County clears $3.7 million for fire-safety road projects

Sonoma County has approved $3,722,160 for vegetation management throughout Sonoma County to help reduce fire risk. The 20-project list includes work on the Cavedale/Trinity area above Glen Ellen, and support for the Sonoma Valley Fire District.

The money funds “shovel-ready’ projects to clear roads, create defensible space, and increase safety in advance of the wildfire season.

“Through this grant program we are able to help landowners and communities clear critical access roads, create defensible space around structures, form much-needed shaded fuel breaks, and educate the community on wildfire safety and risk reduction,” said Board of Supervisors Chair, Lynda Hopkins.

The Board of Supervisors originally set aside $2-4 million from the PG&E settlement funds to complete “shovel-ready” projects that would result in the greatest fire-risk reduction going into the 2021 and 2022wildfire seasons.

County staff received 89 applications totaling more than $16 million in requested funds. Twenty were chosen by a committee made up of representatives from the County Administrator’s Office, the County’s natural resource agencies and CalFire (Ag + Open Space, Regional Parks, Permit Sonoma, Sonoma Water, and UC Cooperative Extension), the Board agreed to accept 20 projects totaling over $3.7 million into the program.

“Given that this is the first grant program of this nature administered by the County, we were not sure how many applications we would receive,”  “The sheer amount and quality of the applications we received is a clear indicator of the need and desire of the community to reduce fire risk across the county,” said Caryl Hart, county lead for the vegetation management program.

The list of all the approved projects and funding amounts, in alphabetical order: