The Lassen Fire Safe Council is applying to FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program in response to this year’s Sheep and Hog fires. The funds will go toward reforestation on private properties in the Sheep and Hog Fire burn footprints.
Combined, according to data from the LFSC, the two wildfires burned nearly 40,000 acres this past fire season, leaving private property owners with burnt timber and hazard trees on their property.
“If funded, LFSC intends to remove the remaining fuel and hazard trees and replant for restoration of the forest and long-term soil stability control,” explains Fire Safe Council spokeswoman Katlyn Lonergan.
To be eligible to participate in the planned FEMA project no ground-disturbing activities may have taken place on a property from the time of the fires’ control until FEMA has granted LFSC notice to proceed on their restoration work.
“This means that fire salvage cannot have taken place, or will not take place, on a participating property.”
If your property was burned in either fire, LFSC wants to hear from you. Before their application submission LFSC must gauge how much interest the community has in participating in the project.
The FEMA application along with community responses will be submitted in January 2021. After which, FEMA will begin the review process and LFSC will continue to keep the community engaged and updated with the project’s progress.
Please respond to Katlyn Lonergan ([email protected] or 530 251-5560) at LFSC by the end of the year, no later than December 31st, 2020, to record your interest in reforestation efforts.
