CAL FIRE Communications Team visits Forest Health Grant Project at Harbin Hot Springs

by:  CLERC Staff

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In May the CAL FIRE Communications Team toured the recently completed Forest Health Grant Project at Harbin Hot Springs. CLERC’s Executive Director and Senior Program Manager were on hand to give the tour of the project that got it all started for CLERC’s Fire and Forestry Program.

​CAL FIRE released a short video highlighting the Harbin project and the benefits to the community.  Check it out:

​Harbin Hot Springs owns about 12,000 acres of forest land that was mostly burned during the Valley Fire in 2015. By the end of 2017, their forests and watershed were still in great need of restoration, so they reached out to members of the CLERC Board of Directors for help. This collaboration resulted in securing a forest health grant from CAL FIRE to conduct restoration activities on over 500 acres. Restoration activities included reforestation, fuel reduction, and construction of several fuelbreaks. The success of the Harbin project resulted in several other smaller landowners requesting help with grants. In 2019 CLERC formally launched our Fire and Forestry Program through the completion of several community-wide grant applications. These community-wide applications, including the Lake County Hazardous Fuel Reduction Project - Phase 1 and the Lake County Wildfire Resilience Project - Phase 1 were both funded and are currently being implemented.

The Harbin Creek watershed serves as part of the headwaters of Upper Putah Creek. Boggs State Demonstration Forest can be seen in the upper portion of the photo.