Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program (RWMP)
This project is leveraged by previous funding provided by the, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and next steps for the Santa Barbara County application of the RWMP (Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program) includes to to more thoroughly flush out this unique regional wildfire mitigation program so it is more easily adaptable and sustainable in both Santa Barbara County, as well as other counties in California and beyond. The intent of the RWMP is for a single organization to head the program at a county-wide scale. Moore Foundation WRI funds would allow the Santa Barbara County Fire Safe Council (SBCFSC) to lead all 3 domains, expand the framework to the entire County, explore the adaptive management feedback loop of the RWMP framework, and continue to improve on the process to better inform future RWMPs.
Creating a Collaborative Resourcing Team: Maintaining Opportunity Matrix and Getting Projects Shovel Ready
This project opportunity matrix and the RPP site are valuable community assets, but the information herein represents a snapshot of needs at this point in time and is not exhaustive. Building wildfire resilience in Santa Barbara County needs to be an ongoing proactive process. As identified projects are implemented, new needs and opportunities will emerge on an ongoing basis and need to be added to the Opportunity Matrix. The RPP team recommends a focused effort to create a Collaborative Resourcing Team that includes representatives from multiple agencies, nonprofits and funders to further develop these key pieces of our resilience system and then to maintain and put them to use.
Wildfire Resilience Summit
Create a regularly occurring opportunity for cross sector sharing learnings and collaborating on potential policy, actions and projects.
Ecological Restoration Volunteers
Often the biggest challenge to habitat restoration and fuel mitigation is labor capacity. The Ecological Restoration Volunteers project would train volunteers and implement restoration projects such as invasive species mitigation and restoring and monitoring habitat.
Post Disaster Recovery Fund
Establish a fund for ecological and neighborhood community recovery and restoration.
Post Disaster Research Fund
Create a fund to study ecological/ecosystem recovery processes. Studies would include, at a minimum, a baseline biological assessment after every disaster, to identify sensitive natural communities, threats (i.e. invasive species vectors/vulnerabilities) and priorities for mitigation/restoration.
Community Disaster Recovery Plan
Implement a planning process to identify public infrastructure that may be damaged and need replacement post-fire/disaster. The purpose of the planning process would be to anticipate infrastructure loss and plan to rebuild in a way that increases both community and infrastructure resilience to future disasters. Build back better.
Resilience Cycle Capacity Building
Build County wide capacity to cover all components of the resilience cycle: a) prevention, b) community preparedness, c) community organizing, d) short term relief, e) long term relief f) recovery and g) rebuilding and planning, in a way that reduces vulnerability. Identify and implement the best practices for resilience cycle action, understanding that we need to always be preparing for the next disaster.
Burn Planning Capacity
Burn Plan for intentional fires is a bottle neck in Santa Barbara County. There is a need for professionals who can write burn plans overall and a need for burn plan preparers who have an indigenous perspective…
Fire Recovery: Creating a Fire Resilient Landscape
Develop a replicable framework for creating a fire-safe landscape with healthy ecological function in post-fire recovery areas …
County Wildfire Incident Dashboard
Citizens and community leaders alike struggle to find timely, relevant and validated data during times of crisis. Despite the best efforts of agencies to coordinate communications to meet this need…
Expand Cachuma Resource Conservation District Capacity
The Cachuma Resource Conservation District (CRCD) plays a critical role in our community as a partner to and bridge between farmers, ranchers and other landowners and conservation groups and agencies focused on the health of our land, water, soil, wildlife, agriculture and food systems.
Coordinated Effort to Implement Recommended Actions in Existing CWPPs
Community Wildfire Protection Planning is a structured process that helps communities assess their preparedness for wildfires, identify priority actions and secure policy guidance from their elected leaders so that fire protection agencies…
Creating a Collaborative Resourcing Team: Maintaining Opportunity Matrix, Funding Database and Partner Directory
This project opportunity matrix and the RPP site valuable community assets, but the information herein represents a snapshot of needs at this point in time. Building wildfire resilience in Santa Barbara County needs to be an ongoing proactive process.
Wildfire Insurance Alternatives
Throughout California and the western United States, we are experiencing intense wildfires at previously unthinkable scales and with unprecedented loss of homes and communities.
Reassess Fire Fighting Systems, Strategy, Policy and Building Codes
Our current fire resilience infrastructure and strategies are built on a series of assumptions that may no longer hold true. We have interior fire sprinklers designed to suppress single home fires with a deluge of water…
Shelter in Place Strategy Research: Assess Potential in WUI Areas at Risk of Wildfires that Outpace Ability to Evacuate (Fire Proof Emergency Shelters)
Home hardening increases the likelihood that a home survives a wildfire, but hardened homes do not provide a safe place of refuge in the event that a fast moving wildfire cuts off evacuation routes and forces residents to shelter in place.
Library of Santa Barbara County Fire Resources, Literature, & Studies
During the RPP teams outreach efforts we shared a worldwide literature search produced by partners for the community of Paradise after the devastating Camp fire. Local fire personnel suggested a collaborative effort among fire agencies, community based groups ….
Unified Fire Prevention Project Tracking Website
Santa Barbara County Fire Department (SBCFD) serves as Santa Barbara County's Cal Fire Unit and regularly produces an Annual Strategic Unit Plan as mandated by Cal Fire that inventories the fire prevention projects SBCFD has in various stages of its planning and implementation processes.
Santa Barbara Mountain Communities Defensible Space Plan
The Los Padres National Forest (LPNF) undertook a planning effort to identify, prioritize and plan a series of fire prevention and mitigation activities to reduce the risk of wildfire to mountain communities including West Camino Cielo, Painted Cave and Rosario Park.