Santa Barbara County Wildfire Resilience Collaborative Receives $455,000 from CA Coastal Conservancy For Habitat Restoration Projects

Collaborative Focused on Building Capacity of Goleta Riparian Corridor 

SANTA BARBARA, Calif (May 11, 2023) — Recently, the CA Coastal Conservancy awarded $455,000 to the Santa Barbara County Wildfire Resilience Collaborative (WRC) to develop and execute three wildfire resilience and habitat restoration projects: a creeks and open spaces initiative for Goleta, a collaborative project in partnership with The Land Trust for Santa Barbara County in the Arroyo Hondo Preserve, and the refinement of essential tools for resilience planning. These three priorities were identified through the Santa Barbara County Wildfire Regional Priority Plan (RPP).

“We are thrilled to receive this critical funding that will propel our efforts to ensure greater wildfire resilience in the Goleta Riparian Corridor and at Arroyo Hondo,” said Anna Olsen, Executive Director, Cachuma Resource Conservation District. “The Collaborative will use this investment to develop a number of important local projects aimed at preparing for and protecting our human and natural communities from wildfire impacts while also improving habitat.”

The WRC will develop several habit restoration projects in the City of Goleta and/or unincorporated County areas. Working in collaboration with partners and local communities, the Collaborative will plan 10-12 projects focused on ecological enhancement and wildfire mitigation. Each project will undergo an environmental review process that includes defining scopes and plans for project sites, landowner coordination, conducting community outreach to get public feedback on concepts and priorities, and developing a restoration plan for each site.

Organizations interested in submitting a project proposal to the Regional Priority Plan for the Goleta Riparian Corridor should visit www.sbcwildfireresilience.org. 

In addition to the projects in Goleta, this grant will fund the initial stages of a Chumash-led restoration and land management planning demonstration site at the Arroyo Hondo Preserve (a property of the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County) with a focus on building relationships, knowledge and capacity for future Chumash-led fire risk reduction and post-wildfire mitigation.

“The hope is that through these efforts we will improve our communities' capacity to be fire-adapted not only through the projects themselves but also through the collaborative relationships that will be created and deepened in the process,” said Anna Olsen, Executive Director, Cachuma Resource Conservation District.

Finally, the grant is funding work to enhance the Resilience Planning Tool as a valuable information-sharing platform for partners and stakeholders to aid project planning and implementation.

The Wildfire Resilience Collaborative management and implementation team is made up of the Cachuma Resource Conservation District (CRCD), LegacyWorks Group (LWG), the Community Environmental Council (CEC),  McGinnis Environmental, and Sharyn Main Consulting. The team will also provide capacity support for the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County and Chumash-led partners who will be leading the Arroyo Hondo project.

Current collaborators include: SB County Fire Safe Council, City of Goleta, County Fire Department, Channel Islands Restoration, Land Trust for Santa Barbara County, Environmental Defense Center, Chumash Tribe representatives, and the Regional Wildfire Mitigation Program. Additional restoration and equity partners will be added as work progresses.

For more information visit www.sbcwildfireresilience.org.

The Coastal Conservancy is a State agency established in 1976 to protect and improve natural lands and waterways, help people access and enjoy the outdoors, and sustain local economies along the length of California’s coast and around San Francisco Bay.