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County officials report expanded wildfire grants, large landscape projects and new community tools
Summary
Humboldt County staff and partners updated the Board of Supervisors on a state‑funded Wildfire Coordinator Grant Program that has helped the county build Firewise communities, update its Community Wildfire Protection Plan and leverage tens of millions in implementation grants for landscape‑scale work.
Humboldt County received repeated awards under a state‑funded Wildfire County Coordinator Grant Program that county staff say have helped the county expand community wildfire planning and leverage implementation funding for large landscape projects.
Sabel Emit, environmental program manager with county Public Works, told the board the program is funded by Cal Fire and administered by the California Fire Safe Council. “This program is funded by the state of California by Cal Fire and it's administered by the California Fire Safe Council,” Emit said, describing the program’s goals of education, coordination and capacity building.
Jill Demurs, executive director of the Humboldt County Resource Conservation District (RCD) and a county coordinator team member, described how the county has used the Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) as a basis to secure planning and implementation grants. The RCD now holds or manages grant portfolios valued in the tens of millions to support forest health and wildfire resilience projects across the county.
Demurs highlighted a Mail Ridge planning and implementation effort that combines federal, state and local funding. She said planning grants helped secure environmental compliance for roughly 45,000 acres, while implementation to date has treated about 3,000 acres; additional awarded grants include a $5.3 million forest health grant and a nearly $10 million community wildfire defense award for southern Humboldt projects.
County staff and partners described continued support for 14 locally recognized Firewise communities, new resident‑leader summits to share best practices, volunteer‑hours tracking tools that help Firewise groups meet National Fire Protection Association renewal requirements, and outreach products such as the county’s Living with Wildfire magazine and a web‑GIS project hub that will list proposed and completed projects.
Supervisors asked about ways to accelerate work on private property. Supervisor Bone suggested exploring incentives like a property‑tax credit and pilots for roadside vegetation maintenance; staff said the county has previously used rebate and cost‑share models and will continue seeking partnerships with NRCS, prescribed burn associations and private investors to scale local efforts.
Several callers from Willow Creek and other communities described neighborhood DIY efforts — renting chippers, sharing equipment and organizing volunteer crews — and urged continued county support for training, equipment lending and communications that help communities maintain treated defensible space.
The board received and filed the report. County staff said work on a CWPP update is underway, with technical risk modeling nearly complete and a web‑based hub to support project development and funding outreach planned in the coming year.
What happens next: staff said they will continue to track grant deliverables, convene the Humboldt County Fire Safe Council and bring periodic updates to the board as projects advance.
