NFWF and U.S. Forest Service Announce $4.2 Million in Grants for California Forests and Watersheds Headwater Resilience
Projects will boost community resilience and improve the health of forests and watersheds in California
SAN FRANSICO (June 22, 2022) – The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) today announced nearly $4.2 million in grants to protect and restore forests and watersheds in California through targeted headwater resilience implementation and monitoring. The grants will leverage $5.5 million in matching contributions to generate a total conservation impact of nearly $9.7 million.
The grants were awarded through the Northern California Forests and Watersheds program, a partnership between NFWF and the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the Arbor Day Foundation and the Bureau of Reclamation.
“This program continues to showcase the great partnership with National Forests in California and the local groups working together to help reestablish a resilient forests and watersheds,” said Jeff Trandahl, executive director and CEO of NFWF. “In addition, our new partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power showcases the importance of headwater restoration projects.”
Projects supported by the 12 grants announced today will address five key strategies of headwater resilience priorities: 1) Large-scale reforestation for wildlife recovery; 2) Headwaters protection and improvements in the Inyo National Forest; 3) Transportation infrastructure and aquatic organism passage improvements; 4) Sierra Nevada meadow restoration for the benefit of Desert Terminal Lakes; and 5) Fuels management project monitoring and species response.
Launched in 2018, the Northern California Forests and Watersheds program seeks to primarily conduct or inform the improvement, protection, or rehabilitation of ecosystems and watersheds within the National Forest System lands impacted by fire scar watersheds, and secondarily fund meadow restoration throughout the Sierra Nevada meadows range.
A complete list of the 2021 grants made through the Northern California Forests and Watersheds program is available here.
About the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation
Chartered by Congress in 1984, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) protects and restores the nation’s fish, wildlife, plants and habitats. Working with federal, corporate, foundation and individual partners, NFWF has funded more than 6,000 organizations and generated a total conservation impact of $7.4 billion. Learn more at www.nfwf.org.
About the U.S. Forest Service
The mission of the U.S. Forest Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world. Public lands managed by the Forest Service contribute more than $13 billion to the economy each year through visitor spending alone. Those same lands provide 20 percent of the nation's clean water supply, a value estimated at $7.2 billion per year. The agency has either a direct or indirect role in stewardship of about 80 percent of the 850 million forested acres within the U.S., of which 100 million acres are urban forests where most Americans live.
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Contact:
Rob Blumenthal, 202-857-0166, rob.blumenthal@nfwf.org