The Eastern Sierra Wildfire Alliance needs your help to secure funding for forest health projects!
We’ve been involved with the Eastern Sierra Wildfire Alliance for several years. This is a group of stakeholders in Alpine, Mono and Inyo counties from non-profit organizations, fire safe councils, federal, state and local government agencies, and California Native American Tribes working on wildfire resilience projects.
This group has been working on the Eastern Sierra Climate & Communities Resilience Project (ESCCRP), a project working on a plan for ecological forest restoration on more than 50,000 acres surrounding Mammoth Lakes. Our forest health contributes a lot to our wildfire risk, so a healthier forest means a healthier, safer community.
We recently got an email from the Forest Health Program Manager with some exciting news – the Sierra Nevada Conservancy invited our Wildfire Alliance to submit an application for the Wildfire Recovery and Forest Resilience Directed Grant Program to fund more work for the ESCCRP.
The focus for this next funding round will be continuing work in the Reds Meadow planning area (pictured above) and working on completing another 1,200 acres of thinning and an additional 600 acres of pile burning. This would nearly complete treatments in this high priority area. If the alliance got this grant, it would be a big win for Eastern Sierra recreation users, as well as our partners and neighbors in the area. This funding request also includes some work in the Sherwin Creek area.
To be competitive for this grant, letters of support are very helpful. The ESCCRP organizer has created a template letter you can use to show your support. The Eastern Sierra Wildfire Alliance invites you to add any personal or organizational touches to your letter. Please send letters to Sarah Hoff-Phillips at sarah@whitebarkinstitute.org by Friday, October 21.