Information for Landowners

What is it?

The Forest Health Grant Program is funded by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) Forest Health Grants Program as part of the California Climate Investments Program. It provides funding to help landowners and organizations reduce wildfire risk and restore healthy forests.

Who can apply?

• Private landowners (including ranchers and timber holders)
• Nonprofits, like land trusts
• Tribes, counties, and other public agencies
• Partners who are ready to plan or implement large-scale treatments (800+ acres)

What does it fund?

• Thinning crowded forests
• Removing dry brush and dead trees
• Creating shaded fuel breaks
• Restoring oak woodlands
• Replanting trees after wildfire
• Using leftover materials (like for bioenergy)

Why it matters

These projects reduce wildfire danger, improve wildlife habitat, store more carbon in healthy forests, and support rural jobs.

How big are the grants?

Most awards range from $750,000 to $7 million, depending on the size and scope of the work.

Where does the money come from?

Funds come from California’s cap-and-invest program, which charges companies for pollution and reinvests the money in climate solutions like forest protection.

Does it help your area?

Yes! Projects in Humboldt, Trinity, and surrounding counties are often selected, especially when they protect working lands, rural communities, and important habitat.

Need help applying?

Landowners don’t have to do it alone. Many projects are led by experienced partners like foresters, Resource Conservation Districts, or land trusts who can help with planning, permitting, and grant writing.

Learn More:

Visit www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/grants/forest-health or reach out to NRLT at (707)822-2242 to see if your land might qualify for future funding.

The Butte Creek/Buck Mountain Forest Health Project: Helping forests, ranches, and communities stay safe 

From NRLT’s Autumn 2025 Newsletter

We’re excited to announce an important forest health project has been selected for funding to address one of northwestern California’s most pressing ecological challenges: wildfire.

Tucked into the Little Van Duzen River watershed along Highway 36, the Butte Creek/Buck Mountain Forest Health Project will treat over 1,500 acres of wild and working lands by removing dry brush and small trees that can make wildfires worse. The project was developed by Cottrell Ranch, LLC, in collaboration with the Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT) and several other partners to lower the chance of catastrophic wildfire and protect both natural resources and nearby rural communities.

Work on the project includes establishing shaded fuel breaks near roads and powerlines, thinning crowded forests, and restoring native oak woodlands. This work is especially important in a landscape where climate change, historic fire suppression, and tree mortality have increased fire risk. As wildfires become more common and more dangerous, projects like this show how caring for the land today can protect us tomorrow.

This project is made possible thanks to funding from California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CAL FIRE) Forest Health Grants Program as part of the California Climate Investments Program to support climate-smart forest stewardship on a meaningful scale. Work on the Butte Creek/Buck Mountain Forest Health Project is coordinated with other forest work by the Bureau of Land Management and the Six Rivers National Forest, making an even bigger impact across the region.

NRLT is grateful for our ongoing partnership with the Cottrell/Moore family, solidified by a conservation easement on the Butte Creek Ranch completed just last year (read about it in our Winter 2024 newsletter). We are also currently working on a conservation easement on the nearby Cottrell Ranch, which we expect to complete in 2026.

Conservation easements ensure these iconic landscapes remain wild and working for generations to come. Meanwhile, on-the-ground stewardship, such as this forest health project, enhance the current conditions and ensure lasting benefits for people and wildlife alike. It is exciting to have both conservation and large-scale stewardship work happening together on the Butte Creek Ranch and we look forward to sharing the results of this project in the future.

The CAL FIRE Forest Health program awarded $6,851,627 million dollars to the Butte Creek / Buck Mountain Forest Health Project to increase forest health, diversity, and resilience across ~2,361 acres of forestland. The Butte Creek / Buck Mountain Forest Health Project is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide initiative that puts billions of Cap-and-Invest, formerly known as Cap-and-Trade, dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. For more information, visit the California Climate Investments website at: www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov.

August 28, 2024

The Northcoast Regional Land Trust (NRLT) is excited to announce that we have successfully renewed our accreditation with the Land Trust Accreditation Commission, an independent program of the Land Trust Alliance. This means we continue to meet the highest national standards for protecting land and ensuring our work endures.

NRLT was first accredited in 2012, and this latest renewal underscores our enduring commitment to the highest standards in conservation excellence and public trust. Accreditation is a rigorous process that evaluates our practices across several critical areas, including land stewardship, financial management, and organizational governance.

“Renewing our accreditation emphasizes our ongoing dedication to our mission and commitment to ensure the wild and working lands in our region are managed and protected.  This means special places like the Wagner Forest and Butte Creek Ranch will be conserved for current and future generations,” said Susan Moranda, NRLT Board President. “As an accredited land trust, the Northcoast Regional Land Trust employs policies and practices to assure our conservation work is permanent.”

We are proud to continue as part of the distinguished network of over 450 accredited land trusts across the nation, representing the highest level of excellence in land conservation. Only 37% of land trusts in the United States have achieved this mark of distinction, and we are honored to be among them.

Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue this important work. Together, we are making a lasting difference protecting the lands we love.

Learn more about Land Trust Accreditation here.

Monitoring Season, Summer 2023

We arrived at Chalk Mountain Ranch a little later than planned and pulled into the large, dusty turn out at the base of the ranch. It was Monday morning, and already one of the logging trucks was out of commission and stalled at the entrance, giant hood flipped up with a team of men peering in and under it. Brandon, the 5^th generation property owner, was on a mission to bring the right tools for the job and have this truck repaired and ready for the rest of the week. There’s a short window for harvesting in their Timber Harvest Plan, and there is plenty of work to be done before fire season set in.

We exchanged our hellos, commenting on the fine weather and scenic location of this 7000+ acre ranch in Southeastern Humboldt. Chalk Mountain Ranch has been home to the Barnwell family for the past 125 years, and each generation has worked hard to conserve it for the next. The Barnwell family put the first conservation easement on part of their property in 2010, and another easement on an adjacent tract in 2012– NRLT holds both and monitors them each year. Which is why we were there, on a Monday morning in July, parked in that wide turnout waiting for Brandon and Lauri, the owners and managers of the ranch.

Monitoring visits tend to be comprehensive tours of the property, conducted annually to check specific locations against years of photo points, and an opportunity to connect with the landowners – what’s really going on out here? “There’s been more elk lately,” Lauri has her eyes on every corner of this expansive ranch, from regular excursions to the cattle barns to a network of game cameras only she can find. Brandon, too, can tell you about the falcon nests that have been on Chalk Rock since at least his grandmother’s diary notes of the 1920s. They know this place, they love this place, they are this place.

It’s no easy feat managing a property of this size—feeding cows, managing timber, repairing roads, stewarding grasslands, and taking care of the many people who live and work on the land alongside them—but they do it with a sense of duty. Keeping it whole and productive is hard work, but the rewards for their family and the land that sustains them make it all worthwhile.

The past winter was rough, many of the landowners from this season’s monitoring have pointed it out. Even for us in town, there were weeks when I lamented if I’d ever see the sun again. But out on the ranch, a heavy winter means a heavier workload. Repairing barns and water lines, freeing cows trapped by fallen trees, supplementing feed longer than usual, clearing road after road after road just to get around. Even in July, there were obvious signs of the past winter—less important roads that are still impassable, washed-out creeks and fallen trees. We walked to one of the photo points, where a truck would have easily traveled in years past.

While I spend plenty of time out at Freshwater Farms Reserve, opportunities to see these privately conserved lands are rare and powerful. I was struck by the vastness of the landscape, and the work it takes to conserve it. After several hours of sightseeing and conversation, we headed back down the hill to where the day began. The broke-down truck was gone, but there was still a bustle of activity as people prepared for the week, years, and generations ahead.

Written by Nadia Van Lynn, NRLT Education and Outreach Manager

Thank you to Brandon and Lauri Barnwell for conserving and stewarding this land, and for approving the publication of this essay.

An excerpt from this essay was published in the Autumn 2023 newsletter.