Forest Health Research Grants Support Cutting-Edge Scientific Research Into Forest Practices, Management, And Education

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Forest Health Research Program has awarded $5.9 million to support 15 scientific research studies. These studies will provide critical information and tools to forest landowners, resource agencies, fire management organizations, and policy makers across California. These research projects are expected to produce scientific publications, outreach and education events, and decision support tools.

These projects will increase understanding of relatively understudied vegetation types like chaparral, mountain meadows, and oak woodlands; strengthen frameworks for evaluating costs and benefits of fuel treatment strategies; and expand cutting-edge tools for forest monitoring and prescribed fire planning. Six of the awards support research led by graduate students. Grantees include the University of California, California State University, Colorado State University, Desert Research Institute, USDA Forest Service, and Resources for the Future.

“These grant awards from the Forest Health Research Program are filling critical gaps in our knowledge of fire, forest, and other vegetation management,” said Chris Keithley, CAL FIRE’s Assistant Deputy Director of Fire and Resource Assessment. “The researchers we support fill knowledge gaps, evaluate effectiveness of management practices, develop new tools, and create vital information as we continue to work towards a more resilient California.”

The Forest Health Research Program was established as part of California Climate Investments to answer important questions that further our knowledge in forest health and resilience, impacts of wildfire on communities and the environment, science-based tools that aid in land management planning and best practices, effectiveness of fuel treatments, carbon storage and uptake, and many other topics.

Funding for these grants comes from Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds through the California Climate Investments program and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience budget package.

A complete list of the awarded projects and an interactive map of current and past awards can be found on the Forest Health Research website.