Cal Poly’s Swanton Pacific Ranch was recently awarded a $4.7 million grant from Cal Fire’s Forest Health Program to assist with post-fire recovery efforts. The grant is the second of two Cal Fire grants, totaling nearly $9 million, recently awarded to further the ranch’s efforts to bring about sustainable, long-term solutions to the management and stewardship of working landscapes.

The grant funding comes one year after the CZU Lightning Complex Fire swept through Swanton Pacific Ranch in Davenport, California, destroying many of the structures and much of the surrounding forest.

Swanton Pacific Ranch partnered with nearby Cal Fire Soquel Demonstration State Forest to seek the Cal Fire Forest Health Program’s $4.7 million grant, which provides critical funding for fire resilience planning and creates key opportunities for students to assist in implementing treatments to restore and maintain healthy forests while enhancing carbon storage. The funding will facilitate increased efforts in forest health and resilience and increased wildfire safety by implementing treatments such as reforestation, forest thinning, removal of dead trees and other potential fire fuels, and tree pruning to more than 930 acres of redwood forest between the two sites, both of which are designated as outreach forests in coastal redwood systems.

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Through this work, we are improving our forests and establishing leadership and expertise at the Central Coast’s premier outreach forests to create more resilient forests for demonstration, research and teaching,” said Grey Hayes, Swanton Pacific Ranch’s research and education coordinator.