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Cedar Valley Fuel Reduction Project Begins

Fuel Reduction Services on Private Properties

OAKHURST – Work on the Cedar Valley Fuel Reduction Project began last week. Yosemite/Sequoia Resource Conservation & Development Council (YSRCDC) has contracted with Calaveras Healthy Impact Product Solutions (CHIPS), who has partnered with Big Sandy Rancheria to reduce hazardous fuels, including the removal of standing and downed dead trees, on approximately 45 acres of private parcels in the Cedar Valley community.

The workforce being deployed on this project is a product of the Intertribal Stewardship Workforce Initiative, which includes members of the Mechoopda Maidu, Hung-a Lel-Ti Washoe, Mid Pines Paiute, and Big Sandy Mono tribes.

Funding for this project provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection as part of the California Climate Investments Program.

In addition to increasing public safety by decreasing the amount of hazardous fuels around homes and infrastructure, this project will provide free firewood to parcel owners in the project area, tribal elders, and the public (while supplies last). A Sierra Corps Forestry Fellow working with CHIPS will organize a firewood distribution day with the local community and tribal leadership.

The Cedar Valley Fuel Reduction Project is part of YSRCDC’s Madera Strategic Wildfire Mitigation Project (MSWMP). MSWMP funds the strategic implementation of fuel breaks and defensible landscape projects in Eastern Madera County to protect up to 15,000 habitable structures, as well as businesses, infrastructure and community resources.

MSWMP is part of California Climate Investments, a statewide program that puts billions of Cap- and-Trade dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, strengthening the economy, and improving public health and the environment —particularly in disadvantaged communities. The Cap-and-Trade program also creates a financial incentive for industries to invest in clean technologies and develop innovative ways to reduce pollution. California Climate Investments projects include affordable housing, renewable energy, public transportation, zero- emission vehicles, environmental restoration, more sustainable agriculture, recycling, and much

more. At least 35 percent of these investments are located within and benefiting residents of disadvantaged communities, low-income communities, and low-income households across California. For more information, visit the California Climate Investments website at: www.caclimateinvestments.ca.gov.

Yosemite Sequoia Resource Conservation & Development Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to natural resource conservation and economic development. The Council service area includes the rural and foothill communities of Fresno, Madera, Mariposa and Tulare counties.

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