With $6.4 million in funding from CAL FIRE’s Forest Health Program, a collaborative of landowners led by the San Diego Fire Safe Council and the Resource Conservation District of Greater San Diego County (RCD) is implementing a landscape-scale restoration project aimed at improving forest health on Palomar Mountain. Forests in San Diego county have experienced heavy losses from catastrophic fires and invasive pest infestations. Now at the home of one of San Diego county’s last mixed conifer forests, project partners are working to ensure Palomar Mountain’s forests are resilient to future wildfires.
California Climate Investments funding has been instrumental to this project from planning through implementation. A 2019 Regional Forest and Fire Capacity grant helped bring together land owners across the 1,600-acre project footprint to strategize on the most appropriate measures to manage the landscape. This project is the outcome of this process and the Forest Health Program grant is helping project proponents take the next step by reducing fuels and reintroducing fire to improve existing forest stands, and reforesting areas where forests have been decimated by fire and pests.
The U.S. Forest Service shared, “Collaboration is essential for forest conservation on Palomar Mountain, and we are grateful for the partners and the leadership of the RCD. Through the development of an all-lands Montane Forest Conservation Strategy, we hope to motivate similar efforts across Southern California.”
The project is providing multiple training avenues for Tribal youth and other Tribal members by engaging them in monitoring and implementation activities. This education and on-the-job training helps prepare local Tribal members for natural resource and fire employment opportunities.
By reducing wildfire risk, project treatments are also intended to benefit the California spotted owl, a species of special concern. Project partners are monitoring the project’s effects on owl habitat to improve understanding of the species’ current and future status on Palomar Mountain.