all of a sudden, we’re not talking about small fires, we’re talking about watershed-size fires.”