CALIFORNIA CAMP FIRE RESTORATION / FULLY FUNDED

In 2018, the Camp Fire raged across forests near the towns of Concow and Paradise. It ended up being the deadliest fire in California’s history, claiming at least 85 lives, and left vast swaths of forest with no living trees — even mature specimens of fire-adapted species. As climate change heats up and dries out the region, extreme blazes like the Camp Fire are becoming more common. Unless we act now, the landscapes around Paradise are at risk of overgrowing with highly flammable shrubs and grasses – sowing the seeds of future severe burns.

 

California’s climate is changing so fast that traditional reforestation methods can’t keep pace. That’s why American Forests is using the latest climate science to pioneer new tactics to grow healthy, resilient forests. In 2020, American Forests planted 11,000 native seedlings near Paradise as part of a pilot to trial their “climate-smart” reforestation techniques. In 2021 — with the support of Salesforce — they will carry out our first full-scale, climate-informed planting in the Camp Fire burn scar. In partnership with the local conservation district and the Bureau of Land Management, they will reforest 270 acres of burned land that currently have no living trees. This will be the first year implementing a five-year climate-smart restoration plan that American Forests is developing with the BLM and will result in the planting of 41,200 trees. They are in need of support for continuing the Camp Fire restoration in 2022. Their goal is to plant 18,800 trees!