Title
Chief Administrative Office recommending the Board of Supervisors:
1) Receive and file a presentation from the Vegetation Management and Wildfire Resiliency Working Group;
2) Approve in concept the establishment of an "Office of Wildfire Resilience" in the Chief Administrative Office; and
3) Designate $3,375,000 of excess contingency funds as the local matching funds for a federal Hazard Mitigation Grant to conduct defensible space, home hardening work, and hazardous fuels reduction in the County.
FUNDING: General Fund.
Body
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
The Board of Supervisors established the Vegetation Management and Wildfire Resiliency Working Group (group) on September 21, 2021 (file #21-1515). The CAO convened a core group, consisting of representatives from the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), CAL FIRE, the El Dorado County Fire Safe Council, the El Dorado County and Georgetown Divide Resource Conservation Districts (RCDs), the El Dorado County Fire Chiefs' Association, and the El Dorado County Fire Prevention Officers' Association in November 2021.
The group has been meeting at least monthly Since November 2021, primarily to establish goals for the group and recommendations for the future. The group is supported by an Extra-Help Principal Management Analyst in the CAO’s Office, along with assistance of staff from the Vegetation Management Program and Surveyor’s Office. In addition, the County has contracted with the RCDs for a fire safe coordinator, funded through a California Fire Safe Council grant.
An opportunity arose to apply for a Hazard Mitigation Grant (HMGP) through the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES), to conduct a demonstration project focusing on defensible space, home hardening, and hazardous vegetation removal activities in a high-risk area of the County. The group has submitted a Notice of Interest (NOI) for a $10 million grant. If accepted, the next step would be to submit a sub-application, which requires identification...
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