County approves $3.7 million in settlement funding for vegetation management

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors has approved more than $3.7 million in grants to fund 20 vegetation management projects that promise to help reduce fire risk.

The funds will come from the PG&E settlement awarded to the county as a result of the 2017 Sonoma Complex Fires lawsuit. In 2020, the board voted to allocate $25 million of the $149 million settlement toward vegetation management activities.

Board chair Lynda Hopkins said the programs will 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 reducing fire risks.

County official said the 20 programs were selected from among 89 applicants totaling more than $16 million in requested funds.

The projects funded with their respective amounts are:

• Alert Sonoma County, $122,000
• Cavedale-Trinity, $250,000
• Coast Ridge, $423,000
• Fire Safe Sonoma WFAP, $37,100
• Foothills POA, $20,904
• Good Fire Revival, $145,000
• Gualala Ranch HOA, $77,000
• Jenner Headlands Preserve, $165,000
• Kashia Band of Pomo Indians, $120,936
• Landsmart Community Grazing, $184,600
• Mill Creek Post Fire Shaded Fuel Breaks, $300,000
• Moonraker Firetower Perimeter, $26,460
• North Bay Forest Improvement Program, $163,381
• Northern Sonoma County JPA, $504,700
• Resilient Landscapes Coalition, $110,317
• Sonoma Valley Fire District, $93,379
• Sweetwater-Mt. Jackson, $227,050
• Timber Cove Community Chipping Project, $129,012
• Upper Mark West, $515,861
• Wilshire Crystal Heights, $106,460