Project Objectives and Process
Redway in southern Humboldt County is located within high and very high wildfire risk zones. In the Humboldt County Community Wildfire Protection Plan, the Southern Humboldt Fire Safe Council identified the protection of Redway as a very high priority given its large and dispersed population, extensive Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), and vulnerability to wind-driven fires out of the northeast. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Humboldt-Del Norte Unit planned the multi-phased Redway Shaded Fuel Break to help achieve the critical goal of restoring health and resilience to southern Humboldt County’s forested landscape while simultaneously reducing wildfire risk to the community of Redway.
The Humboldt County Resource Conservation District, in coordination with the CAL FIRE, assisted with the implementation of the Phase 1 of the Redway Shaded Fuel Break, which includes 21 acres treated with mastication and 45 acres treated with hand methods on private property and in the Humboldt Redwoods State Parks Holbrook Grove. Phase 1 implementation will began in April 2022 and is funded under an agreement between CAL FIRE and HCRCD.
The Phase 2 of implementation will include the application of low-intensity prescribed fire on 84 acres south of the Ridgetop treatment area to consume the fuels generated by mechanical fuel treatments, provide treatment to the remaining hillside, and return prescribed fire to a landscape from which it has been absent for decades, enhancing ecological values. The implementation of the prescribed fire treatment will be led by CAL FIRE.
