North Coast Resource Partnership Secures $13.6 Million for 26 Local Projects

Press release from North Coast Resource Partnership:

North Coast Resource Partnership secures $13.6 million in funding for 26 local projects to provide water security, enhance instream habitats, improve forest health and increase fire resiliency

A variety of integrated projects were approved by the North Coast Resource Partnership Policy Review Panel; a collaborative group comprised of county supervisors and Tribal leaders representing the tribal territories and seven counties of the North Coast region. Projects were selected based on their ability to provide multi-benefits to rural, economically disadvantaged communities with a focus on watershed function, forest health, public health, economic development, jobs and local revenue. Seven of the projects provide improved water storage and drought resiliency, 9 projects improve water system infrastructure, and 10 projects enhance watersheds, fisheries, forest health and protect communities from wildfire risk.

Project funding is derived from Proposition 1 Integrated Regional Water Management bond funding administered by the Department of Water Resources and by California Climate Investments Cap-and-Trade revenues through the California Natural Resources Agency and Department of Conservation Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program.

The North Coast Resource Partnership (NCRP) is a collaboration among seven counties and 34 Tribes in Northern California representing over 12% of the California landscape. To date, the NCRP has brought over $85 million in funding to the North Coast region for projects that achieve on the ground benefits related to watershed resiliency and forest health, prioritizing projects that reduce the risk of catastrophic fire, landslides and flooding while achieving other objectives including biodiversity protection and enhancement, climate change resiliency, clean water supplies, biomass energy, maintenance of forest carbon stocks, local jobs, public health and safety.

According to Judy Morris, NCRP Chair and member of the Trinity County Board of Supervisors

“The North Coast is a critical source region for California – its forested watersheds provide clean drinking water and many other benefits to the rest of the state. We appreciate the water bond and cap and trade funding that provide critical investments in community and forest health in the North Coast region and that will help California reach its climate change and watershed resiliency goals while supporting healthy, vital and rural communities.”

For more information, visit the NCRP website at https://northcoastresourcepartnership.org/

Out of the 26 funded projects there were several beneficiaries within Humboldt County including the following:

NCRP Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Planning – Round 1 Demonstration Projects and Processes

• Karuk Tribe, Burning Across Boundaries: An Inter-Tribal Collaborative Planning Project for Increased Wildfire Resiliency in the North Coast Region
• Mattole Restoration Council, Prosper Ridge Prairie Restoration Project
• Mid Klamath Watershed Council, NCRP Strategic Fire Planning and WKRP State-and-Transition Modeling

NCRP 2019 PROPOSITION 1 IRWM PRIORITY PROJECTS

Blue Lake Rancheria, Water Storage Project	$382,085
Briceland Community Services District, Water Supply Enhancement Project	$1,076,625
City of Ferndale, California Street Sewer Replacement	$326,750
Eel River Watershed Improvement Group, Kenny Creek Instream Habitat Enhancement Project	$176,077
Fieldbrook Glendale Community Services District, Water Tank Seismic Retrofit Project	$314,744
Humboldt Bay Municipal Water District, Ranney Collector 2 Rehabilitation Project	$600,000
Mattole Restoration Council, Carbon Sequest Lower Mattole River and Estuary Enhancement Project Phase II	$656,165
Sanctuary Forest Inc., Drought and Emergency Water Project	$558,501
Yurok Tribe , Upgrading Critical Infrastructure to Support Resource Recovery in the Blue Creek Sanctuary	$937,268