AUBURN, CA – This week, Placer County Resource Conservation District (Placer RCD), with funding and support from CAL FIRE, is working with landowners throughout Placer County to implement prescribed burns as training opportunities through the Placer Prescribed Burn Association (Placer PBA).
The Placer PBA is a grassroots effort at increasing the pace and scale of prescribed burning in Placer County by equipping landowners with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to safely use prescribed fire to improve wildfire resilience and forest stewardship. Placer RCD is working closely with the Placer County Air Pollution Control District to acquire all appropriate permits for broadcast burning. Smoke from the prescribed burns may be visible from Interstate-80 this week.
In addition to training burns, Placer RCD is offering a Prescribed Fire 101 workshop series and virtual speaker series this winter that covers a spectrum of important topics with the intention of creating safe burn practitioners. Workshop and speaker topics include prescribed fire liability, permitting, fire effects on native plants, hazard mitigation, cost-share programs for private landowners, among many others.
Placer RCD is also supported by grant funds through the Action, Implementation, and Mitigation (AIM) grant from Coalitions and Collaboratives, Inc., a Colorado-based organization that supports place-based natural resource conservation work. This funding is being used to increase technical assistance, workshops for landowners, and a burn permit subsidy program.
The workshop series and associated demonstration burns have been made possible through strong multi-agency partnerships between Placer RCD, CAL FIRE, the University of California Cooperative Extension, Todd’s Valley Miwok Maidu Cultural Foundation, United Auburn Indian Community, Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), and Placer Air Quality Pollution Control District.
Placer RCD is dedicated to assisting the community by improving access to resources and tools for fire-resilient communities, forests, and working lands. When conducted in a manner that generates low-severity impacts, prescribed burning offers a myriad of benefits including fuels reduction, increased soil water infiltration, native plant stewardship, invasive species management, improvements in wildlife habitat, and soil carbon sequestration.
To join the Placer PBA or learn more about Placer PBA and other educational opportunities, please contact Cordi Craig, Prescribed Fire Program Manager (cordi@placerrcd.org).
Funding for this project provided b the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Fire Prevention Program.
The AIM program is supported by a cooperative agreement with the USDA Forest Service. In accordance with federal law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture policy, this organization is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability.
To file a complaint of discrimination, write USDA, Director, Office of Civil Rights, Room 326-W, Whitten Building, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20250-9410 or call toll free voice (866) 632-9992, TDD (800) 877-8339, or voice relay (866) 377-8642. USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.