MENDOCINO CO., 1/27/26 – Private forest landowners in Mendocino County can apply for financial assistance to improve forest health and reduce wildfire risk through the North Bay Forest Improvement Program.
The program is supported by the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, Cal Fire, and other agencies serving Napa, Lake and Sonoma counties.
Eligible projects include tree thinning, fuels reduction, defensible space work, and other activities aimed at making forests safer and more resilient to wildfire.
The program is open to non-industrial private landowners with forested properties in Mendocino County. Eligible parcels must be at least five acres and less than 500 acres in size, and proposed projects must treat a minimum of one acre of forested land.
Funding is provided as reimbursement, meaning landowners pay for the work upfront and are repaid after the project is completed and approved. Projects must focus on stewardship and wildfire resilience rather than commercial timber harvest.
Applications are due by Feb. 13. Full eligibility details and application information are available at https://www.northbayforestimprovementprogram.com.
Correction, January 29, 2026 12:08 PM: This article originally stated that the Rural Resilience Project was facilitating this program. It has been updated to reflect that the North Bay Forest Improvement Program is overseeing it.
This doesn’t nothing to help people who own land but cannot afford to pay for such projects upfront.
Completely stupid way to do things.
This doesn’t nothing but help people who can afford to pay to do improvements without aid anyway. MENDOCINO FIRE SAFE COUNCIL IS A WASTE OF TIME & MONEY & SHOULD BE SHUT DOWN.
I agree. Got excited for a split second. Not ok.
Hey Wayne,
QUOTE:
“The program is supported by the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District, Cal Fire, and other agencies serving Napa, Lake and Sonoma counties.”
While I agree that the funding mechanism is shoddy and highly unattainable for most people, the article makes absolutely NO mention of the Mendocino Fire Safe Council because it has absolutely NO direct involvement nor receiving agency financial xarrangements with this particular fuels reduction funding pipeline.
IF it turns out they’re connected then clearly the Fire Safe Council will be a Sub-Contractor or Advisor, at best.
I’ve done career work with such programs elsewhere. It’s not a “social program”, it’s a fire and fuels program with a social dimension. The funding is just an incentive to motivate the private behavior the agencies (and the rest of us!) need to occur. The way to get funded is to figure out the ranking and scoring mechanism, and bring them a highly competitive proposal. With the understanding that there’s more need than there is money, and, other folks have already been participating so are better at winning than you are likely to be, at first. It may take a few tries, even with a great concept, to tune the concept into a winning proposal. Keep trying, and solicit *and listen to* the feedback. Hey, maybe even go ask around before developing and submitting your first proposal.
This kind of program, in my firsthand career experience, adores targeted scale. If you want to access these funds, talk with your neighbors to see if they will join in. I think, for example, that the local fire response community likes shaded fuel breaks along county roads, particularly in vulnerable or strategic locations such as road intersections or topographic saddles. A group of homeowners around such a feature who each own a small wooded lot, 5 to 10 acres, could probably put together a very competitive proposal. And even if they didn’t get funding, the process of coming together to discuss mutual fire-defense needs can be very powerful, very community-building.
One last word. Our biophysical setting and the vegetation community it has produced, prohibit one and done thinking. An applicant who brings the commitment to contribute to post-project maintenance will likely beat an applicant who does not.
I hope this submission does some good. Best luck, be fire wise and active.