The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) has announced a partnership between the Tahoe National Forest (TNF) and the National Forest Foundation (NFF) directing $117 million to the foundation's wildfire risk reduction efforts in California's North Yuba Landscape.

The North Yuba River watershed is among the regions in the United States most at risk of catastrophic fire and is one of 10 landscapes selected for investment as part of the USFS's Wildfire Crisis Strategy. The funding will support the North Yuba Landscape Resilience Project, a vegetation and fuels management project to be implemented over 15 to 20 years, affecting 275,000 acres. NFF plans to thin more than 21,000 acres as a fuels-reduction effort to lower wildfire risk and change fire behavior to protect communities, escape routes, and utility infrastructure, while also improving forest health to protect important habitats and enhance resilience to climate change. As part of the effort, NFF will also produce more than 55 million board feet of timber.

In addition to the partnership with the NFF, the TNF anticipates $36 million in related federally funded project efforts provided through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act.

“Forests in California and throughout the West are in need of treatment activities beyond what any one entity can do on its own,” said NFF president Mary Mitsos. “Working through innovative partnerships, like we have on the Tahoe National Forest, we are excited to bring new tools and resources to tackle the challenge together.”

(Photo credit: Wikipedia/U.S. Department of Agriculture)