Cal Fire issues nearly $6 million in grants, including to UC San Diego

A brush fire in Barrett Junction File photo courtesy of Cal Fire San Diego Cal Fire has awarded million to encouragement scientific research studies including a grant for UC San Diego These studies according to Cal Fire will provide critical information and tools to forest landowners reservoir agencies fire management organizations and policymakers UCSD researcher Ilkay Altintas received to inquiry how to scale science-driven vegetation treatments through immersive BurnPro D landscapes for Cal Fire prescribed fire planning and training BurnPro D is a platform to help those in fire management understand the risks when planning and conducting prescribed burns Other projects include attempts to better understand certain vegetation types like chaparral mountain meadows and oak woodlands work to strengthen frameworks for evaluating costs and benefits of fuel medication strategies and expansion of cutting-edge tools for forest monitoring The grant winners awarded through the Forest Healthcare Research Undertaking include the University of California California State University Colorado State University Desert Research Institute USDA Forest Provision and Guidance for the Future These grant awards from the Forest Soundness Research Initiative are filling critical gaps in our knowledge of fire forest and other vegetation management Chris Keithley CAL FIRE s assistant deputy director of fire and reservoir assessment revealed in a news release These research projects are expected to produce scientific publications outreach and coaching events and decision encouragement tools In addition six of the awards which range from about to sponsorship research led by graduate students Funding for the grants comes from Greenhouse Gas Reduction Funds through the California Setting Investments initiative and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience budget package