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Amador Resource Conservation District outlines chipping, defensible‑space and working‑lands projects; seeks partnerships and funding
Summary
The Amador RCD updated supervisors on 2024–25 work: a large chipping program, defensible space pilot for vulnerable residents, Jackson Creek watershed treatments and technical assistance for working lands, and invited board support for regional coordination and grant applications.
Amanda Watson, executive director of the Amador Resource Conservation District (RCD), briefed the Amador County Board on the district’s 2024–25 activities and plans focused on fire resilience, working lands support and forest health.
The RCD described a widely used chipping program that provided free chipping service for stacked defensible‑space material; in the last round the program treated roughly 1,300 acres and served about 1,500 requests, Watson said. The RCD’s new defensible‑space project — funded by CAL FIRE wildland prevention grants — targets roughly 75 vulnerable households (low‑income, seniors, veterans) for fuel reduction and limited hazard‑tree removal, and will include a demonstration defensible‑space garden at Pioneer Hall on Buckhorn.
Watson also reviewed working‑lands technical assistance and a regional healthy soils block grant that funded 13 subgrants across the Central Sierra region. The RCD reported 31 wildlife habitat structures awarded in 2025 to landowners (27 in Amador County) as part of a habitat‑improvement program.
On forest health, the RCD detailed the Jackson Creek Watershed project (mechanical mastication, hand thinning and targeted grazing) that treated more than 800 acres and included demonstration and maintenance work on a 10‑mile fuel break maintained with Cal Fire funds in partnership with the Amador Fire Safe Council.
Watson said the RCD acts as a ‘catalyst’ — connecting landowners to UC Cooperative Extension, NRCS, Cal Fire and grant programs — and urged supervisors to promote regional partnerships and continued county support for office space and operations.
Ending: Supervisors thanked the RCD; Watson said a field tour of the Buckhorn Ridge and Crestview projects is planned for Sept. 17 and she will circulate a save‑the‑date.
