CAL FIRE recently announced a $4,072,000 California Climate Investment grant award to Pacific Forest Trust for its multi-partner forest health and conservation project that is designed to reduce the likelihood and intensity of fire spreading across the Black Butte and Mount Shasta forests. The project would reduce threats to the communities of Weed and Mount Shasta, according to a Pacific Forest Trust news release.
Working with the family-owned Michigan-California Timber Company, Pacific Forest Trust’s Mt. Shasta Headwaters Forest Health and Resilience Project, as stated in the release, “will prevent development on the privately-owned Black Butte property, extend a major firebreak, thin hundreds of acres of young pine plantations, and establish permanent requirements to restore and sustain a more diverse, resilient forest.”
PFT says the project’s benefits will include “higher levels of carbon sequestration and more fire-resilient forests” and they “will be secured by a permanent working forest conservation easement funded through CAL FIRE’s Forest Legacy Program and granted to Pacific Forest Trust on Michigan-California’s 5,000-acre Black Butte property. The project will allow this large forest tract, highly visible along Interstate 5, to remain available forever for sustainable timber production and outdoor recreation.”
The California Climate Investment Program reinvests the revenue generated by the state’s cap and trade program to reduce climate pollution through a variety of projects that reduce greenhouse gases and help California prepare for climate change, according to the release. “Protecting healthy, resilient forests is a key tool in mitigating climate change.”
As stated in the release by CAL FIRE Director, Chief Ken Pimlott, “Investments in forest health are even more critical now because of climate change. California continues to invest millions of dollars into protecting working forest lands which will help increase carbon sequestration and have the added benefit of helping protect our state’s vital watersheds.”
From the Mt. Shasta News: https://www.mtshastanews.com/news/20170817/4m-mt-shasta-area-forest-health-and-conservation-project-announced